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Am I Ready For My PhD?

Many people have a lot of confusion and self doubt trying to figure out if the PhD is right for them.

Take this quick quiz that offers personal feedback so you know if the PhD is the right step for you.

TAKE THE QUIZ

While everyone’s journey is different, there are a few key areas you need to understand before you start applying to PhD programs.

Is your background competitive?

Evaluate your specific background, so you know if you're likely to get in or not

Are you financially and mentally ready?

Learn how to determine your financial and mental preparedness

Do my long term career and life goals align with my PhD?

Learn how to evaluate your goals with expected PhD outcomes

What happens when I take this quiz?

You’ll take a short 10 question quiz that will assess your competitiveness, financial readiness, mental readiness, and career outlook with your PhD. Your submission is anonymous.

You’ll get targeted feedback on your precise circumstance . This allows you to answer that nagging question “should I really do my PhD?”.

This clarity is huge. Many people get so caught up thinking they’re not “good enough” they never even apply. Or others charge in not fully understanding what they’re doing and end up hating it.

Now you'll have a clear path forward.

Why should I listen to you?

I’m dr. natalie morse. i have my phd from cornell university in engineering and have helped hundreds of others get their fully funded phd., the one thing i notice with successful applicants is that they get really clear on what they want to do. this quiz is a great first step in creating your best phd application., if you can’t answer these questions or feel confused, shoot me an email ( [email protected] ) and i’ll do my best to shed some light on your questions..

Take the PhD Readiness Quiz

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• How to Choose the Right PhD Programme - A Step by Step Guide

Written by Mark Bennett

If choosing the right PhD programme was as simple as searching for one, there wouldn’t be any need for the rest of this website – including our advice articles (like this one).

But the truth is, picking a PhD isn’t like choosing an undergraduate course, or even a Masters degree . For one thing, you’re not simply picking a course anymore, or just completing a degree.

Now you’re committing to something much more ambitious: a process of extended independent research that doesn’t just result in a qualification for you, but produces the original contribution to knowledge that defines a doctorate.

There are also other unique factors that will influence your PhD: from the supervisor you work with to the type of doctorate you pursue (and your reasons for pursuing it).

In this guide, we'll talk you through how to choose a PhD programme, step by step.

1. Take your time

A PhD may not seem long when you’re busy with research, results and writing up. But three years (or more!) is a long time to spend on a project that stops interesting you after three months.

Each of the following steps requires you to take some time and be methodical (there’s a reason they’re in a particular order). A few of them ask you to do something practical and one even suggests a bit of travelling (who said the internet was for lazy people?).

It’s up to you how closely you follow our advice, but rushing towards the first PhD you see is rarely a good idea.

• Follow the steps in this guide, compare multiple opportunities and reflect on your decision-making process. The ability to be systematic and diligent when searching for a doctorate is great preparation for doing one.
• Apply for the first project you find and eventually end up studying for a doctorate in Byzantine Politics when you actually meant to research Biochemical Polymers.

2. Choose what kind of doctorate you’re looking for

Before you can find the right doctorate, you need to know what kind of doctorate is right for you.

Broadly speaking, doctorates come in three general formats:

• Advertised projects - these are common in Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine (‘STEM’) subjects. They’re normally offered within established laboratories, research groups or other specialised academic networks whose broader goals will shape some of the boundaries for your project, though not necessarily the specific direction you pursue.
• Self-proposed projects - these are more common in Arts, Humanities and some Social Science subjects. They normally involve a student selecting their own topic and ‘ proposing ’ it to a university and / or supervisor. You’ll have relatively free reign to pick your own topic, but it will need to form the basis of a realistic PhD (see Step 3!) and fit within the aims and expertise of an institution’s research objectives.
• Professional doctorates - these are offered in vocational subjects such as Business and Management and tend to award specialised qualifications such as the DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) . They’re usually intended for experienced candidates looking to research on their area of practice, rather than become academic researchers.

There are degrees of nuance within these categories (pun intended) but the subject you wish to research in will probably narrow down the kind of doctorate you should be looking for.

You should also begin thinking about what you want to do after your PhD. Career opportunities for doctoral graduates are more varied (and flexible) than you might assume, but there’s still a fairly clear difference between academic and professional doctorates.

• Learn about different types of PhD (as well as the differences between them) and take a look at the kind of doctorates offered in your subject area .
• Spend ages wondering why you can’t find a Doctor of Business Administration in Seventeenth-Century Computer Science. Or expect a university Chemistry department to hire you with one.

3. Pick a project that pairs passion with practicality

It sounds like an obvious statement (or an awful tongue-twister) but this is a place where it’s easy to go wrong – particularly if you’re coming up with your own research topic.

Once you know you want to do a doctorate, how do you find the right PhD topic?

You need to really want to do a PhD. Not just another degree. Not just another qualification. Not just another three years at university.

Three years of in-depth, mostly independent research on a topic you care enough about to spend three years researching, independently and in-depth. With a worthwhile new contribution to academic or professional knowledge in your field at the end of it.

Getting there takes real passion for your topic. But, passion alone isn’t enough to make a doctorate practical .

People have been carrying out doctoral research for around 100 years. That’s a lot of PhDs in your subject. So it isn’t enough to just decide you ‘want to study a PhD in [your subject]’, even if you are incredibly passionate about it. Chances are, other people have been passionate about this subject before.

Your topic needs to be more specific. It also has to have the right scope for a PhD.

Some academic research projects can run for extensive periods of time, taking in the work of multiple people and developing over years or even decades. A doctorate needs to be completed in around three to four years of full-time work, by one scholar (you!).

• Look for a project with clear objectives that you care about, solving worthwhile problems that matter to you and tackling questions you actually want to know the answers to.
• Set out to re-think the fundamental principles of theoretical Physics in three years. Particularly if you’re more interested in Engineering .

4. Research your research

So, you’ve got a fairly good idea for a PhD on a topic you’re passionate about and it looks like an original and worthwhile idea.

The next step is to check that both of those things are true. And you can start right here.

Our search is a useful way to find a PhD (it’s in the name, after all) but it’s also a great way to compare current PhDs – and get a sense of what’s happening in your field.

Entering your research area (or interests) will bring up relevant projects and programmes, but don’t worry about picking one of them just yet.

Instead take a look at the kind of results you see. How many are there? Where are they from? How specific are they to your research interests?

This information can be a good indicator of how popular the field for your topic is and how densely (or sparsely) inhabited it might be.

If you’re seeing lots of interest in your area, your project might be timely. But you might also need to think further about how you’ll differentiate your research from others’.

If you’re not seeing many directly relevant projects, that’s not necessarily a bad thing (particularly in the Arts and Humanities, where general programmes are more common than specific projects).

It could be that your ideas are very original (and ideal for a PhD). Still, you should probably discuss them with a supervisor before you apply or submit a proposal. There might be a reason no one is currently researching (or advertising) projects on your topic.

• Investigate the work being done in your field and think about how your project will fit into that research landscape.
• Assume your PhD idea is original, only to find that six other people are working on similar topics. And two of them are just about to publish their results.

5. Try before you buy

As well as seeing how many people are researching your area, you should try and get some idea of what research in that area is actually like . You’re going to be doing a lot of it during your PhD after all.

So, take a more detailed look at some of the project descriptions you’ve found during your searches:

What do they involve doing ? How interesting are the details of the science or scholarship they refer to? How familiar does it sound? Does it interest you? Would you like to read a research paper on this topic if we put one in front of you, right now?

If the answer to that last question is ‘yes’ (and it should be if you’re up for a PhD on this topic) then why not go and find a recent paper or journal article on this subject? If specific work is mentioned in the project, see if you can find it. If not, start with the supervisor’s recent publications.

• Look at some current work in your field and ask yourself, honestly, if this is the kind of material you can see yourself reading (and maybe writing) over the next three years or so.
• Sign up for three years of academic research only to discover you hate reading academic research papers.

6. Think about your research environment

We could have called this step ‘choose the right university’ but what really makes a university a good choice for a PhD is the environment it provides for doctoral research in your field.

You can get some sense of this from traditional measurements of university ‘quality’. Rankings , for example, can tell you things like how much research a university publishes and how good it might be perceived to be.

But these things probably won’t matter as much during the day-to-day of your PhD. Instead you should look at things like:

• How well-equipped is it for research on your topic? Appropriate laboratory or workshop facilities are a must for most STEM PhDs, but an under-stocked library can make Arts and Humanities scholarship difficult and frustrating.
• What kind of postgraduate facilities does it offer? A PGR common room may not seem like much, but it could be nirvana when you need somewhere quiet to go over your chapter draft.
• Is there much of a postgraduate community? Are other students working in your area? Is there a postgraduate society? Three years of doctoral solitude won’t do your well-being any good – and being cut off from other people’s ideas won’t help your research.

If you can, make a trip to visit any university you’re seriously considering for a PhD. Postgraduate open days are a great way to do this, but you may also be able to arrange an informal visit – particularly if you’ve made contact with a supervisor to discuss a project.

• Recognise the importance of your daily routine to your happiness (and success). Think about what it might be like to live and work on this project, at this institution.
• Assume that one university is right for your PhD simply because it ranks higher, has a nicer coffee shop or a shiny new library (with none of the journals you need).

7. Talk to potential supervisors

The student-supervisor relationship is a unique part of the PhD experience and, to some extent, it’s also unique to each PhD experience.

All supervisors serve as scholarly mentors and professional role models for the academic work you’ll carry out during your doctorate. But those functions are facilitated by a human relationship between two individuals, working together over three or more years.

It goes without saying that you need that relationship to succeed and, to that extent, the advice in this step is rather simple:

Before you choose a supervisor to approach with your PhD topic (or choose a PhD with an assigned supervisor) find out a little more about them.

One way to do that is to get in touch.

An informal email should do the trick. It doesn’t need to be long and it certainly shouldn’t be confused with your research proposal .

Instead, simply introduce yourself, your background and interests and your interest in working with them. You can also ask questions about the university or project (if you have any).

It may also be worth doing a little more background research on prospective supervisors:

• How many students have they supervised before? How many students are they currently supervising?
• How well does their past or present research align with your topic?
• Are they involved in any significant projects that might help or hinder their involvement with your PhD?
• How do they come across personally and professionally? Are they active on appropriate social media networks like LinkedIn or Twitter? Do they maintain a personal website or blog for their research?

Be respectful and polite as you consider potential supervisors, but do take your research seriously. After all, this will be the most important academic (and professional) relationship of your career so far.

• Think about what you’ll need from a PhD supervisor and the kind of relationship (and personalities) that might provide it.
• Add every potential supervisor you find on Facebook and message them all asking for help with your research proposal.

8. Think about your future

You know what kind of doctorate you’re looking for. You’ve found a topic you care about and checked that the wider academic community does too. You have some idea of what to expect from day-to-day research on that project and think you’ve found a university (and supervisor) you’ll be comfortable with.

So, are you ready to apply for that PhD? Probably. But don’t do so just yet.

Instead, imagine yourself after you’ve applied, aced your interview and been accepted (of course).

Picture yourself actually researching that PhD.

Where will you live? How’s the commute? Are you still able to see friends, family and significant others? If not, is that going to be something you’ll be comfortable with?

Next, imagine yourself after you’ve submitted, aced your viva and received your doctorate.

Picture yourself holding a shiny new PhD. What will you do next?

Opportunities for PhD graduates are more diverse than you might think, with many academic and non-academic pathways that take advantage of the transferable skills developed during a doctorate.

You don’t have to know exactly which option you’ll pursue in three years or so, but you should think seriously about your options and plans before you start.

Once you’ve done that. . . you could be ready to get started with your PhD. Good luck!

• Have a goal in mind for your PhD, reflect on what you hope to gain from the qualification, and understand the alternative options that might be available if your plans change.
• Assume that a PhD will automatically lead to a specific job (in academia or elsewhere) or ignore the opportunities to develop your skills and CV during a doctorate.

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• Wharton Online

How to Choose a PhD Program

Successfully completing a doctoral program requires commitment and perseverance. the most important step in this process is to consider whether academic life is right for you and what kind of doctoral program — from discipline to environment — will be the best fit for your goals and preferences., we asked our current students and faculty, “what is key to making this decision” following are some questions they suggested you ask yourself, and answer, in order to select the appropriate program..

First, a basic description of a doctoral program:

As a doctoral student, you will spend the first two years of your program exploring areas of interest through coursework. In the two to three years that follow, you will select and pursue your own research topic, one which will make an original contribution to the existing body of knowledge in your field. Your original research culminates in an extensive written document known as the doctoral dissertation.

General Questions

If you are considering your career options, answering these questions will help you clarify your goals and ambitions — and determine if a doctoral program is the right decision for you.

• Am I the type of person who is suited for a career in academia? Am I independently motivated to answer questions that I find interesting?
• Do I want to spend the rest of my career doing research, as well as reading and talking about it?
• Do I have a strong enough academic background in order to apply and be accepted by the program?
• Is now the time for me to pursue a PhD?
• What are my goals after completing the PhD?

Program Questions

If you know you want to pursue a doctoral degree, answers to these questions will help you select the right program for you.

• How many faculty are working with students?
• How many faculty members are doing research in areas related to my own interests?
• What opportunities are there to work with a variety of faculty and to be exposed to different approaches in research (modeling, work with data, experiment design)?
• Am I technically prepared to learn to do research in this field?
• Most PhD students change their vision of research and many change their intended concentration area after joining the program and being exposed to a variety of research styles. Does my program of choice offer flexibility needed to do so?
• Is there financial support for students to attend academic conferences to present their own research?
• What opportunities are there for students to participate in colloquia, both as an attendee and as a presenter?
• What is the department’s placement record? What types of jobs do graduates take and where?
• Finally, how well do graduates of the program perform in the long term (contributing to the field through publication, practice of management and earning tenure)?

