What I do think is true: In UK / Germany, a PhD can carry more of an apprenticeship feel with higher pay, compared to a US PhD where you are working for very l

What I do think is true: In UK / Germany, a PhD can carry more of an apprenticeship feel with higher pay, compared to a US PhD where you are working for very little money compared to what you might make using your undergrad degree in industry. But I share your disagreement that US PhD is intended to only lead to academia - it seems like it as often leads to: - Paying ones way through grad school (you get a masters / course work out of it too). Dirty secret: you can bale on your PhD with a masters - Corporate research (pays as well as anything) - Corporate engineering job in environment where deep expertise is valuable There's a pay bonus to having a PhD (at least in robotics) but the opportunity cost vs working in industry indicates to me that getting a PhD just for the credential / higher pay is not a good idea. Do it because you love to have more time to learn deeply and to conduct research. And know you have a lot of options should you want to go into industry - at any time - during your PhD if you drop out, or after. (I say all this as someone without a PhD who's been working in research labs and among PhDs at companies for a while).