It's not an uncommon story: My wife's PI got cancer. 3 years in. In her case, she just abandoned the whole thing. A friend of mine's PI instead moved to UCLA fr

It's not an uncommon story: My wife's PI got cancer. 3 years in. In her case, she just abandoned the whole thing. A friend of mine's PI instead moved to UCLA from San Antonio, and didn't raise pay a cent, or provide relocation assistance, so people had to follow him. Given the fun rental agreements in Texas, leaving a lease mid way still makes you have to pay for it unless someone else occupies the apartment. This made my friend end up in a nice, multi thousand dollar hole. She did get her Ph.D, but seeing the life of the postdoc, she gave up on that route herself, and now teaches English in Japan, crushed by student debt. Between all the stories like that I have, and the relatively low improvement in outcomes when things really work out, I am so very happy I ignored academia and went straight to industry.