Hear From Our Doctoral Community

From undergrad to phd, from research consumer to research producer, the diverse skill set you need to become a professor.

Big PhD questions: Should I do a PhD?

If you are reading this, chances are that you have already decided to do a PhD. Yet, you may know someone who is considering a doctoral degree (or you may be offering such a position as a supervisor to prospective students). This post is for them . In this new type of post, we will look at big questions facing any PhD student. Today, we analyze the question that precedes all the other big PhD questions: “should I do a PhD?”. Below, I offer a couple of quick, simple ways to look at this important life decision, and a list of 10 factors to consider when offered (or seeking) a PhD position.

The other day, some researcher colleagues told me about a brilliant master student of theirs, to whom they were offering the possibility of doing a PhD in their lab. However, the student was doubtful: should she embark on this long and uncertain journey, on a low income, foregoing higher salaries (and maybe more stability) if she entered the job market right away? Her family and friends, not really knowing what a PhD or academia are like, were also giving all sorts of (sometimes contradictory) advice. Should she do a PhD?

This simple question is not asked nearly as much (or as seriously) as it should. Many people (myself included!) have embarked on this challenging, marathon-like experience without a clear idea of why it is the right choice for them, for that particular moment in their lives. Given this lack of clarity, we shouldn’t be surprised by the high rates of people that drop out of doctoral programs , or that develop mental health issues , once they hit the hard parts of the journey.

So, let’s approach this big PhD question from a few different angles…

A first short answer: Thinking about the career path

When I started my PhD back in 2007, coming from a job in the industry, I only had a very nebulous idea that I might like to do research professionally (albeit, to be honest, what I liked most about research was the travelling and the working with foreign, smart people). My employer back then was encouraging us to earn doctoral degrees as a way to pump up the R&D output. Thus I started a PhD, without a clear idea of a topic, of who would be my supervisor, or what I would do with my life once I had the doctoral degree in my hands.

This is exactly what some career advice experts like Cal Newport say you should NOT do . They argue that graduate degrees (also including Master’s) should not be pursued due to a generic idea that having them will improve our “job prospects” or “hirability”, that it will help us “land a job” more easily. Rather, they propose to take a cold, hard look to what we want to do after the doctorate (do I want to be a Professor? if so, where? do I want a job in the industry? in which company? etc.). Then, pursue the PhD only if we have proof that a PhD, from the kind of university program we can get into 1 , is a necessary requisite for that job .

If you aspire to be an academic (and maybe get tenure), do not take that aspiration lightly: such positions are becoming increasingly rare and competition for them is fiercer than ever. Take a look at the latest academic positions in your field at your target university, and who filled them. Do you have a (more or less) similar profile? In some highly prestigious institutions, you need to be some kind of “superstar” student, coming from a particular kind of university, if you want to get that kind of job.

In general, I agree with Cal that we should not generically assume that a PhD will be useful or get us a job in a particular area, unless we have hard evidence on that (especially if we want a job in the industry!). Also, I agree that the opportunity cost of a PhD should not be underestimated: if you enroll in a PhD program, you will probably be in for a reduction in salary (compared with most industry jobs), for a period of four or more years!

Yet, for some of us, the plan about what to do after the PhD may not be so clear (as it was my case back in 2007). Also, being too single-minded about what our future career path should look like has its own problems 2 . Indeed, there are plenty of examples of people that started a PhD without a clear endgame in mind, who finished it happily and went on to become successful academics or researchers. Ask any researcher you know!

So, if this first answer to ‘should I do a PhD?' did not give us a clear answer, maybe we need a different approach. Read on.

A longer answer: Factors for a happy (or less sucky) PhD

If we are still unsure of whether doing a PhD is a good idea, we can do worse than to follow the decision-making advice I have proposed in a previous post for big decisions during the PhD. In those posts, I describe a three-step process in which we 1) expand our understanding of the options available (not just to do or not do a PhD, but also what PhD places are available, what are our non-PhD alternative paths, etc.); 2) analyze (and maybe prototype) and visualize the different options; and 3) take the decision and move on with it.

However, one obstacle we may face when applying that process to this particular decision is the “analytic intuition” step , in which we evaluate explicitly different aspects of each of the options, to inform our final, intuitive (i.e., “gut feeling”) decision. If we have never done a PhD or been in academia, we may be baffled about what are the most important aspects to consider when making such an evaluation about a particular PhD position, or whether a PhD is a good path for us at all.

Below, I outline ten factors that I have observed are related to better, happier (but not necessarily stress-free!) PhD processes and outcomes. Contrary to many other posts in this blog (where I focus on the factors that we have control over ), most of the items below are factors outside our direct control as PhD students, or which are hard to change all by ourselves. Things like our current life situation, what kind of person we are, or the particular supervisor/lab/topic where we would do the PhD. Such external or hard-to-change aspects are often the ones that produce most frustration (and probably lead to bad mental health or dropout outcomes) once we are on the PhD journey:

• Time . This is pretty obvious, but often overlooked. Do we have time in our days to actually do a PhD (or can we make enough time by stopping other things we currently do)? PhD programs are calibrated to take 3-4 years to complete, working at least 8 hours a day. And the sheer amount of hours spent working on thesis materials seems to be the most noticeable predictor of everyday progress in the PhD , according to (still unpublished) studies we are doing of doctoral student diaries and self-tracking (and, let’s remember, progress itself is the most important factor in completing a PhD 3 ). And there is also the issue of our mental energy : if we think that we can solve the kind of cognitively demanding tasks that a PhD entails, after 8 hours of an unrelated (and potentially stressful) day job, maybe we should think again. Abandon the idea that you can do a PhD (and actually enjoy it) while juggling two other day jobs and taking care of small kids. Paraphrasing one of my mentors, “a PhD is not a hobby”, it is a full-time job! Ignore this advice at your own risk.
• Money . This is related to the previous one (since time is money, as they say), but deserves independent evaluation. How are we going to support ourselves economically during the 3+ years that a PhD lasts? In many countries, there exist PhD positions that pay a salary (if we can get access to those). Is that salary high enough to support us (and maybe our family, depending on our situation) during those years? If we do not have access to these paid PhD positions (or the salary is too low for our needs), how will we be supported? Do we have enough savings to keep us going for the length of the PhD? can our spouse or our family support us? If we plan on taking/keeping an unrelated job for such economic support, read again point #1. Also, consider the obligations that a particular paid PhD position has: sometimes it requires us to work on a particular research project (which may or may not be related to our PhD topic), sometimes it requires us to teach at the university (which does not help us advance in our dissertation), etc. As stated in the decision process advice , it is important to talk to people currently in that kind of position or situation, to see how they actually spend their time (e.g., are they so stressed by the teaching load that they do not have time to advance in the dissertation?).
• Having social support (especially, outside academia). This one is also quite obvious, but bears mentioning anyways. Having strong social ties is one of the most important correlates of good mental health in the doctorate , and probably also helps us across the rough patches of the PhD journey towards completion. Having a supportive spouse, family, or close friends to whom we can turn when things are bad, or with whom we can go on holidays or simply unwind and disconnect from our PhD work from time to time, will be invaluable. Even having kids is associated with lower risk of mental health symptoms during the doctorate (which is somewhat counter-intuitive, and probably depends on whether you have access to childcare or not). A PhD can be a very lonely job sometimes, and there is plenty of research showing that loneliness is bad for our mental and physical health!
• An attitude of learning . Although this is a somewhat squishy factor, it is probably the first that came to my mind, stemming from my own (anecdotal, non-scientific) observation of PhD students in different labs and universities. Those that were excited to learn new things, to read the latest papers on a topic, to try a new methodology, seem to be more successful at doing the PhD (and look happier to me). People that are strong in curiosity seem a good match for a scientific career, which is in the end about answering questions (even if curiosity also has its downsides ). This personal quality can also be related to Dweck’s growth mindset (the belief that our intelligence and talents are not fixed and can be learned) 4 . If you are curious , this mindset can be measured in a variety of ways .
• A knack for systematicity and concentration. This one is, in a sense, the counterweight to the previous one. Curious people often have shorter attention spans, so sometimes they ( we , I should say) have trouble concentrating or focusing on the same thing for a long period of time. Yet, research is all about following a particular method in a systematic and consistent way, and often requires long periods of focus and concentration. Thus, if we find ourselves having trouble with staying with one task, idea or project for more than a few minutes in a row, we may be in for trouble. The PhD requires to pursue a single idea for years !
• Valuing autonomy . As I mentioned in passing above, a PhD is, by definition, an individual achievement (even if a lot of research today requires teamwork and collaboration). Thus, to be successful (and even enjoy) the process of the PhD, we have to be comfortable being and working alone, at least for some of the time. Spending years developing our own contribution to knowledge that no one else has come up with before, should not feel like a weird notion to us. Even if it occasionally comes with the uncomfortable uncertainty of not knowing whether our ideas will work out. In human values research they call this impulse to define our own direction, autonomy 5 , and many of my researcher friends tell me it is a very common trait in researchers. However, these values are very personal and very cultural. To evaluate this factor, we could simply ask ourselves how much we value this autonomy over other things in life, or use validated instruments to measure relative value importance, like the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ) .
• Liking and/or being good at writing . I have written quite a bit here about the importance (and difficulty) of writing in the PhD . Be it writing journal and conference papers, or the dissertation tome itself, every PhD student spends quite a bit of time writing, as a way of conveying new knowledge in a clear, concise and systematic way. Learning to write effectively is also known to be one of the common difficulties of many PhD processes 6 , due to reasons discussed elsewhere . Hence, if we hate writing, we should think carefully about spending the next 3+ years doing something that necessarily involves quite a bit of writing, other people spotting flaws in your writing, and rewriting your ideas multiple times. Please note that I don’t consider being a good (academic or nonfiction) writer a necessary requisite for a PhD, as it can be learned like any other skill (again, the learning attitude in point #4 will help with that!). But being good at it will certainly make things easier and will let you focus on the content of the research, rather than on learning this new, complex skill.
• Compatibility (or, as they call it in the literature sometimes, the “fit”) of our and their personalities, ways of working (e.g., do they like micro-managing people, but you hate people looking over your shoulder?) and expectations about what a doctoral student and a supervisor should do.
• A concern for you as a person. Since this is difficult to evaluate as we may not know each other yet, we could use their concern about the people that work in their lab (beyond being just a source of cheap labor), as a proxy.
• Enthusiasm for the field of research or topic, its importance in the world, etc. A cynic, jaded researcher may not be the best person to guide us to be a great member of the scientific community.
• A supervisor that is well-known, an expert in the particular topic of the dissertation. Looking at the number of citations, e.g., in Google Scholar is a good initial indicator, but look at the publication titles (are they in similar topics to those they are offering you as your doctoral project? if not, that may mean that this person may also be new to your particular dissertation topic!).
• Related to the previous one, does this researcher have a good network of (international) contacts in other institutions? Do they frequently co-author papers with researchers in other labs/countries? We may be able to benefit from such contact network, and get wind of important opportunities during the dissertation and for our long-term research career.
• Openness (and time!) to talk about what the doctoral student job entails, potential barriers and difficulties , etc. This can be a proxy to both their general busyness (you will not get much guidance if they can never meet you because they have too little time) and their communication skills (something critical to consider when signing up to work closely with someone for years).
• Whether the supervisor is an ethical person. This is very important but seldom considered (maybe because it is hard to evaluate!). For sure, we don’t want to be backstabbed or exploited by our supervisor!
• Whether this person(s) is known to be a good supervisor . Have they already supervised other doctoral students to completion, in nominal time and with good grades? Do they regularly attend trainings and professional development about doctoral supervision? Do they seem to care about this part of their job for its own sake (rather than as a mere medium to get cheap labor)?
• You may be wondering how you are going to gather information about all the aspects mentioned above. Sometimes you can ask the supervisor directly, but you can also talk with current PhD students of this person, or students in the same lab/department (but do not take what they say at face value: partisanship, gossip or rivalries may be at work!). If you have the time and the opportunity, try to “prototype” (see the decision process post) the experience of working with this supervisor: do a master thesis with them, or a summer internship, or use the work on a joint PhD project proposal (a pre-requisite before being accepted as a doctoral student in some institutions). Some things we don’t know we like until we try them!
• Of course, all of the above are two-way streets. As prospective students, we also need to show to a potential supervisor that we are open to talk about expectations, that we are somewhat flexible, dependable, etc. Be very conscious of this in your interactions with supervisors and other people in their lab!
• The lab/department where you will do the dissertation . Again, there are many things to consider here. Is there an actual research group, or will we be doing our research in isolation with our supervisor? Normally, the former is preferable, since that gives us more resources to draw from if the supervisor is not available. Is the research group well known in the field (again, look at citations, invited talks, etc. of different group members)? But especially, try to get an idea of the lab’s working atmosphere : is it stressful, relaxed, collaborative, competitive…? As with the previous point, we could prototype it by spending some time working there, or we can interview one or more people working in the lab. If we do the latter, it is better to go beyond direct questions that will give vague (and maybe unreliable) answers, like “it’s good”. Rather, take a journalistic approach, and ask people to narrate concretely what the routines are in the lab, when and how did they last collaborate with another student, or the last conflict arising in the lab. Then, decide whether this kind of ambience is a good fit for you .
• The concrete PhD topic . We should find out (e.g., from our prospective supervisor) whether the topic of the dissertation is already well-defined, or rather we will have to explore and define it ourselves (both options have pros and cons, and again it depends whether we value more autonomy and exploration, or having a clear path ahead). Is the area or keywords of the PhD topic going up or down in popularity (see here for a potential way to find out)? Are there clear funding schemes that specifically target this kind of research topic, at the national or international level? How easy is it to collect evidence for this kind of research (empirical data is a critical element in almost all research fields, so we want easy and reliable access to them)? I would not evaluate a PhD topic on the basis of whether we love it right now, as we never know much about any research area when we start a doctorate (even if we think we do!). An attitude of learning and curiosity (see #4) will take care of that. Rather, talk with the supervisor about how the research process might look like, what kind of activities will take up most of our time (reading papers? doing labwork? interviewing people?): do we find those activities interesting?

