Should you choose to do a PhD?
Is it your cup of tea?
Preamble: I explicitly state that this post is not intended to convince anyone to get a Ph.D. I try to enumerate some common considerations below.
First, should you want to get a Ph.D.? I was in a fortunate position of knowing since when I started my M.Sc. research that I really wanted a Ph.D. Unfortunately it was not for very well gauged and pondered considerations: First, I really liked grad school and learning things, and I wanted to learn as much as possible. Second, I met a many industry Ph.D. who thrived in an industry that is now riding into the sunset. Third, in academia I was surrounded by Ph.D.s and it is taken for granted that you will get a Ph.D. If you are more thorough in making your life’s decisions, What should YOU do?
Many books exist and many a Ph.D. graduate has written about the topic. For example some of the points below were taken from Justin Johnson’s post at Quora: I got a job offer from Google, FB, and MS and laso got accepted into the Ph.D……. Another great Quora threat is: Quora: What is the purpose of doing a Ph.D.. And of course there are many, many subreddits such as r/PhD or many specific career subreddits that often discuss the topic daily.
Assuming that if you are not opting for a Ph.D., another choice for you to consider is joining a medium-to-large company.
Ask yourself if you find the following attributes attractive:
Properties of a Ph.D.
Personal Growth
A Ph.D. is an intense experience of rapid growth -> You soak up knowledge like a sponge. It is a time of personal self-discovery during which you will become a master of managing your own psychology. Many Ph.D. programs offer a high density of exceptionally bright people who have the potential to become your Best Friends Forever.
Expertise
A Ph.D. is probably your only opportunity in life to really delve deeper into a topic and become a recognized leading authority at something within the scientific discourse. You are exploring the edge of humankind’s knowledge, without the burden of lesser distractions or constraints. There is something poetic about that and if you disagree, it could be a sign that Ph.D. is not for you.
Ownership
The research you produce will be yours as an individual and papers with you as first author. Your accomplishments will have your name stamped on them. In contrast, it is much more likely to disappear inside a larger company. A common sentiment is becoming an insignificant member in an anonymous apparatus, a “cog in the machine”.
Exclusivity
Few people make it into top Ph.D. programs. You join a group of a few hundred distinguished individuals contrasted by a few tens of thousands that will join private industry without Ph.D.
Status
While many people in industry tend to belittle Ph.D.s (i.e., “You will work on the matter of a whole Ph.D. every three months in here…”), working towards and eventually getting a Ph.D. degree is societally honored and recognized as an impressive achievement. You also get to be a Doctor; that is great.
Personal Freedom
As a Ph.D. student/candidate you will be your own leader. Bad night and slept in? That works. Skip a day for a vacation? No problem. It is like these companies that have give limitless days off. All that matters is your result and no-one will force you to clock in from 09:00 to 17:00. Some profs (i.e., advisers) might be more or less flexible about it and some companies might be as well.
Maximizing Future Choice
For cutting-edge subjects that just make it out of academia into industry, there is no penalty for obtaining a Ph.D., since you know the latest techniques or even created them. Employers pay big bucks for your talent and brains to invent the next quantum computer etc. For more mature subjects where less revolutionary research happens, lower degrees may be prefered. So if you join a Ph.D. program in a cutting-edge subject, it does not close any doors or eliminate future employment/lifestyle options. You can go from Ph.D. to Anywhere but not the other way Anywhere to Ph.D./Academia/Research. Additionally, it is less likely to get a non-Ph.D. job in academia. Additionally (although this might be quite specific to applied subjects), you are strictly more hirable as a Ph.D. graduate or even as an A.B.D. and many companies might be willing to put you in a more interesting position or with a higher starting salary. More generally, maximal choice for your future is a good path to follow.
Maximizing Variance
You are young and there is really no need to rush. Once you graduate from a Ph.D. you can spend the next tens of years of your life in some company. Choose more variance in your experiences, which will avoid getting pigeon-holed.
