I don't necessarily disagree, but I would qualify that as reflecting how many candidates see themselves, and how they've opted to romanticize their life choices

I don't necessarily disagree, but I would qualify that as reflecting how many candidates see themselves, and how they've opted to romanticize their life choices, rather than it being an objective statement about why people do what they do. Nobody aspires to be the night manager at a fast food place, but many of the people who end up with jobs like that got there because they made impractical educational choices (which might include getting a PhD without understanding how they were going to turn that into a career after the fact). I'm not anti-PhD at all, but plenty of people get them for the wrong reasons or without thinking about what they'll do with it once it's done. In my experience, for many people it's a way to have an extended childhood/college experience well into their 30s. When you're in school you can judge yourself and others based on your aspirations (which can be especially intoxicating if those aspirations are romantic notions like "extending mankind's understanding"), but once you're out of school all that matters is what you've actually accomplished. It can be a scary transition and I don't blame anyone for wanting to postpone it if they have the means to do so.