Yet, after considering all these 10 factors separately, we may not be clear on the decision (maybe some aspects are good, others not so much). If, after all this thinking and gathering of information we still are not sure, there is one last idea I can offer…

One last answer: We cannot really know (the PhD as a transformative experience)

We could also frame the question of whether to do a PhD as what philosopher L.A. Paul calls a “transformative experience” 8 . Doing a PhD is a big life decision (like becoming a parent or taking a powerful drug) through which we probably will transform ourselves into another person , with different preferences and even different values.

I can think of many ways in which I am a different person now, due to the transformative experience of doing my PhD: I am now able to read and understand scientific papers (e.g., when I come across a new idea or “expert”, I go and read actual research papers about that), and I can evaluate the reliability of different types of evidence; I trust more scientific advances and consensus; I am more comfortable speaking (and writing) in English; I am more aware of culture and life in other countries, and I have less chauvinistic views of foreigners (due to my international experience gained as a researcher). Et cetera .

Paul’s argument regarding transformative experiences is that there are limitations to simulating (i.e., imagining) whether we will like the experience, as our own values and preferences may be changed by the very experience we try to simulate. For similar reasons, there are limits to the usefulness of asking others about the decision (and trusting their testimony), since they also have different values, preferences and coping strategies than us. Even looking at the latest and most reliable research on the topic (e.g., whether PhD students end up happier and/or more satisfied with their lives than people who did not take that choice) is of limited help, since such research (of which there is little!) often concentrates on average effects, and we may not be “average”.

What to do, then?

L.A. Paul’s way out of this dilemma seems to be a reframe of the question: "Will I be happier if I do a Ph?“ , "Should I do a PhD?“ . Rather, we can ask: “Do I value discovering my new self as a researcher/doctor?" . In a sense, this new question targets a key intrinsic value we may (or may not) have: Do we appreciate learning, exploring, getting novel experiences, discovering and remaking ourselves (related to point #4 above)? If yes, a PhD might be a good idea. If we prefer stability, things (and our life) as they have always been, the status quo … maybe we will not appreciate this transformation that much.

There is no right or wrong answer. Only your answer.

The diagram below summarizes the main ideas in this post. Reflect upon these questions, and make your own choice. Take responsibility for your choice… but don’t blame yourself for the outcome , i.e., if it does not work out as you expected. There are too many inherent uncertainties about this decision that cannot be known until we actually walk the path.

Summary of the ideas in this post

Did these arguments and factors help you think through the decision of doing (or not doing) a PhD? What did you decide in the end and why? I’d be very curious to know… Let us know in the comments section below!

Header photo by Zeevveez

This seems especially important in the U.S. higher education and research market, which is quite clearly stratified, with research-focused and more teaching-focused universities, “Ivy Leagues”, etc. ↩︎

If we get obsessed with going a particular way and we fail to achieve it (or even if we achieve it and find out that it’s not what we thought it’d be), we may end up feeling stuck and/or depressed. See Burnett, W., & Evans, D. J. (2016). Designing your life: How to build a well-lived, joyful life , for ideas on how to get “unstuck” in those cases. ↩︎

De Clercq, M., Frenay, M., Azzi, A., Klein, O., & Galand, B. (2021). All you need is self-determination: Investigation of PhD students’ motivation profiles and their impact on the doctoral completion process. International Journal of Doctoral Studies , 16 , 189–209. ↩︎

Claro, S., Paunesku, D., & Dweck, C. S. (2016). Growth mindset tempers the effects of poverty on academic achievement. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 113 (31), 8664–8668. ↩︎

Schwartz, S. H. (2012). An Overview of the Schwartz Theory of Basic Values. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture , 2 (1). https://doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1116 ↩︎

Sverdlik, A., Hall, N. C., McAlpine, L., & Hubbard, K. (2018). The PhD experience: A review of the factors influencing doctoral students’ completion, achievement, and well-being. International Journal of Doctoral Studies , 13 , 361–388. https://doi.org/10.28945/4113 ↩︎

Masek, A., & Alias, M. (2020). A review of effective doctoral supervision: What is it and how can we achieve it? Universal Journal of Educational Research , 8 (6), 2493–2500. ↩︎

Paul, L. A. (2014). Transformative experience . OUP Oxford. ↩︎

Luis P. Prieto

Luis P. is a Ramón y Cajal research fellow at the University of Valladolid (Spain), investigating learning technologies, especially learning analytics. He is also an avid learner about doctoral education and supervision, and he's the main author at the A Happy PhD blog.

Google Scholar profile

Before you go, check this out!

We have lots more on the site to show you. You've only seen one page. Check out this post which is one of the most popular of all time.

Should You Get A PhD Or A Real Job In Industry? (A PhD Quiz)

The questions where generated by 98 responses on the community.

I initially asked the community, what online quiz is most appealing to them to help them make a PhD decision. Here were the responses: 1. Should I get a PhD or get a real job in industry (36%). 2. Should you become a professor (22%). 3. Should you get a PhD (17%). 4. Which PhD program is right for me? (14%). 5. Are you prepared for a PhD? (11%).

So, here is the most popular online PhD quiz: “Should you get a PhD or get a real job in industry.” There are 12 items to the quiz, and these 12 items where based on the most popular responses to 4 polls on the community that relate to university resources, PhD opportunity costs, preferences for PhDs, and the skills required for a PhD. These items are based on inputs, and not the outputs of doing a PhD (e.g., your publication record or position at a university).

David Maslach

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Is This A Good Research Question? (Online Quiz)

This is a online quiz to help you decide whether your research question is good, and should be pursued. Knowing what is a good research question is challenging, and most people do not know if they...

Am I Qualified For A PhD? Will You Get Into A PhD Program? (Online Quiz)

This is a online quiz to help you decide whether you are qualified to get into a top PhD Program. Beginning a doctoral journey is always a challenge, and there are few resources available to help you...

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Articles & Advice > Graduate School > Articles

Important Considerations to Help You Find the Right Graduate Program

Finding the right grad program will inform your future career opportunities and choices. This comprehensive advice can help you make this important decision.

by Joshua J. LaFave Director of Graduate Business Programs, Clarkson University

Last Updated: Dec 18, 2023

Originally Posted: Oct 18, 2016

Y ou may be thinking, “I got through the search for my undergraduate program just fine—why would searching for a graduate program be any different?” For some, grad school can be that straightforward. But for most, it’s among the toughest decisions to make. Why is that? You just need to find a graduate school that has your desired program and apply, right? Wrong. 

Here are two key differences: First, you are a different person now. You have grown, discovered your passions, know more about what you want, and are concerned with far more than simply getting through junior year. Second, graduate work is about focusing on a particular discipline. The scope of the program is different, and the way in which you apply to graduate programs is also very different. I could certainly keep going, but homing in on your motivations and reasons for wanting to go to graduate school are at the heart of the rest of this article. In short, it seeks to help you answer the question: “How do I find the right graduate program for me?” 

Goals and expectations

To ensure you make the best graduate school choices for yourself, you’ll need to spend a considerable amount of time not  thinking about grad school.  That’s right! It’s time to do some reflection and research. Start by considering the following questions:   

• What’s your timeline ? How do you define where you want to be in one, three, five, and 10 years from now?
• What do you value? What's important to you for learning, living, your graduate experience, and work-life balance ? Do you want (or need) to work while going to grad school? What are the areas you must balance, and where can you make sacrifices?
• How do you learn? Who are you at your best? How do you process information in an academic or professional setting? Reflect on these things using assessment tools (e.g., StrengthsQuest), talking with friends, etc. 

This is not an exhaustive list, but you get the idea. Don’t worry about the particulars of your graduate degree just yet. Know who you are, what your plans are, and what you need to do your best. 

Related: Great Expectations: How Grad School Differs From Undergrad

Career plans

It may be fun to think about using grad school to launch a particular career , or perhaps you have thought to yourself, “That seems like a good job. Grad school will get me there!” But do you really know everything about the position? Career path? Industry?  The jobs of today may not exist in the near future, and there will be careers in a few years that don’t exist to day. It’s important to be mindful of career planning as the precursor to your graduate education. To that end, the second thing I recommend doing before launching into your grad school search is to spend time evaluating your career interests and get to know what specific positions are available. You may learn about perfect-fit opportunities you never even knew existed. 

There are many career research re sources out there, but checking out the Occupational Outlook Handbook produced by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics is the perfect place to start. There, you’ll learn about the specifics of the career path as well as the education and degree requirements for those positions. And you’ll be able to evaluate the forecasts for employment growth—or decline—in those fields as well. The information is there. It’s important for you to find it, digest it, and build your grad school plan around it. 

Degree profile

Once you know what kind of education is needed for your chosen field(s), it’s time to nail down the degree type and focus you should pursue in grad school.  There are professional master’s (e.g., JD, MBA, MPA), Master of Science degrees, Master of Arts, and more. But beyond knowing the mere degree title, you should know what your potential degrees truly entail. For example, while the discipline may be the same, an MS in Mathematics tends to be more applied, while an MA in Mathematics is more theoretical, which is good preparation for a doctoral program. 

Then there are professional degrees, which are largely designed for entry into a specific industry. Furthermore, depending on your career goals, applying for a terminal degree (doctorate level) is something you'll need to consider when making your graduate school plan. Many programs admit to the doctorate, where the master’s degree is obtained along the way. When it comes to your degree focus, you’ll want to know the exact type of program you're looking for. The focus or academic orientation of the program may differ in the way courses are delivered or the research faculty members conduct. Using the math example again, an MA in Math might have an actuarial focus, or its focus might be calculus.  

Related:  Choosing the Right Graduate Degree for Your Goals

Institutional differentiators

After conducting the aforementioned career planning and reflection, you'll know the degree type and focus you want and have a sense of your values and expectations. Now it’s time to work on identifying how these things align with the “differentiators.” Simply put, how does a particular college with the degree you're seeking stack up? What are some of the aspects of the program and institution that fit who you are and what you need? Your interpretation of these differentiating things is inextricable to setting yourself up for a transformative grad school experience . While you may have others, here are two critical categories of differentiators to consider: 

• Research opportunities: This may be very important for your discipline. Does the institution have a great track record for grants? What types of opportunities will you have to get published? 
• Program makeup and delivery format: What is the setup of the program? If online, what’s the track record? If part time, what kinds of class schedules are available? How well do you think (or know) you’d learn in that format? 
• Admission: What prerequisite courses might you need to take to be eligible for admission? Do they offer them? Is there a way to gain conditional admission and still start the program?
• Accreditation and rigor: Outside of regional accreditation, are there program- or discipline-specific accreditations to help you determine degree quality? 
• Prestige and reputation: A school and/or program’s reputation in your (intended) field can play a big role in your decision and determination of quality. 
• Class size: How big is the program? Do you learn better in small or large classes? What outcomes do you identify with regarding the number of classmates in the average cohort?

Campus experience

• Culture: Think of a grad school’s culture as “that’s how we do things here.” Visit your potential graduate institutions and talk with various stakeholders to help understand what their philosophy on education really is.
• Outcomes: This is pretty straightforward—and telling. What is the track record related to student outcomes, and what resources are in place to secure employment and assess ROI of their graduate programs?
• Living and learning: What’s the living situation? Is housing available for graduate students? Is it on or off campus? What else is available to support your lifestyle while in school? 
• Support services: Where can you get campus assistance when you need it most? Whether it’s academic, financial, or career counseling, it’s not just that they have it but what it is and how it applies to you.
• Community: What’s in the area around the graduate school? How does the college engage with the community it’s located in? What can you expect from the area in terms of experiential education opportunities, employment, housing, and amenities? 
• Professional development and engagement: Are there supplemental programs, networking events, and other activities that would enhance your experiences in the graduate program? 
• Connection to industry and alumni: How accessible are these two groups to you as a grad student? Does the college engage in conversations with them to ensure the graduate curriculum is current and relevant? 

Related:  Campus Visits: Not Just for Undergrads!

Financial consideration

Another important element in finding the best grad school fit is cost and financial aid. You may identify two graduate programs of equal value to you, but their financial support adds another crucial element to your success.  Ask about, identify, and make sure you understand what’s available in terms of financial assistance and the likelihood of someone with your academic profile and experience receiving funding. Determine what’s available for scholarships, grants , fellowships, teaching positions, research or graduate assistantships, and other funding you don’t have to pay back.  Research the true cost of your graduate education, and remember that your investment will extend beyond the tuition you pay. Part of finding a grad program is ensuring it fits your budget too, including such things as the cost of living in a particular location. Using sites like GradSense.org will help you understand the overall investment.

The search: Where to look and who to ask

Actually searching for a grad school may seem like the hardest part, but if you’ve considered everything above, you have all the tools you need! Now you can use everything you know about your goals and yourself combined with the institutional differentiators to make an informed decision.  Here are the key resources for your graduate program search:

• Grad school search directories: Grad school search websites and directories like CollegeXpress's  Graduate School Search tool give you opportunities to search by many different variables and filters. 
• Individual colleges and universities: Talk to current students, recent graduates, and faculty. Visit the colleges (online and in person) and test out the differentiators that matter to you most.
• External assessments: This category of resources includes graduate school ranking lists and reports.   Use these tools while you're researching, but do not base your selection entirely on these reports.
• Surrounding community: Get to know and research the area the college is located in to assess your living priorities. 

