1. You learn how to think rigorously about complex ideas in graduate school. Believe it or not, that is valuable in any career. 2. You are free to work on proj

1. You learn how to think rigorously about complex ideas in graduate school. Believe it or not, that is valuable in any career. 2. You are free to work on projects that are ridiculously ambitious in graduate school. Show me a VC willing to fund a (tech-sector) project with a ten-year R&D cycle (actually, if you're out there, contact me!) 3. The academic culture is quite nice for folks of a naturally intellectual persuasion. The business culture is rife with lax ethical practices and hand-wavy belief systems that, for a certain type of person, can be draining to deal with. Academia has some of this, but its not even close to being of comparable magnitude.