> The purpose of a PhD/doctoral degree is to boostrap a career in science. It can be. I like to think that the doing science part is also valuable and that peo

> The purpose of a PhD/doctoral degree is to boostrap a career in science. It can be. I like to think that the doing science part is also valuable and that people can still contribute meaningfully to the world even if they come out the other side without a R1 faculty position. I like to think that my research ended up that way. > If you don't work insanely hard, you are out. I'm very good friends with a CS professor at MIT who didn't work unreasonable hours in grad school. Working incredibly long hours probably increases the chances of this sort of outcome and you are indeed competing with a lot of people for very few jobs. People should be aware of the low success rate in the PhD -> R1 TT faculty pipeline. People should make informed decisions when attending a PhD program. But it is absolutely not the case that people are simply unable to produce good science if they aren't willing to spend their entire lives in the lab.