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Doing a PhD is an adult job though. Here in Europe we even have industrial PhD students, who do a PhD some of their time, and work in industry on stuff relatin
by impossiblefork 2y ago
Doing a PhD is an adult job though.
Here in Europe we even have industrial PhD students, who do a PhD some of their time, and work in industry on stuff relating to the topic of their PhD part of the time. These people can be quite experienced even at the start.
- klyrs 2y agoAs a PhD student, I was paid about a third of what I was paid at the first job I landed as a PhD, except for one year when I got a sweet scholarship and I made two thirds. Yes, they were adult jobs, but I don't describe them as such because those TA/RA/sessional positions have Mickey mouse wages.
- impossiblefork 2y agoI think that remains reasonable. However, it's still necessary to have doing a PhD be seen as a real job and to set things up so that PhD students are paid a wage they can live on. This kind of 'I can't afford thing, even though I'm doing world-leading research'-thing isn't reasonable, and since we treat it as a job in Europe, one where you get a lower wage than in industry, but still one that pays a wage you can live on, shows that it's probably feasible to do the same in the US.
- klyrs 2y agoI agree, it's feasible to do this but the article, and the experience I relay, is the truth on the ground in the US and Canada today. In STEM, it's totally possible to pay one's way through grad school without taking on extreme debt -- but it requires continual employment and strict frugality.