Final thoughts and tips

I can’t stress enough the importance of individual research and planning as it relates to making the best choices for you and being a competitive candidate when you're ready to launch, relaunch, or continue your career through graduate school! Beyond that, here are a few closing tips: 

• Stay organized:  Find a way to organize your grad school search criteria by creating charts and assigning point values to some of your differentiators. Do the same for evaluating admission requirements and financial opportunities. 
• Ask questions and glean different perspectives: Look for consistent messages to validate the way the institution, program, and overall experience are presented. 
• Best fit will vary for everyone:  Only you can determine what’s ultimately important in your grad school search. Differentiators that may be important to you may not be to the person next to you. Gather information, but don’t be influenced by others. 
• Have a plan of attack: Preparing for the grad school search and managing multiple admission requirements and timelines are both good practice for the  organization and time management skills you’ll need in grad school. 
• Start early: Your grad school search and application process should begin 10–15 months prior to your desired term of entry.

Related:  Essential Grad School Search and Application Timeline

The right graduate program for you is going to depend entirely on your future goals and ambitions. There are broad degree programs that could prepare you for many different careers, and there are highly specific grad pathways that will take you to that one place you want to be. The choice is ultimately your own. Don’t let others sway you into doing what you think you should do over what you really want to do with the rest of your life.

What are you doing to find a great graduate program? Start here on CollegeXpress by using our featured grad school lists !

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• Find Your Perfect PhD
• Finding a PhD

Find Your PhD, Fast Finding a PhD has never been this easy – search for a PhD by keyword, location or academic area of interest. Search Now

• When looking for PhD research projects, a great place to start is with our comprehensive and up-to-date database .
• Speak with lecturers within your area of interest about potential PhD opportunities they may have.
• Attend Postgraduate Events . Whilst there, speak to current PhD students and career advisors to get an awareness of what PhD projects are on offer.
• Visit the postgraduate section of university websites and the PhD Research Council section of the GOV.UK website

Finding A PhD

Searching for PhD research projects can sometimes feel like daunting process. Often, it’s difficult to know where to find a PhD position or where to even start.

To make this searching process as easy as possible for you, we’ve curated a collection of the best places to search for PhD projects. By using our recommended collection, you should hopefully gain a greater insight into where your interests lie and which programme is best suited for you.

Our Comprehensive and Up-To-Date Directory

We can’t create a list of great resources and not include ourselves! At DiscoverPhDs, our primary aim is to connect great students to great PhD projects. To enable this, we provide a comprehensive database of PhD projects offered from universities all across the UK.

We regularly add to our database to ensure you’re getting the latest opportunities and the most relevant information and programme details. On top of this, we’ve created our database to be as easy to use as possible; all our PhD listings provide a direct ‘apply’ link or contact email address of the lead supervisor. This enables you to:

• Request further information about any aspect of the position,
• Enquire about the specific applications process,
• Connect directly with the supervisor

Universities Websites

Search on the website of the universities you are interested in as some many only be listing PhD research projects internally or may link you to other opportunities such as Professional Doctorate Programmes. As examples, have a look at the research pages of The University of Cambridge , Cardiff University , University of Leicester , Sheffield University and The University of Glasgow .

Your Current Supervisor

If you’re currently undertaking a research project or dissertation as part of your undergraduate or master’s degree, it would be a good idea to speak to your current supervisor. Not only would you have already built a good rapport with them, but having worked with you they will have a good idea on what PhD positions would utilise your strengths or best interest you. In fact, a noticeable percentage of past and current PhD students came into their PhD programme because of being recommended by their undergraduate supervisor. Your supervisor will be well-connected – make sure you take advantage of these opportunities.

Tip: Don’t just limit your discussion to your own personal supervisor. All supervisors are within their field of work because they have a natural passion for research and teaching. As such, most supervisors will be more than happy to help any student who wishes to follow in their footsteps and make their own impact.

Postgraduate Events

Nearly all universities hold regular Postgraduate Fairs and Open Days. As part of these events, current postgraduate students may be on hand to share their experiences of their projects and university. This is a fantastic opportunity to not only find out what PhDs the university is offering but to find out more about their facilities, research labs and library collection, etc. Given that you will be heavily relying on these resources during your PhD, it’s important that you know what’s provided by each university. Hearing student stories about what PhD life is really like, what to expect from supervisors and some of the challenges that current students have encountered can be really useful in your decision making process.

Besides the above, career advisers may also be available at these events. Speaking to them will help you understand what you can do with a PhD, whether a PhD is right for you, what degree class you’re expected to hold and how best to prepare for research projects. Seeing as they would have helped many PhD candidates through the decision-making process before, they will provide you with some invaluable insight that you would otherwise be oblivious to.

To help bring all Postgraduate Fairs and Open Days offered across all universities together, we’ve created a helpful Postgraduate Events page which we highly recommend you check out.

Research Councils

Research councils are nationally funded agencies which offer sponsored PhD research projects (also known as a PhD studentship). Different research councils cover different areas of research, these include:

• The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC),
• The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC),
• Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC),
• The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC),
• Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

The GOV.UK website has a full list of nationally-funded research councils available online. You can find further details on these councils on the GOV.UK website.

Although our database includes PhD programmes offered by these research councils, it would be a good idea to regularly browse the website of the ones you are particularly interested in case they list some internal only. These councils play an important role in supporting and encouraging doctoral researchers and they regularly hold calls for applications for PhD funding. If you or your potential supervisor have a PhD project proposal defined but need funding, then applying to these calls may become a key first milestone in your postgraduate research journey.

For example, the EPSRC offers a Doctoral Training Partnership programme in which a research student is given funding to pursue postgraduate study with a research question that aligns with the Councils core engineering and physical sciences themes. These awards often have eligibility criteria linked to them, impacting which postgraduate research students can apply; an international student, for example, may not be able to apply to a certain UK based scholarship scheme but there are several other options that can still help you fund your doctoral research; this may involve taking out a postgraduate loan (or more specifically a postgraduate doctoral loan).

To make this searching process as easy as possible for you, we’ve curated a collection of the best places to search for a PhD. By using our recommended collection, you should hopefully gain a greater insight into where your interests lie and which programme is best suited for you.

Further Resources

As you continue your search of PhD research projects, be sure to check our our PhD advice articles, including how to prepare for your PhD application, and interviews with current and past doctoral students. Many of the people we’ve interviewed have completed degrees within a STEM discipline; they offer a wide range of advice on their individual approaches to applied research and independent study, as well as sharing some the impact their work has had. Many have continued the research of their projects within academia after finishing, whilst some have developed successful careers in industry and business sectors.

It’s worth noting that when you apply to undertake doctoral study, you may first be registered as an MPhil researcher, depending on the specific doctoral programme you apply for, officially become a full PhD student after passing an upgrade viva. At the upgrade stage, some students do decide to graduate with an MPhil research degree rather than pursuing further PhD study however this is less common.

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I am currently debating whether to leave my PhD program- any advice?

TL;DR : Young graduate student in his first year of a PhD program who has lost a passion for the academic world. Seriously considering quitting but don't know what to do. Science background.

My background I'm 21-25, with a Science background, B.Sc in Physics. Took a year off between Undergrad and Grad school and worked full time as a research scientist. Theoretical background (most of my work has consisted of modelling). Strong quantitative and computer skills. Excel in presentation/project focused environments.

General Information I am currently finishing the second semester of my first year in a PhD program at a top tier US school in an engineering program. I have a full scholarship that pays for all of my tuition and a living stipend (typical graduate student stipend ~$1800 a month after taxes, so quite enough to live off of). I'm not a US citizen (from Canada), so I'm here on a student VISA, so if I decide to stop I have 2 weeks to leave the country. I cannot hold any other employment in the US while here on my VISA. My PhD consists of ~1.5 years of combined coursework and research, followed by a qualifier at the end of that period (research based), then into your thesis (doesn't have to be related to what your qualifier research was on).

Current Academic Situation I came first semester ready to start a new life...(first time moving away from home- did my undergrad where I was born). I did very well first semester (3.9/4.0 GPA) and research was on track (mostly lit. review). By the end of first semester however, I noticed that I was losing interest very quickly in both my coursework and research - it started to become very hard to get myself through to work on a daily basis. Went home Christmas break for a few weeks and came back to start my second semester and immediately noticed a big change. I started to struggle in my classes and fall behind on research. It wasn't that the material was too difficult, I just had no motivation to do it. No excuses here - just didn't really want to do it so I didn't. I reached the end of the semester and realized just how far behind I was. I am likely going to hit ~C average this semester (A last) and am drastically behind on research. I had weekly-biweekly meetings with my supervisor all semester, but I sort of hid just how bad things were going. Had a long meeting last week where I basically came clean on everything (said I was struggling in classes, behind on research) and the supervisor was very supportive. The supervisor believed in my potential and suggested I speak to a school counsellor and emphasized that this kind of thing was common for doctoral students.

Personal situation/feelings I come from a family where both my parents have PhDs. Although my parents have always been supportive and open to my life, I feel as though they would be very disappointed if I quit and this pressure is very real to me. I have tried to have the conversation with them and their attitude is mostly: "just put your head down and work through it, it's just a phase". Quite frankly most people seem to think it's a "phase" when I tell them. Outside of school my life is great. I'm not unhappy or depressed, I have hobbies, friends, I work out - it's just school that makes me feel this way. I just don't like the academic world at all any more. I HATE classes (always have) and where in the past research has been the saving grace keeping me interested in school, it now is losing a lot of it's appeal.

Basically, I feel no passion or drive for what I am doing any more. This for me is a huge problem. I'm not the kind of person who lacks passion in life. Quite the opposite in fact. Right now I have no such drive for school. I have a long term long distance relationship with someone from home that is incredibly happy and stable. They visited here many times since I moved and we are doing great. I would be lying if I said it wasn't a factor in me wanting to quit. (Having my partner move here is a lot more complicated). The relationship has been incredibly supportive and is very aware of my current situation and has maintained a very neutral stance, trying to play devils advocate wherever possible and trying to make sure it doesn't influence the decision. I should state that I am pretty sure if I had to choose between school and the relationship, I would choose the relationship immediately with no regrets.

I have just reached a point where I find myself doing just about anything else but school work. I'll get groceries, clean the apartment, watch TV etc... before doing any work. I'm trying to stick around for a couple of months for the summer (to see if not having classes changes anything) but since talking to my supervisor I'm already having doubts about even that. At this point, I feel like moving home and getting any job would make me happier than what I am doing.

Financial situation I have a few thousand dollars in the bank (enough to get me home /move out etc...) and zero debt. If I move back home, I can likely live with my parents for the first month to get back, then I'd be looking for a job and moving in with my partner. I realize having no debt puts me ahead of a lot of people and I'm not particularly concerned about the situation financially - I'm very lucky to have what I have and am aware of this.

So what's the deal? I know I have this amazing opportunity. I'm at a top tier school on a full scholarship. I wake up every day and get to work with the top minds in my field doing important research. I'm doing something a very small % of the population ever gets a chance at and yet still I have no motivation to do it. I'm not sure if I'm doing it for me any more, or I'm doing it so I don't let down other people in my life. My parents, mentors, friends, all the people who keep telling me how amazing this opportunity is. The more I look back, the more I realize that Grad school was what I did because I basically just didn't have another plan.

What would I like to do I'd love to find a job. I don't need to make a lot of money to be happy - I live off of 22k a year right now and am perfectly comfortable. Money isn't a major motivator for me. Working in the financial sector, doing quantitative risk analysis, banking, DoD, just about anything sounds more appealing than school to me. I know I'm smart and I've got a strong quantitative background combined with very good personal skills. I'm great with people and one of the things I HATE about the academic world is how under-used that part of my skill set feels.

I have no idea what to do. I want to quit, but I haven't. Maybe I shouldn't? I've been looking into options, but quite frankly I'd much prefer to have some kind of plan before quitting - at the very least this pays my living right now. I'd love advice from anyone. Someone who's been in this situation, someone who hasn't It doesn't matter.

I know that what I am doing does not make me happy. But I don't know what will. Please help.

Update two years later

I chose to leave school, and came home. My relationship fell apart but I found a decent job working for a tech startup and did that for about 1.5 years - I saved some money and took some time off and now I'm doing full time analytics consulting work for a website - It's working out well so far and I enjoy the freedom of it (work from home) etc. Though I do often wonder about what would have happened if I stayed, I don't regret it.

• graduate-school

• You mentioned (multiple times) how you hated classes in general - is it the same with the research you're doing? Because if thats the case, and a change of the area of research wouldn't affect your decision, then its certainly clear than you didn't really want Grad school. But if its just the coursework, I'll suggest that you bear it out, as its finite and not very important in the long run... –  TCSGrad Commented May 5, 2013 at 4:29
• 1 Questions should be written so that the questions and the answers they generate are useful to a broader community. The situation you are asking about is important, but your personal details might cloud the answer. –  Ben Norris Commented May 5, 2013 at 10:47
• 2 While the details of this question are not entirely generalizable, I think the overall situation is one a number of people are in, and so far all the answers have addressed the general situation rather than the specifics. –  Anonymous Mathematician Commented May 5, 2013 at 17:09
• 1 I answered a similar question: How should I deal with discouragement as a graduate student? –  Theresa Liao Commented May 7, 2013 at 22:08

15 Answers 15

Here is my general advice for graduate students who are thinking about quitting graduate school (and I'll sprinkle in some specific advice):

At one point or another, almost every graduate student wants to quit, so you're not alone . The fact that you're not alone doesn't solve any problems, but it may give you some peace of mind. The advice from your supportive advisor to seek out counseling is a very, very good one.

The decision to get a graduate degree is personal and different for everyone, but regardless it is a long-term decision that will probably have a significant effect on your future. The five or six years of your life spent doing it could open up many doors; that is not to say that other opportunities aren't worth considering. You really do have to do what is best for yourself, in the end.

