To PhD or not to PhD

Don't "default" to doing a PhD.

Figure out:

Also, make sure you pick something that doesn't involve doing too many things you hate doing.

If a PhD fits all of the above, consider it.

If you start a PhD, don't half-ass it.

Learn how to succeed.
This very book should help you with that process! Read this entry if you haven't already.

Academia is hyper-competitive.
Are you willing and able to compete? If not, review the second bullet-point above: what is realistic for your capacities? From there, consider non-academic exit strategies.

Using a PhD for non-academic paths.

While one can use a PhD for non-academic paths, it is often very inefficient or unnecessary. Most career paths do not require a PhD.

If you do decide to pursue a PhD for a non-academic path, make sure you set your priorities accordingly. The sooner you figure out that you are not using your PhD to pursue an academic path, the sooner you can start focusing on what is most relevant for your use-case. In most cases, you could likely eschew the academic priority on publishing as your primary goals will probably differ. Publishing may serve an auxiliary purpose for you, but it is unlikely to be the top priority it is for an academic.

Define an alternate strategy and consider its priorities.
You may want to focus on networking with industry partners, finding grants that can be co-administered with industry partners, building a skill-based portfolio of specialized projects, and building a set of demonstrable technical skills that would be desirable in your industry-role of interest (e.g. data scientist, data analyst, science officer, consultant). Fully commit to your non-academic career-path and don't get drawn into irrelevant pressures that apply to your academic-oriented peers.

What if I don't want to do this for the rest of my life?

You don't have to do anything "for the rest of your life".

You can do something for ten or fifteen years, save up some cash, then do something else.
You could go back to school. You could get married and become a stay-at-home parent for a decade. You could retrain as a part-time librarian. Who knows what will happen in the next 15–30 years! You could face a world of changes and emergent technologies that don't currently exist.

Don't think "for the rest of your life".
Think "for the next chapter of my life".

Why not get a PhD?

Some people say, "Why not get a PhD?" as if getting one is as simple as going to the store to buy milk.

In a phrase: opportunity costs.

Before you even start, you commit time and money to grad school applications, time and money that could have be spent in other ways.
There is also a lot of uncertainty regarding whether you will get accepted in any given year, or at all. If you don't get accepted, the time and money you spent on applications was wasted.

If you do get accepted, beating thousands of other applicants...
More time and less money: getting a PhD takes several years and the pay is shit. At the end of your PhD, you will be just as uncertain about what to do with yourself as you are when you started unless you take the time to figure your shit out. You don't need a PhD to figure your shit out. Don't procrastinate yourself into a PhD.

A PhD is not a bad idea for everyone. It is a fantastic idea for some of us!

A PhD is not a trivial decision, though.
A PhD could be a waste of time or an exercise in procrastination or both.

Index

Return to Graduate Psychology

Continue to Defining your constructs of interest

Jump to My pre-pandemic day-to-day