I think most PhD students are set up to fail by graduate institutions. Graduate programs can often be corrosive environments with unrealistic expectations. More

I think most PhD students are set up to fail by graduate institutions. Graduate programs can often be corrosive environments with unrealistic expectations. Moreover even if you run the gauntlet and get a tenure-track job or a position in a national or even corporate lab, the training you received in graduate school is often inadequate preparation for the next step. I am not ascribing this latter point to malice but rather to a self-perpetuating canon that becomes increasingly distant from real-world applications. Universities also exploit people who depend on academic success for self-worth and validation. The head games that advisors play to goad graduate students on to do more work can be pretty unscrupulous. The very fact that universities can convince some of the smartest (if not those most possessing in common sense) people to work long hours for below minimum wage, while learning a body of knowledge of dubious value, is pretty amazing when I look back at it. In the real world, people pay you good money to do PhD level work. Job security and low work loads aren't on offer if you do an expected value calculation factoring in all of the tenure washouts. The only thing graduate programs offer in return for collapsing highly educated wages is an infinitesimal chance at fame. It is no less an exploitative championship system than professional sports or Hollywood. I think the only good reason to seek a PhD is for altruistic reasons, to expand human knowledge. But keep in mind that you are choosing the life of a 21st century cleric, with its attendant material deprivation and very good chance of never marrying or having a family.