Freedom
A Ph.D. will offer you a lot of freedom in the topics you wish to pursue and learn about. You are in charge. Of course, you will have an adviser who will guide you in a certain direction but in general you will have incredible freedom working on your degree than you might find in industry.
Photo by @emilymorter on Unsplash
But wait, there is more…
While the points above sound neutral to positive, it cannot go unsaid that the Ph.D. is a very narrow and specific kind of experience that deserves a large disclaimer:
You will inevitably find yourself working very hard for qualification exams, before conference talks, or submission of the written part near graduation. You need to be accepting of the suffering and have enough mental stamina and determination to deal with the pressure that comes with these crunch times. At some points you may lose track of what day of the week it is and temporarily adopt a questionable diet. You will be tired, exhausted, and alone in the lab on a beautiful, sunny weekend looking at Facebook posts of your friends having fun in nature and on trips, paid with their 5-10 times bigger salaries.
It could happen that you will have to throw away months of your work while somehow keeping your mental health intact. You will live with the fact that months of your time on this Earth were spent on a journal paper that draws limited interest (citations), while your friends participate in exciting startups, get hired at prestigious companies, or get transferred to exotic locations only to become manager over there.
You will experience identity crises during which you will question your life’s decisions and wonder what you are doing with some of the best years of your life. As a result, you can be certain that you can thrive in an unstructured environment in the chase for new discoveries for science. If you are unsure then you should lean towards other pursuits. Ideally you should consider dipping your toe into research projects as an undergraduate or Masters student before before you decide to commit. In fact, one of the primary reasons that research experience is so desirable during the Ph.D. hiring process is not the research itself, but the fact that the student is more likely to know what they are committing to.
Lastly, as a random thought I read and heard that you should only do a Ph.D. if you want remain in to academia. In light of all of the above I would argue that a Ph.D. this is an urban myth and that the Ph.D. has strong intrinsic value of great appeal to many. It is an end by itself, not just a means to some end (e.g., career in academia).
Photo by @homajob on Unsplash
So, you have made the choice. What next?
Getting into a Ph.D. program: (1) references, (2) references, (3) references.
Now how do you get into a good Ph.D. program? The very first step to conquer is quite simple - the by far most important component are strong reference letters.
The ideal scenario is that your professor writes you a glowing letter along the lines of: “X is in top five of students I have ever worked with. X takes initiative, comes up with their own ideas, and can finish a project.”
The worst letter is along the lines of: “X took my class. They are a good student/did well.” That may sound good at first sight, but by academic conventions is not good enough to impress anyone.
A research publication under your belt from a class project (or similar) is a very strong bonus and may often be requested in the application process. But it is not absolutely required, provided you have two/three strong reference letters. In particular note: grades are quite irrelevant, and do not have to be stellar. But you generally do not want them to be out of the usual low. This is not obvious to many students, since many spend a lot of energy on getting good grades, which is a diminishing returns problem. This time spent should be instead directed towards research and thesis work as much and as early as possible. Working under supervision of multiple professors lets them observe your work ethic and skills so that they can confidently write reference letters. As a last point, what will not help you too much is making appearances in the profs offices out of the blue without (recurring?) scheduled meeting times. They are often very busy people and if you do not adhere to appointment schedules, then that may lead to doors closed in your face and even worse, that may backfire on you.
Picking the school
Once you get into some Ph.D. programs, how do you pick the school? Your dream university should:
…be a top university. Not only because it looks good on your résumé and CV but because of less obvious feedback loops. Top universities attract other top students/professors, many of whom you will get to know and work with.
…have a hand full of potential professors you would want to work with. I really do mean a hand full - this is very important and provides a safety net for you if things do not work out with your top choice for any one of dozens of reasons - things in many cases outside of your control, e.g., your dream professor leaves, moves with all the lab equipment but without students, retires, dies (I have seen it a couple of times), has Title IX issues, or spontaneously disappears
…be in a good environment physically. I do not think new students appreciate this enough: you will spend ~5 years of your really good years living in a city that best not be a place you do not really enjoy. Really, this is a long period in your life. Your time in this city consists of much more than just your research and work.
To be continued…
