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As an undergrad I had a friend in the math department who came back to school to get a PhD after some years of making enough $$ to retire on in software. He did
by mmhsieh 6y ago
As an undergrad I had a friend in the math department who came back to school to get a PhD after some years of making enough $$ to retire on in software. He did not aspire to an academic career. He just liked math and enjoyed spending time on it. He helped us rando undergrads with our problem sets. He is one of the happiest individuals I have ever met. A PhD makes sense at any age for happiness reasons if you don't have financial obligations hanging over you.
- hatmatrix 6y agoor family obligations
- M5x7wI3CmbEem10 6y agowould it be better to do a PhD as soon as possible to prevent family weighing you down, or to become financially independent first?
- hatmatrix 6y agoIdeally, both - but in STEM you would get a stipend that you could live off of if you had no children so if you could only do one or the other I would say the first.
- mattbk1 6y agoAs soon as possible.
- M5x7wI3CmbEem10 6y agowell...why?
- bachmeier 6y ago> A PhD makes sense at any age for happiness reasons if you don't have financial obligations hanging over you. Conditional on actually wanting to go that deep in courses and research. Many PhD students take a couple semesters of courses (the hardest year of their life) and they quit after they realize the research they're going to be doing for at least the next few years. It's certainly not for everyone.