2 ms·

Are you married? If yes, DONT. If no, read on Do you have lots of money stashed somewhere? If no, DONT. If yes, read on.. Are you fuckin' smart? Like 1 in 100

Are you married? If yes, DONT. If no, read on Do you have lots of money stashed somewhere? If no, DONT. If yes, read on.. Are you fuckin' smart? Like 1 in 100 smart? If no, DONT. If yes, read on.. Do you have high levels of motivation. If no, DONT. If yes, read on.. Obviously this shit is easy to figure out when you are at 21; you have sometime to "throw away". Not at 31, AFAIK. There must be companies out there who are doing the things you are interested in. Find em. If you are smart, you will figure out atleast 70% of what you would as PhD student; with the added bonus that you have a job. You might want to read this too: http://www.bostonphoenix.com/alt1/archive/styles/97/03/06/degrees.html http://www.bostonphoenix.com/alt1/archive/styles/97/03/06/de...

ToPhDorNotToPhd 16y ago
Answers: Married: No Cash: Not a ton (maybe a years worth) Smarts: Maybe (on my best days) Motivation: Yes (over the last 2 years at least....though over the last two years I had a clear goal: academia. Without that, I'm not certain that my doubts won't get in the way). And agreed. If I were 21, this would probably be an easy decision. I'd just go, push through and see where it took me. At 31 though, I have other goals that I'm not sure if I'll be able to meet if I do the PhD. I'd probably have to put off getting married, having kids, etc. Not to mention, putting away cash will be almost impossible. So, this seems risky. I could end up in my late 30s with some really interesting publications, but limited funds and no idea where I'd be finding a job.