Getting a PhD really does require passion (and in your case this is weaning right now). You can push through a pretty good chunk of time without it, but if you don't find the passion, it's going to be a long haul. If you were passionate and lost that, try to figure out what it was that you were passionate about before, and see if you can get back in the groove. One of my favorite Richard Feynman stories is about how he rebounded from a slump because he watched a spinning plate in the dining hall .

If you hate classes, make it a priority to finish them up quickly so you can concentrate on the research! Classes, while important, are not why you are in graduate school. A friend's advisor told his students that he would be upset if they were getting A+'s, meaning that they weren't spending enough time on research.

You can take time off from graduate school and come back later. This is hard to do (particularly if you have to leave the country), and you can't necessarily expect the same financial support when you return. But, you can do it, and if you need time off, take it. My suggestion for you if you are still on the fence about staying in grad school is to look at an internship somewhere for the summer where you are away from school and can clear your head. Then come back next semester.

All of my advice is kind of ignoring what may be your most important statement:

I want to quit, but I haven't.

If you've thought through all the reasons why you want to quit, and this is the answer, then you should take time off -- 'quit' is a harsh word, and not really a necessary one (see point 5). Your point is well taken that you shouldn't try to stick it out for anyone but yourself -- we all go through worries about disappointing others, but most people want you to be happy, and they will understand. You will almost certainly find a big weight lifted from your shoulders, and not extra pressure from those around you. Yes, having a plan before moving on is always a good idea, but I've been in a number of places in my life where I decided to do something before having a definite plan, and it all worked out in the end. Good luck!

• 14 To the contrary, I find the Feynman example misleading. I know quite a lot of people who are very passionate about some scientific stuff, but the discouragement comes from misalignment of it and topics or approaches at their PhDs. –  Piotr Migdal Commented Jun 19, 2013 at 11:16
• 1 @PiotrMigdal what you say is 100% right. –  Nafaa Boutefer Commented Sep 29, 2013 at 22:25
• 1 Best advise I got: Get over the stressful moment (finals, ...), perhaps wait until some break is (almost) over before thinking it though, and consider your situation calmly. –  vonbrand Commented Feb 28, 2016 at 1:40
• Love the Feynman anecdote! –  Joshua Wolff Commented May 21, 2020 at 3:01

Whatever you decide to do, just keep in mind that leaving a Ph.D. program because it's just not right for you does not represent any kind of failure on your part. I know plenty of people who didn't leave graduate school because they thought quitting would mean admitting that they couldn't hack it; this simply isn't true , and if your only reason for staying in school is that you don't want to disappoint your peers, parents, or advisor, then you should think long and hard about taking some time off from school and reassessing what you want to do.

Finish what you started.

I dropped out of a prestigious program 6 years ago, with much of the same reasoning:

• "The degree is just a piece of paper anyway"
• "If I want to learn things I can just learn them on my own"
• "What's the point? To spend that many years just to get a qualification to impress other people. I don't care about money, and if I want a job I can get a job now." (I was making $80/hour on contract work at the time.)
• "I'm planning on starting my own business"

But here I am, 6 years later, applying for grad school to give it another go.

Here are my reasons for going back: (I welcome people to correct me if I'm wrong about any of these!)

• Most full time employment is mindblowingly dull. As a student you don't fully appreciate this.
• A PhD is not very different from a job in the sense that you have to show up and do some work, most of which you don't necessarily want to do. The difference is, with a PhD you get something at the end, but with a job there is just endless tedium. Also with a graduate degree you get to use your brain a bit more.
• Your job prospects will be severely diminished, and your salary will be lower. It is fairly difficult to get a good research job without a graduate degree, and most opportunities outside of grunt work will be closed to you.
• In academia, you're used to working with smart people and having intelligent discussions, etc. If you leave and enter typical workforce, that goes away. There will always be a significant gap in academic potential between you and your colleagues and this will bother you because it means you are not hitting your potential and are effectively being under-utilized and under-paid.
• Feeling underutilized and unchallenged is very very bad. You will hate your job and therefore hate your life, and it all goes downhill from there..
• Everybody wants money. Most people that want money really badly, have at some point in their lives said "Nah, I don't care about money, money doesn't make you happy." Being broke doesn't make you happy either.
• The fact that you quit will forever haunt you. No amount of "Bill gates dropped out too" or "I'm too independent to need this" will make you feel better when you see your former classmates graduate with PhDs while you have to live with the fact that you started but gave up.
• In the workforce it doesn't always matter how smart you are. Most places I've interviewed have trouble hiding how impressed they were, and several have told me directly that I'm the best candidate they've ever seen. I always breezed through the most difficult interview questions and I've gotten offers from Google, Facebook, Amazon, Goldman Sachs, etc. BUT at the end of the day all of the jobs they offered were boring menial tasks. You could argue that it's possible to start with a menial job and then work your way up, but as I mentioned before, a PhD is also a job, why not just finish that?

Also, regarding your note on quantitative finance, please be very aware that the world of quantitative finance is very competitive and most places won't consider you if you don't have a PhD. I know because I tried several times to get a job doing quant work, but every firm I spoke with only offered back-end jobs doing menial SQL work. Your mileage may vary, but be warned that most people don't care about how good you think your quantitative skills are. (One fairly famous hedge fund manager told me very directly "everyone thinks they're going to be great at a new skill, so why would anyone risk their money on an unknown, unproven entity?".)

• 1 I just noticed this was asked in May 2013 and not May 2014, oops! Ah well. –  CaptainCodeman Commented Jun 5, 2014 at 14:28
• 3 I concur, the possibility of being underutilized and unchallenged in typical workplace is one major reason for me to strive to stay in academia. Working at big names like "Google, Facebook, Amazon, Goldman Sachs, etc." also boils down to boring menial tasks? Can you please elaborate on this? I don't have any industrial experience. –  sinoTrinity Commented Jul 2, 2014 at 3:46
• 8 @sinoTrinity What I did not know when I left uni, was that there is a huge division in the real world between "developers that come up with ideas that improve the business", (aka "researchers") and "developers that should do as they're told" (aka "programmers", "SQL developers", "engineers", ...) Generally speaking, most software jobs fall into the second category. e.g. I got a job at Goldman Sachs, and I thought I would be working on financial models, but it turned out they wanted me to write programs to draw bar charts showing their profit. Same with Google, they just wanted a mobile dev. –  CaptainCodeman Commented Jul 2, 2014 at 7:13
• 1 ok, but don't you acknowledge that you could have found a different team in Google that does something more interesting, or at Goldman. For example, you could have been doing risk analysis at Sachs or Search optmization at Google with a Masters. –  codekitty Commented Aug 10, 2015 at 18:55
• One thing I do want to add, however, is that getting a PhD in Japan and Korea is restrictive for prospects whereas not having a degree is not. (Just a point to consider for potential readers from those countries) –  virmaior Commented Sep 12, 2015 at 8:14

I'm surprised that both the question and the existing answers talk little about what used to motivate you to do research. You wrote, "where in the past research has been the saving grace keeping me interested in school, it now is losing a lot of its appeal". So what was that appeal, and how did it get lost?

Here are some possible answers, from my own experience; I'm sure there may be others in your case.

Did you get disillusioned about your field of research? Perhaps in the beginning you thought that if problems in this field were solved it would make a difference in the world, and now it seems that the big problems can't be solved and solving the small problems won't make a big difference?

Did you get disillusioned about academia? Did you have experiences that changed your view of academia? Did you come in the pursuit of truth and found that a lot of it is about the pursuit of publications?

Did you get disillusioned about your own abilities? Perhaps you were used to often being the best at what you were doing, and now you're surrounded by more smart people and your abilities seem less exceptional (and thus less motivating) in comparison?

Or perhaps your motivation had always been to please your parents and now that's not enough anymore?

I think having a clear understanding of what used to motivate you and why it stopped motivating you is a necessary and sufficient basis for the decision you're trying to make. If you lost interest in this particular field, you might have to look for a new field. If you lost the motivation that comes from a strong belief in your exceptional abilities, you might have to learn to enjoy being among the best and not necessarily the best. If your view of academia changed, you might try to find a place where academia is more how you'd like it to be, or if there doesn't seem to be one, perhaps academia isn't the right place for you. If you were only doing it for your parents, perhaps you should just leave. And if you lost interest because it turned out to be harder than you expected, then perhaps you should indeed "just put your head down and work through it, it's just a phase".

I think the key to sorting this out for yourself is to keep an open mind about your own motivations. Some of them may have been very pure and just got lost along the way and perhaps you can tap into them again; some of them may not seem so desirable now that you take a new look at them, and you may be glad not to have them anymore; but whatever they are, what's important is that you're honest about them to yourself and figure out how and why they changed, and that might allow you to see where they're leading you and whether staying or leaving is more in line with what's important to you now.

• 2 I like this post a lot because it clearly states the things almost everyone gets disillusioned about during a PhD: academia, your research topic, and your own potential. Losing faith in only one would be enough to affect you emotionally, but it's rarely just one. Accepting that both reaching your limits and the emotional journey (especially the negative emotions) are part of the program helps to stay positive. –  FvD Commented Aug 2, 2018 at 7:19

You are not alone.

Most graduate students are in their 20’s. Many have boy/girl friends and are away from their partners while in school. Many graduate students are international. They go abroad to study. They are away from their home countries. They study in a different environment/culture. They may have language problems. Fortunately, your situation is not that bad. Many graduate students go to graduate school as a family tradition. Their parents/relatives are academics. They were raised to be academics.

Most (if not all) graduate students have trouble with their course/research works in school one time or another. Many graduate students lose their interests in the school. Some quit. Some stay.

Your long post seems to suggest to me that you mixed your personal life with the graduate school life. We are human. We have emotions. We let our personal life interfere with other aspects of our life sometimes. We know we should not let it happen. But, it happens.

You did well in the first semester. Everything changed in the second one. Something happened. No one knows what happened except you. In other words, you are the only one who knows the answer.

I would suggest you to take a break, long or short, to figure out what you really want to do. Then, make your own decision.

There are good answers and commentaries here. I will not repeat them. I would emphasize something very important, your future is yours.

• 3 We know we should not let it happen — Huh? Why not? –  JeffE Commented May 7, 2013 at 6:41
• 6 @JeffE Sometimes, personal life would jeopardize the professional life. That’s what I mean. I am actually a victim. I gave up my academic life for personal reasons. I always regret it. Too late to change that. I try not to mention it in the answer because it’s too personal. –  Nobody Commented May 7, 2013 at 6:53

PhDs are not for everyone. That's why most top-tier schools have about a 50% retention rate, some closer to 25-30%. You need to discover what makes you passionate, and it might not be what a PhD will get you.

I have a friend who is currently getting his Bachelor's degree. His father is a rocket scientist for NASA, so naturally he went into the Physics program. It took only a couple semesters of C's and D's for him to realize Physics isn't for him, so he switched to Computer Science. Then he realized he hates Math, so he wanted to switch majors again.

All this time, though, he has had a creative outlet. He makes things, sometimes out of leather, sometimes out of steel; the other day he came to class with a clay pot he'd just finished. Toward the end of this last semester he went through with changing his major one last time. He already has too many CS credits to give up on that major altogether, but he's dropping the Math minor that comes de facto and is picking up an Art minor instead.

I've never seen him happier than he is now. He found what he's passionate about, and it's not what his father did. You have to discover your passion. And it sounds like the job you had back home is just that.

If you don't feel any passion or motivation after the second semester, I'd say you have to really take a hard look at if graduate school is something for you as you'd still have a few years to go. If you should quit or not firstly depends on what you want. You need to try and find out why you lost your passion. Was it there first, and did something cause it to leave? Where you ambivalent about graduate school, and now you found out it was not for you?

Please do not stay just because you might disappoint others, live is just too short for that.

Given the glut of PhD's I would suggest that you get a real job. A PhD is worth only if you are really interested in doing research otherwise you'll waste 4-5 years (then another 3-4 years doing a postdoc). Faculty positions are few and far between and then you'll have to worry about getting funds/tenure. So unless you're highly motivated by research/academia you'll mostly be miserable. In the industry a PhD doesn't make much more then a Masters and significantly less than a MBA, so there is no financial justification. Also there is a very good chance that you'll be working on things which don't even require a PhD. Some are lucky to find a good research environment but not everyone.

On the flip side if you do quit now then at some point you'll regret not getting a PhD. So think about what you want to do in life (besides having and providing for your children). A (PhD) degree is just a means to an end. People sometimes get emotional about it but they should not. Talk to your parents and I am sure they'll understand.

• 3 "A PhD is worth only if you are really interested in doing research" -- citation needed . Google, for instance, hires many PhDs and most of their time is spent in non-research work . –  Chris Gregg Commented May 6, 2013 at 12:43
• 5 @ChrisGregg Yes, but Google would have hired many of those same people with only master's or even bachelor's degrees. –  JeffE Commented May 6, 2013 at 12:55
• 7 Google gets PhDs for pretty much the same money as those with MS. I dont know of any firm where entry level PhDs are being paid 1.5x or more than those with MS or even BS. –  user7021 Commented May 6, 2013 at 14:25
• 1 @user7021 Yes, there is one. It is called Renaissance technologies. –  user774025 Commented Nov 2, 2013 at 8:21

I know how you feel because even as an undergraduate, I once packed my bags. But a friend prevailed on me and I'm still thankful for not quitting. Consider the following:

If you start a count down to finish date and get really excited about seeing the day approach, you'll know time passes really quickly.

Our emotions/feeling/circumstances are temporary/passing but our achievements (good or bad) are permanent.

Creative/innovative people (like you) get tired of routine. If you take interest in something around you that requires you to learn something challenging (say music) or something alien to you, your PhD vital signs may be positively influence.

I am not an expert at these things but I know that when I get tired of routine... I stimulate my creativity somewhere else... Not for the gain but for the challenge.

Good luck man...

First and foremost, you have to look out for you, and only you. By this, I mean your well-being, your happiness and your own future.

