I think you are over glorifying the academic world. From my experience it is pretty similar to the real world. Professors are writing grants and trying to get f

I think you are over glorifying the academic world. From my experience it is pretty similar to the real world. Professors are writing grants and trying to get funding. Its kind of a rat race. Sometimes they get things they like sometimes they don't. It might be easier at a top 5 school to get funding for cool projects. Also they treat international students like shit. One professor asked me to take a fewer hours so I could spend more hours doing research. However I was not a foreign student and didn't need his funding so I just stopped working with him.