As many have said, rather than quit at this stage, take some time out from the study. If I may suggest some things to do in your hiatus - volunteer work, teaching in a high school, perhaps try something completely different.

You are definitely not alone - I am a PhD student and have found myself in the exact some situation, took some time - concentrated on my job (teaching), travelled, lived overseas, even did some acting. I felt rejuvenated and ready to tackle the project. In my case, I returned to study. But, all situations are very different - you have to give yourself some time and space to work out what it is you want.

I read your post and from what I can see you don't sound like you enjoy your PhD or academic life in general. I personally did not find the reason why your situation became so hard. Perhaps you don't feel ok with the fact that your girlfriend is at home and you have to be somewhere else. Perhaps you you don't find the project entertaining. I'd say it might be the research itself that does not motivate you. One thing I am certain about is that you have to feel passion for doing research. You need to be determined and driven. Otherwise, it's easy to lose motivation.

You may need to ask yourself if you really need to stay where you are! PhD is for those who plan to be professional researchers. It's only counts if you plan to stay at any university. Not only will this have to be your everyday job, you will also have to be the person who proposes many new projects and be a leader for others. If don't see yourself in this roll, then it's probably better if you consider quitting. It's nothing wrong with quitting PhD. Besides, you can still begin a PhD somewhere else. You don't need to stick to the one you don't enjoy.

I can tell you that I met many people in my office. Everyone of them had their sort of crisis and this seems quite natural stage in the whole process. The research is also not a usual job and can be frustrating. Things always go wrong. Only determination, enjoyment, and passion make people stay and continue their PhDs.

As some of the others already said, It's nothing wrong when you quit PhD. Taking a longer break, coming home for couple of months, calming down may help you realise and understand a lot of things which are difficult to spot when you under pressure.

• "PhD is for those who plan to be professional researchers" <- Not necessarily; there are other valid reasons. But you do need a good reason to work on whatever research you're working on - or you're unlikely to persevere. Don't work on Ph.D. research out of some kind of "academic inertia", because of your good grades/positive experience as an undergrad. –  einpoklum Commented Nov 17, 2020 at 13:14

It seems to me like the fundamental question here is that of whether or not your current feelings are part of a typical grad student "phase" or indicative of misaligned life goals, priorities, etc. on a much deeper level. Ultimately, a question you'll have to answer on your own and most likely by trusting your gut and intuition.

There are many, many reasons why you might be feeling the way you do now. From your description it's clear that you started the PhD process knowing you were accepting less than ideal conditions in some areas of your life with the understanding that these would be offset by other benefits. You might be more or less ambivalent about some of those benefits now that you're in the process, and the tradeoffs and benefits would certainly change if you were to switch sides and leave the program.

I would suggest assuming, for the time being, that one-year-ago you made a well educated calculation of the costs-benefits of the PhD program, in particular with a time horizon greater than 5 years.

Staying in the program then means trusting in the vision of one-year-ago you in that the long-term benefits to your life outweigh the immediate suffering (including the less than ideal use of your skills and the momentary loss of passion). On the other hand, your valuation of the tradeoffs and benefits of the PhD may have changed more than you expected, in particular with respect to your relationship or your connection to the research area.

The way to know this, in short, is to trust yourself. If your current path is just wrong for you -- if you feel you're compromising some fundamental part of yourself -- then trust that feeling. Otherwise, trust your prior vision: accept that your feelings are part of the PhD journey and trust that you'll find your passion again soon (when you stop putting pressure on yourself to find it).

One last thought that might really be the crux of the issue is that getting a PhD is a highly individualistic and very lonely experience. Richard Butterworth has a talk that really drove this home in which he says:

A PhD, by its very nature, is a very individualistic venture. ... The next big surprise for people who are starting PhDs after an undergraduate degree is just how excrutiatingly lonely a PhD is.

Your issues are real and I do not want to discount them in anyway.

In my view, you are in a privileged position and if you can make the most of it, then it would be not be a loss (as you tend to describe your experience now).

Here is a simple test: think of where you want to be in (say) five years from now? If you want to be in a place which requires a PhD, then start working on it now, other wise get out.

I know this is simplistic but it works when the issues are complicated and there are no easy solutions. At least in this way, you will make an informed decision and will not have the guilt later on!

Just suck it in and get it!

After you pass all the formal requirements, you will have a mini-tenure for 3/4/5 years (depending on the Dept you are in). I was thinking to quit first two years but now (in the mini-tenure period) I'm enjoying my life and research (from 9 to 5 only).

Try it, if you don't like it, you can always quit.

See if you can get a Master's in your second year, so that your graduate studies are not completely wasted. This is but too common in doctoral programs that they let students who are admitted to doctoral programs without being the "doctorate material" to finish the required number of courses, take the qualifier as the bottom line as far as qualification goes, and let you off with a Master's degree. They don't like that, but that's likely flight overbooking: you know that some people are not going to make it. Discuss this with your adviser.

For what I see on the earnings curves, there's a notable jump at 4 years of college/getting a Bachelor's degree, where the average earnings jump up by may be 15% from "Some college" to "BA degree" category. After that, the incomes are pretty flat, with a very modest 2 or so % return per year of education. So you ain't losing much in income, but an unfinished degree puts a big "L" across your forehead. I mean, if you drop out and found a Google or a Facebook, that's fine, but the probability of that happening is about 1e-6. (You don't know how funny that 20k figure is going to look like when your new wife asks you: "As I am expecting a baby, we need a bigger house... and also please open the college saving account for our baby", so your bold statements about income are totally out of line with real life. Or at least the life you will have in 10 years time.) The engineers that I taught seem to be starting off at $40-50Kpa, and I see no reason why a guy with a decent quant background should be making less than that.

• 11 who are admitted to doctoral programs without being the "doctorate material" — ...or decide for some other reason not to complete the PhD program. Your framing strongly suggests that everyone who drops out of their PhD program just aren't good enough; in my experience, this isn't even true as a first approximation. –  JeffE Commented May 6, 2013 at 22:39
• 11 an unfinished degree puts a big "L" across your forehead — Oh, come on. Seriously? –  JeffE Commented May 6, 2013 at 22:40
• 13 "an unfinished degree puts a big "L" across your forehead" "I have to say I don't know very many people who dropped out of a Ph.D. program." You probably do, they just choose not to be friends with you –  Amy Commented May 7, 2013 at 4:29
• 4 I also don't understand why an unfinished degree looks like a big "L". I was accepted into a program at a top tier school, which obviously means I was qualified to be there (full scholarship as well). I am doing well in my program despite my sentiments. Why would an employer frown upon me saying something like "Well, I went to do my PhD and I did very well, but I very quickly realized I didn't have passion for my research anymore and the doctorate did not feel like a good fit. Now I am searching for employment opportunities such as this one where I feel my skills and passion will be utilized" –  user7007 Commented May 7, 2013 at 6:13
• 14 @StasK I think your views on the matter are a little harsh (and in a way contribute to the fear people have of leaving a Ph.D program). A Ph.D is not the culmination of your academic career. It's a career choice , and like any choice is right for some and not for others. People are tempted to go for a Ph.D because it looks like "more school", but it takes time to realize that it's a choice of career and that it might not even be the right one. –  Suresh Commented May 7, 2013 at 16:17

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PhD vs MD vs MD PhD – What’s right for you?

• Cracking Med School Admissions Team

For some students, choosing between a career in medicine and one in science seems like an impossible task. Many times, students will engage in research during college and develop an interest in medicine and do not want to give up the ability to do both by pursuing either a PhD or MD. Recognizing this desire, many medical schools have also created MD-PhD combined programs that allow students to get both degrees. With the plethora of options offered for graduate degrees coming out of college, many applicants are unsure of which program is best for them.

In this blog post, we will cover the following topics:

• PhD vs MD vs MD PhD?

What are the differences between PhD vs MD?

• MD vs MD PhD – which is right for a future doctor?
• Pros and Cons of MD PhD
• Complete List of MSTP Programs
• Resources for future MD PhD Applicants

Our Students Were Accepted at These MD PhD Programs!

PhD vs MD vs MD PhD

Before we analyze the differences between these programs, we will clearly define what each program consists of.

What is a PhD? PhD programs are funded graduate doctoral degree programs ranging from 4-8 years offered by research universities to teach and mentor graduates to contribute to research in their field, develop societal solutions, and train the next generation of scientists.

What is an MD? MD degrees are granted by allopathic medical schools in the United States, last four years, and prepare graduates to enter the world of medicine as physicians, usually through continued training in residency and fellowship programs.

What is an MD PhD program? MD/PhD programs are funded programs that last 7-9 years and train graduates to be clinical and academic leaders as both physicians and researchers who work closely with patients but also dedicate a significant amount of their time to researching areas adjacent to medicine to improve knowledge and treatment protocols.

When deciding PhD vs MD vs MD PhD, most students will first need to decide what aspects of science are most interesting to them – do they enjoy the interpersonal interactions or working with the biology itself to make new discoveries? First, let’s look at the differences between a PhD vs MD. There are three core differences between getting a PhD and an MD: career opportunities, admissions and training, and cost.

Career Options

As rigorous and prestigious degree programs, both MDs and PhDs have a plethora of career opportunities available to them. Most graduates from MD programs elected to continue their training by completing a residency and fellowship to become specialized and practice medicine. Nonetheless some graduates also choose to pursue alternative careers in public health, business, or education. In fact, 32% of graduates from Stanford’s MD program [1] chose not to a pursue a residency, many drawn by the allure of alternative ways to produce impact in society.

PhD graduates tend to have slightly more options, in both the academic and professional spheres. Many PhD candidates choose to pursue the established path of joining a research university to perform their research while teaching undergraduate and graduate students. This path often is best suited for those extremely passionate about their research topics who seek to mentor younger researchers and students but suffers from department politics attached to rising up professorial ranks and difficulties in receiving funding in certain disciplines.

Many other graduates choose to pursue non-academic work, whether it is joining an established industry company, starting their own companies, or working in public sector agencies. In these endeavors, they are able to leverage much of their subject matter expertise to conduct research, assess business operations and growth options, and contribute to public health or public works initiatives. At the same time, many graduates who take this path may find themselves drifting away from their academic routes and may find a slightly more fast-paced lifestyle than in academia.

Whether you pursue and MD degree or PhD degree, there are several post-graduate career options. 

Admissions and Training

Admissions and training processes and timelines are also highly variable between MD and PhD paths, and require different planning for each.

MD Admissions and Training: MD programs often have extremely long admissions timelines, often starting two years before matriculation when many students begin studying for the MCAT (the medical school admissions exam). In addition, the increasing expectations of applicants has resulted in an increasing number of students taking gap years to adequately prepare to apply. After applying and matriculating, medical students have four years of medical school, followed by anywhere from 3-10 years of post-graduate specialization training. Furthermore, applications often have multiple components, require in-person interviews, and have delayed decision timelines.

PhD Admissions and Training: In contrast, PhD programs have relatively simpler timelines, with most students applying the winter before they plan to matriculate, with many schools not requiring standardized testing (GRE) to apply. After applying, many students receive interviews within a few weeks and an admissions decision soon after. After matriculating, program length can differ significantly, but usually consists of 5-8 years of graduate research and training before one is able to complete their degree.

Despite recruiting students with similar skillsets and backgrounds, medical school and graduate PhD programs have radically different cost structures. While pursuing an MD is a costly endeavor (often ranging from $200-400k), PhDs are usually fully funded and most students receive a generous living stipend. With this in mind, one would assume that most students would naturally gravitate to a PhD. However, while the median biology PhD starting salary is $100k [2] , the median starting salary for a physician is double – at $200k [2] – such that many physicians recoup the cost of their education in the long term. Although the ultimate decision will depend on your desire to take on loans and your career and training area preferences, cost is undoubtably an important component of this decision as well.

What are the differences between MD vs MD PhD

Differences between MD and MD-PhD admissions are neither widely discussed nor well understood, mostly because only 6-7% of students applying to medical school choose to pursue this path. [4]  

MD-PhD programs are one of many dual-degree programs offered by medical schools and allow you to receive medical training while developing expertise in a particular research area. Your research focus can range from hard science like molecular biology and genetics to the social sciences like sociology. Since you would be getting two degrees, a MD-PhD program is designed to take 7-8 years, instead of 4 years for medical school and 5-6 years for a PhD. Usually, MD-PhD candidates will spend their first two years doing pre-clinical coursework with MD students. After completing their pre-medical requirements and taking the STEP 1 exam, MD-PhD students will usually take 3-5 years for their doctoral studies before they return for their final two years of clinical rotations.

In the United States, there are approximately 130 MD-PhD programs and 45 of these programs are known as Medical Scientist Training Programs (MSTP) programs. MSTP programs are funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and are very competitive as they offer full tuition coverage, support with living expenses, and a stipend. While some MD-PhD programs are funded by institutions, many of them may not offer the same financial support as an MSTP program.

Since the key difference between the MD and MD-PhD program is the emphasis on research, make sure that you will be able to demonstrate a longstanding commitment to research and that you have tangibly and significantly contributed to research projects, which can take the form of presentations or serving as an author on papers. Also, make sure that your research mentor is prepared to submit a strong recommendation to attest to your readiness for such a rigorous program.

Only 6-7% of medical school applicants apply as an MD PhD candidate

AMCAS most meaningful activity example #2: This applicant chose to write about his work in the emergency room. You can see both the 700 character AMCAS activity description and the 1325 character AMCAS most meaningful essay.

Pros and Cons of Applying MD PhD

Pros of applying md phd vs md, why md phd #1: tuition funding .

There is no doubting it – medical school is very expensive. Since many MD-PhD programs are fully funded with a living stipend on top, many MD-PhD candidates feel that they are being “paid” to pursue this education. While many of their medical school classmates will graduate with tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, most MD-PhD candidates will not incur any cost during the course of their degree, attracting many looking to avoid accumulating further debt in addition to whatever was accrued during college. Although this funding seems attractive at first, it is important to remember that it comes at the cost of four more years, which could be time spent earning an attending’s salary. Depending on your choice of specialty, receiving this funding could actually be a negative if you aren’t interested in research.

Why MD PhD #2: Allows you to pursue 2 passions

If you are unable to decide between science and medicine, or want to pursue both, applying to an MD-PhD program will allow you to bridge these two disciplines and enjoy the best of both worlds. Many MD-PhD candidates believe that their professional careers would be incomplete without both research and medicine or seek to combine these two passions in their career. These are the exact candidates that MD-PhD programs exist for as they open up many opportunities that may not be available for regular MD students. Especially if you hope to have a career in academia or research-based medical universities, the skills and competencies of doing research and applying for grants is highly prized.

Why MD PhD #3: Receive great research and medical training in a shorter time period

It is undeniable that the condensed time frame of the MD-PhD program is highly appealing to those who seek to pursue both degrees. Instead of taking 9-10 years if completed separately, an MD-PhD program is highly integrated and structured to allow you to focus on one pursuit at a time while still providing continuity so that you can do research during your medical training and medical volunteering while completing your doctoral work. This blend allows for the shorter time period and still allows you to benefit from receiving high quality science and medical instruction.

Cons of Applying MD PhD vs MD

Why not apply md phd #1: time to complete degree .

Although the condensed format is ideal for those who have their hearts set on getting both an MD and a PhD, if you are unsure about pursuing both degrees or have a clear preference for one, the significantly longer educational period is a major factor to consider. A major aspect of the admission process for the MD-PhD is determining if you are prepared to make an almost decade-long commitment to a discipline, institution, and city. The projected 7-8 years to complete an MD-PhD is just that – a projection. Many times, there are factors both inside and outside of your control that can cause this number to vary greatly and increase to up to 10 years. Furthermore, since many people start their MD-PhDs at 23 or 24 years old, they often complete their residency in their late 30s, a fundamentally different time of your life where many of your friends from college may already have families and have been in the workforce for over a decade.

Why not apply MD PhD #2: You can still do research without a PhD

Although MD-PhD students learn how to apply for grants and the research skills necessary to drive their future academic careers, many MD students often pick up these skills if they take a research year, pursue a master’s degree, or spend a significant amount of time doing research in residency and beyond. In fact, while many researchers in academic institutions are PhDs or MD-PhDs, there are also numerous MDs who spend a large amount of their time dedicated to both clinical and basic science research. Furthermore, if your research interests are solely clinical in nature, you may be better served developing these skills in a residency or pursuing a master’s degree than pursuing an MD-PhD, which is usually more suited for basic scientists. Another downside to the MD-PhD is that while you will be focused on trying to pursue two separate paths as a clinician and scientists, many of your peers will be spending all of their time focusing on one of the two, which may put you at a disadvantage compared to them.

Why not apply MD PhD #3: May limit specialty choice

Finally, while MD-PhD students can technically pursue any residency after they graduate medical school, there is often a push to place them in less competitive and non-surgical specialties where they will have less clinical time and therefore more time to dedicate to their research work. Since surgical specialties are highly procedural, research is often a secondary consideration and usually not as prized as surgical dexterity. Furthermore, since you are more valuable to an academic center as a surgeon performing high value elective procedures than as a researcher, there is often a push to have surgeons focus on their clinical work. Similarly, many MD-PhDs may be encouraged to pursue less competitive specialties where they have more time to focus on their research work or where their research funding may be more valuable than the money they bring in from being a clinician. Although an MD-PhD student is free to pursue any specialty that they desire, these pressures are commonplace and often can stifle strong clinical preferences in favor of research potential.

List of MSTP Programs

As stated earlier, MSTP MD PhD programs are fully funded by the National Institutes of Health. 

As of 2021, here is the list of MSTP MD PhD programs by state.

University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine http://www.uab.edu/medicine/mstp

Stanford University  http://med.stanford.edu/mstp.html

University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine https://vstp.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/

University of California, Irvine School of Medicine http://www.mstp.uci.edu

University of California, Los Angeles & Cal Tech California Institute of Technology David Geffen School of Medicine http://mstp.healthsciences.ucla.edu

University of California, San Diego School of Medicine http://mstp.ucsd.edu

University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine https://mstp.ucsf.edu/

University of Colorado Denver http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/medicalschool/education/degree_programs/mstp/pages/MSTP.aspx

Connecticut

Yale University School of Medicine http://medicine.yale.edu/mdphd

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine http://mdphd.med.miami.edu

Emory University School of Medicine M.D./Ph.D. Program http://med.emory.edu/MDPHD

Northwestern University Medical School http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/sites/mstp

University of Chicago Medical Scientist Training Program https://pritzker.uchicago.edu/academics/mstp-landing-page

University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine http://chicago.medicine.uic.edu/mstp

Indiana University School of Medicine, MSTP https://medicine.iu.edu/education/dual-degrees/

University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine https://medicine.uiowa.edu/mstp?

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine https://mdphd.johnshopkins.edu/

University of Maryland School of Medicine http://mdphd.umaryland.edu

Massachusetts

Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts Institute of Technology

There are two MD/PhD programs through Pathways and HST. Read more about Harvard Medical School here:  https://crackingmedadmissions.com/how-to-get-into-harvard-medical-school/ http://www.hms.harvard.edu/md_phd

Tufts University School of Medicine http://sackler.tufts.edu/Academics/MSTP-Welcome

University of Massachusetts Medical School http://umassmed.edu/mdphd

University of Michigan Medical School http://medicine.umich.edu/medschool/education/mdphd-program

University of Minnesota Medical School http://www.med.umn.edu/mdphd

Mayo Medical School https://college.mayo.edu/academics/biomedical-research-training/medical-scientist-training-program-md-phd/

Washington University School of Medicine http://mstp.wustl.edu

Albert Einstein College of Medicine http://www.einstein.yu.edu/education/mstp

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/mdphd

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai http://icahn.mssm.edu/education/graduate/md-phd-program

New York University School of Medicine http://www.med.nyu.edu/sackler/mdphd-program

Stony Brook University https://medicine.stonybrookmedicine.edu/mstp

University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/education/md/md-phd

Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan-Kettering Tri-Institutional MD PhD  Program http://weill.cornell.edu/mdphd

North Carolina

Duke University Medical Center https://medschool.duke.edu/education/degree-programs-and-admissions/medical-scientist-training-program

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine http://www.med.unc.edu/mdphd

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine http://mstp.cwru.edu

Ohio State University College of Medicine http://medicine.osu.edu/mstp

University of Cincinnati College of Medicine MSTP http://www.med.uc.edu/MSTP

Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine http://www.ohsu.edu/mdphd

Pennsylvania

Penn State College of Medicine http://www.pennstatehershey.org/web/mdphd

University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine http://www.med.upenn.edu/mstp

University of Pittsburgh http://www.mdphd.pitt.edu

South Carolina

Medical University of South Carolina https://education.musc.edu/colleges/graduate-studies/academics/dual-degree/mstp

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine MSTP https://medschool.vanderbilt.edu/mstp

Baylor College of Medicine MSTP https://www.bcm.edu/education/programs/md-phd-program

University of Texas Health Science Center Houston Department of Internal Medicine https://gsbs.uth.edu/mdphd/

University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio Department of Neurology, Pharmacology, and Physiology https://lsom.uthscsa.edu/mimg/

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas https://www.utsouthwestern.edu/

University of Virginia Health System MSTP Program http://mstp.med.virginia.edu

University of Washington School of Medicine http://www.mstp.washington.edu

Medical College of Wisconsin MSTP https://www.mcw.edu/education/medical-scientist-training-program

University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health http://mstp.med.wisc.edu

Read our medical school profiles to learn more about each individual school. 

Now that we have reviewed what MD, PhD, and MD-PhD degrees consists of and how to apply, as well as some of the pros and cons of pursuing a MD-PhD program, we hope that you can make an informed decision about your graduate education! Even if you choose not to pursue an MD or PhD, many institutions have accelerated programs that allow MD or PhD graduates to complete the other degree in a shorter timeframe. Similarly, many medical schools even allow students to apply to add a PhD portion onto their education before they begin their clinical training. Regardless of whichever path is right for you, all three offer incredible opportunities to pursue scientific passions and work towards solving societal issues.

Here are some Cracking Med School Admissions Resources you will find helpful as you think about MD PhD programs:

• How To Shadow A Doctor
• Resume, CV, and Cover Letter Edits
• Premed Timeline: Planning For Medical School Applications

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• Studying For A PhD

find your perfect postgrad program Search our Database of 30,000 Courses

Are you ready for a phd.

Studying for a PhD is a highly rewarding experience that opens up a whole new world of possibilities, but it is also a decision that you have to take very seriously.

If you are considering embarking on this journey, you need to have a look in the mirror and ask yourself whether it is really something that you wish to do. Do you have the time to devote the the necessary studies? As studying for a doctorate degree can take up to 10 years if you opt to study part time! You should also consider the financial implications associated with studying a PhD , as it can be very costly.

If you start a PhD without being completely sure about your decision it is not a good basis for academic success.

Prospective PhD students should consider many different factors when deciding on whether to study a PhD or not, and to make this decision easier for you, we have devised a few important questions for you to answer and these should help you find out whether you really are ready and fully prepared to start a PhD . This test will evaluate whether you are ready to become a PhD student and if you can handle the challenges that being a PhD student will bring. If you answer the majority of these questions positively we believe you are ready to become a PhD student, but make sure you are honest in your answers!

1. Do you have a personally satisfying reason to undertake a PhD?

If someone could have a look inside your brain and read your mind, would there be at least one emotionally or rationally satisfying reason for you to undertake a PhD? People have different reasons for doing a PhD , and each reason is equally valid. Einstein once said that everything is relative, and that’s certainly true when choosing the right reason to do a PhD. What may seem an uninspiring or shallow reason for one person may be deemed as the perfect reason for somebody else. While your friend’s inspiration may be getting the title of ‘Dr’ you may view this as a less important factor. It’s not uncommon for students who have started a PhD without a good reason to drop out in the middle of the course because they lose their motivation so it is essential that you begin your PhD with a personally satisfying reason to ensure that you don’t just wake up one morning without the motivation to continue your course. It doesn’t matter whether your reason is universally right, only that it is the right reason for you!

2. IQ = W: Are you as hard working as you are intelligent?

3. Have you found the right department for your PhD?

Some people believe in soul mates – it’s romantic to think that there is some unconscious force attracting you to a partner regardless of time and space... However, when it comes to finding your “soul department”, these almost certainly do not exist! There is probably not an unconscious force attracting you to the university department that’s perfect for you, instead selecting your department should be a thorough evaluation process. Do you like the city in which your department is situated? Do your research goals overlap with those of that department? Is the PhD you are applying to do enough of an intellectual challenge for you? These are some of the questions you will have to answer when considering which department to study your PhD at .

4. Will doing a PhD enhance the type of career you want to pursue?

Starting a PhD without finding out whether it will enhance the type of career you desire is like refilling your car without checking what type of fuel you should be using... and if you fill a diesel car with unleaded you won’t get very far! If you wish to use your PhD as a vehicle to take you to your desired career destination you need to make sure it is travelling in the right direction. Read our article on Why to PhD  to find out more about how a PhD can aid your career in either academia or in the professional workplace.

5. Are you patient enough to do a PhD?

Have you ever heard of the marshmallow test? In it a child is left alone in a room with a marshmallow and is given a choice to either eat it immediately or wait for 15 minutes. Those who wait for 15 minutes get another marshmallow and can eat both of them, however, those who eat the marshmallow immediately there is no second marshmallow...  Well, studying for a PhD could be compared to doing the marshmallow test, in that you have to stare at a marshmallow for 3-4 years without eating it! In other words, you need to be able to work on a project for 3-4 years without getting any immediate reward. If you prefer to constantly receive rewards for doing your work, getting a job may be a better option. But on the flip side, when it comes to PhD although patience is a virtue, the final reward is definitely twofold!

6. £s: Do you have the necessary funds to pay for your studies?

Although initially the most important thing about your desired PhD program is whether you can get accepted, and the cost itself almost seems like a technical side detail, having the money itself is in many ways even more important than getting accepted. Many students celebrate their acceptance to a PhD course only to later realise that funding is not as easy to get as they thought, and that they will not be able to pay for their studies.

It’s not a good idea to start a PhD course if you don’t have the funds to pay for the entire period of studying, this is because it is very difficult to find funding during the second or third year of the course, and obviously if you had to give up your PhD at this point for purely financial reasons it would be a huge disappointment! However, if you don’t have the appropriate funds to cover your entire postgraduate program there are still many things that you can do to enable you to study for a PhD. One option is to do a part-time doctorate program  which would mean you would have time to work during your studies. If fees and funding are a big concern for you, please read our section for further help and advice, and don’t forget you can apply for a Postgrad Solutions Study Bursary  worth £500!

7. Do you have the necessary qualifications?

Although this question may seem banal, it is not uncommon that students apply for a PhD course without being qualified enough. Make sure you’ve earned the appropriate qualifications before starting your PhD application. Each university has different qualification requirements, and some may make you do a conversion course if you fail to meet their prerequisites, but it’s best to check the individual university websites for specifications. However, even if you are not happy with the grades you received for your master’s degree, the UK is full of high quality universities and with some determination and a bit of luck you should be able to find a place at one of them!

THANK YOU for taking the FINAL TEST! We hope that you passed and are ready to become a PhD student!

Related articles 

How Long Does It Take To Get A Doctorate Degree

Dos and Don'ts of a PhD Interview

How To Get The Most From Your PhD Supervisor

Alphabet of PhD Study

Common PhD Myths

Top Tips for Surviving a PhD

Things To Ask When Looking For A PhD

Best Things About Doing a PhD

Pros And Cons Of Getting A PhD

To PhD Or Not To PhD

The Dos And Don'ts Of A PhD Interview

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Land your dream job, take our quiz | should you pursue a full-time or part-time grad degree program.

Are you thinking about attending grad school?

Maybe you’ve narrowed down which degree programs you’d like to pursue, or perhaps you’ve only recently started to consider if grad school is right for you—either way, we applaud you. Grad school is a big step that can widen your career prospects and deepen your knowledge of your field.

Wherever you are in your grad school journey, one factor you’ll want to consider is whether to pursue a full-time or part-time degree program. That way, when you’re ready to apply and enroll, you’ll know which programs will be the best fit for you and your goals.

Do you have a full-time job you want to keep while in school?

Is your current job relevant to your intended field of study, between work responsibilities, personal and social commitments, and studying, graduate school will put your schedule to the test. how are your time management skills and availability, do you plan to get involved with extracurricular activities and commitments while you’re in grad school, are you concerned about paying for grad school, do you want to finish your degree quickly, or take your time.

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5 Reasons Not to do a PhD (With an Assessment Quiz)

• January 9, 2022
• GRADUATE ADMISSIONS

One of the first questions that you might ask yourself when you are thinking about getting into a PhD is: why do you want a PhD, and are those the right reasons?

Because in general, a PhD is not a great life choice. You’re going to work hard. You’re going to be broke. You’re going to struggle with things like stress and imposter syndrome. And, if you’re a current PhD student and having some difficulties, you might want to check out these blog posts.

But despite all the reasons not to do a PhD, people still go for it. Why on earth would anyone willingly sign up to do a PhD?

Because they’re passionate about something.

But first, the question that has to be answered upfront is, what is a PhD?

A PhD is an opportunity to push the envelope of human knowledge a tiny bit and learn things nobody else has ever known before. 

It’s an opportunity funded to a certain minimum amount of money to make sure that you can live and learn these new things, but no more than that.

In exchange, you will publish your findings to society, ideally contributing to the betterment of society.

Take the quiz

This quiz will demonstrate some situations you will encounter during your graduate program. Your quiz score will give you a rough idea about your readiness to go for a graduate program and some advice on preparing your mind for a graduate program. 

Remember, there are no wrong answers.

So you should only apply for a PhD if you’re passionate about something and you think that spending three or four years of your life at this stage in your life is worth it.

But, there are a lot of reasons not to do a PhD.

Money  

You’re going to be so disappointed at the end of completion if this was your only reason to get into a PhD. You will not even get to finish your PhD if money is your only driving force.

But, If you look at the average career earnings for graduates who have PhDs and compare them to graduates who just have undergraduate degrees, those with PhDs earn 38.3% more in total across their careers .

But if you compare the average career earnings for graduates who just have a master’s degree with those who have a PhD, the difference percentage is as little as 8% in some cases .

Therefore, PhD graduates earn more than those with undergraduate degrees but not much more than people who just did a Masters.

PhD graduates spent three or four more years in education further. When they leave academia and move into Industry, they face an awful lot of misconceptions about having a PhD.

They get accused of being overspecialized. They get questions such as, “if you have a PhD, Why aren’t you applying to be a professor?”

You’re also going to be broke while you’re in your PhD program. For most PhD programs, you’re not paying to get your PhD. And you are getting a stipend because you’re working as a teaching assistant or a research assistant. However, that stipend that you’re getting is not very much money.  But , there are other ways to earn extra money during a graduate program.

So if your plan is making money, then spending five or six years making no money is probably not a logical way to do this. It’s probably enough to live on. You can definitely make it work. But it will be tough. 

So, money is definitely one of those reasons not to do a PhD

Job prospects

If you think that you’ll have more solid job prospects after getting a PhD, this is not inherently true. 

Some jobs ask for a PhD, but it sometimes seems that having a PhD is a disadvantage for an awful lot of jobs.

This is also something that varies significantly by discipline. 

But particularly if you’re in a field where the dominant job prospect is academia, make sure that you know what your actual job prospects are.

There just isn’t enough demand to fill the supply of PhD graduates in some fields. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a reality.

And it depends mainly on the job demand of your country.

If you only want to be a professor, make sure you find out the market. Also, it would be best if you thought hard about your level of risk aversion. 

Apply to do a PhD if you are passionate about something academic. Because you need that passion, Otherwise, you won’t survive. 

You had a perfect record at school.

If you were good at school and wanted to keep doing it, it wouldn’t be a good reason to do a PhD because you will not learn much about the things that other people already figure out.

Instead, You will spend most of your time trying to figure out new concepts by yourself, alone (Yes, “Alone” is a critical word to include at the end of that sentence)

For example, you might think, “I’m good at taking classes, and I know I can score, So I’ll be fine doing a PhD” . But, unfortunately, a PhD program is not about taking classes. 

You will take a few classes down the road, but they’re not the essential part. You just take classes to learn what you need to know to do your own work. 

Also, you’re going to be done with classes after a year, and then the entire rest of the time, you will be doing your own work.

In a PhD, grades don’t really matter when you’re even taking those classes.

But in general, being good at school often means that you’re able to get the correct answers. But a PhD is not about getting the correct answers. It’s much more about asking interesting questions and then answering them yourself. 

People who are used to just getting the correct answers tend to struggle when they get into a graduate program. 

You had no prior plans after getting a bachelor’s degree.

Perhaps this is the most common reason not to do a PhD.

After you have completed your bachelor’s degree, you might not have a clear idea about what to do next.

Even though you decided to do a PhD, you have to do a job after completing your degree. So, it’s not a lasting solution, and it is clear it’s one of the reasons not to do a PhD.

As mentioned previously, having a PhD sometimes limits your job prospects in some ways.

Do the jobs that you could get with a PhD seem way better than the jobs that you could get now?

If that’s the case, it’d be appropriate to go for a PhD first. But if you could get a job right now, you should do that. 

But if it really is just a lack of knowing what to do next, doing a PhD is not a great reason. 

You like the reputation that comes with a doctorate.

If you just want the prestige of being a doctor or letters after your name, these are reasons not to get a PhD.

Many people feel pressured to have letters after their name because they want to ensure that everyone knows that they’re the most competent person in the room. 

But, you have to understand there are so many other “better” ways to prove your worth.

There are tons of people who don’t have PhDs who have so much respect for being experts in their area.

If you are only concerned about having put up a “PhD” at the end of your Twitter handle, it’d be better to rethink your life choices!

Because you can do much more than that with the knowledge you will gain after completing a PhD.

Sooner or later, you will realize that’d be not the best reason to get a PhD.

Final thoughts

Deciding to do a PhD might be one of the most critical decisions of your life because you’ll be spending four to five years of your adult life working on a particular area of research with limited financial ability.

There are sensible reasons to do a PhD. But, You first have to figure out if you have the right intentions. Understanding the reasons NOT to do a PhD is extremely helpful to find your purpose for doing a PhD.

If you plan to apply for a PhD program, you’re probably getting advice from your friends, professors, parents, and the Internet. Sometimes it’s hard to know which advice to focus on and what will make the most significant difference in the long run. So before you go back to daydreaming about the day you accept that Nobel Prize, here are some questions you might find helpful to take your final decision.

Images Courtesy : Photo by Magnet.me on Unsplash , Thinking vector created by stories – www.freepik.com

Aruna Kumarasiri

Founder at Proactive Grad, Materials Engineer, Researcher, and turned author. In 2019, he started his professional carrier as a materials engineer with the continuation of his research studies. His exposure to both academic and industrial worlds has provided many opportunities for him to give back to young professionals.

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How Your Ph.D. Prepares You to Be an Entrepreneur

You can deploy skills you develop as a grad student and postdoc in a variety of careers, including working for a start-up or founding your own, Chris Smith writes.

By  Chris Smith

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Innovation has become a hot topic in economic circles over the past few years. In March 2022, the United States’ National Science Foundation created its first new directorate in over 30 years : Technology, Innovation and Partnerships , or TIP. The passing of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 helped fund the directorate, the mission of which is to “advance U.S. competitiveness​ and societal impact by nurturing partnerships that​ drive and accelerate diverse innovation ecosystems, technology translation and development, and workforce development.” The U.S. is investing heavily in research and innovation—which you can take advantage of as a Ph.D. researcher working in academia or beyond.

Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars already contribute much to research and innovation in the United States through their work on a variety of projects supported by the federal government and industry partners. But despite that fact, few consider a career focused on the leading edge of innovation: entrepreneurship.

Being willing to push the boundaries of human knowledge and forge new ideas into products is essential for entrepreneurs. And to secure backing, entrepreneurs must also work to articulate the value they and their products bring to individuals, organizations and the nation. Fortunately, plenty of resources are available to assist in those efforts, although many graduate students and postdocs may not be aware of them.

To encourage more technology commercialization and entrepreneurship, in the latter half of the 20th century the federal government established two funding programs for academics and others seeking to either move full-time to a start-up company or obtain funding to develop and commercialize new technologies. The Small Business Innovation Research program supports the growth of start-up companies, while the Small Business Technology Transfer program is aimed at technology commercialization.

Both the National Institutes of Health and NSF fund grants from both programs, and both offer a variety of other mechanisms to foster an innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem in the United States. In addition, NIH provides numerous resources to educate people about entrepreneurship and special programs like the Small Business Transition Grant for New Entrepreneurs (see a webinar on the program here ), which helps researchers interested in transitioning to entrepreneurship via a mentor.

American universities also offer an increasing number of programs that either focus on training Ph.D.s for careers in the technology transfer space or assist them in learning how to commercialize technological and other innovations coming from their research work, as our Innovation Postdoctoral Fellowship here at Virginia Tech seeks to do. In addition, NSF’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps) provides a seven-week experiential training program that prepares scientists and engineers to extend their focus beyond the university laboratory and toward commercialization by engaging in customer discovery and other activities. Such programs can be a bridge between traditional academic research and exploring an entrepreneurial career or employment in the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Many academics may mistakenly believe that entrepreneurial skills are only relevant if one is planning to run a start-up company. Yet most faculty members running research groups at large universities are effectively leading small businesses inside their institutions. They must articulate a value proposition to get hired and ultimately secure funding for their research. In addition, most faculty leaders or principal investigators are in charge of hiring those who work in their labs and must manage these individuals and their projects toward a larger, common goal. A faculty leader must create a vision for their group and think strategically about how the various projects align toward both short- and long-term goals. This is entrepreneurship in an academic research context.

And just as an entrepreneurial mindset is essential to a successful academic career, it is also extremely useful for any scholar looking to create their own company, independent of their institution.

Entrepreneurial Skills From Your Ph.D. or Postdoc

Ph.D. training offers graduate students and postdocs many experiences to help them navigate entrepreneurship and/or working in a start-up company, such as the following.

• Project planning and management. Completing a doctoral dissertation involves extensive project planning and management skills, from ideation to execution and dissemination. This directly translates to the ability to plan and manage large projects as an entrepreneur.
• Independent work. Ph.D. students, and especially postdocs, often work independently with minimal oversight, building the drive and accountability needed to accomplish tasks without rigid external deadlines—a crucial skill for entrepreneurs.
• Networking and collaboration. Entrepreneurs thrive on networking. Similarly, Ph.D. students and postdocs benefit from building strong connections—engaging with industry professionals, attending conferences and collaborating across disciplines to enhance their network. Such connections can lead to job opportunities, collaborations and funding.

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• Thirst for knowledge. A core requirement for a Ph.D. is an insatiable desire to learn and expand one’s knowledge base. Entrepreneurs must constantly step out of their comfort zones and learn new skills, making this thirst for learning invaluable for Ph.D.s and postdocs looking to focus on entrepreneurship as a career.
• Research skills. Doctoral training equips individuals with the ability to seek out, evaluate and synthesize quality information from various sources—a vital skill when navigating the unfamiliar territories of entrepreneurship.
• Curiosity about the big questions. Starting a business requires asking and answering big questions about target audiences, value propositions and strategic direction. Ph.D.s are trained to take disparate information and craft cohesive narratives to address complex inquiries. Successful entrepreneurs do the same.
• Problem-solving. Overcoming research obstacles and failed experiments hones problem-solving abilities in Ph.D.s and postdocs. As entrepreneurs constantly face new challenges, this skill is indispensable for finding innovative solutions.
• Resilience and adaptability. Entrepreneurship involves risk-taking and overcoming failures. Ph.D. students and postdocs learn resilience by navigating setbacks. This adaptability prepares them for a dynamic marketplace for their products and ideas and the post-Ph.D. job market itself, where flexibility and the ability to pivot are critical.

In essence, the rigorous training and self-driven nature of doctoral programs and postdoc positions cultivate skills like project management, working both independently and collaboratively, learning agility, strategic thinking and problem-solving—all of which are invaluable assets for successful entrepreneurship. The key to honing these skills is taking increased agency in your projects so that you learn all aspects of the process of identifying a gap in knowledge or application, scoping out the current landscape of that area and working toward a solution. It is certainly not easy work, but it can help you in graduate school, postdoctoral training and beyond.

In sum, by embracing an entrepreneurial mindset in your job search, you identify opportunities in industry, start-ups, government or nonprofits or create your own position through entrepreneurship. And even if you don’t decide to go that direction, innovative thinking and treating one’s career development like a start-up can propel you to professional growth and success. The fact that cultivating the entrepreneurial skills I’ve described can also be significantly helpful for an academic researcher means leaning into them is a win-win for any graduate student or postdoc.

Chris Smith is the postdoctoral affairs program administrator at Virginia Tech. He serves on the National Postdoctoral Association’s Board of Directors and is a member of the Graduate Career Consortium—an organization providing an international voice for graduate-level career and professional development leaders.

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