This is not a knack on any of you, but I never really understood the appeal of a PhD. I am an electrical engineer and I guess it's different for my field and maybe perhaps because I'm in the US. I realize academic prestige is important to some and there are some people who grow up in such households. Everyone I know that pursued a PhD in any engineering field was absolutely miserable. Also you are limiting your career to more academia-related work. Sure, you can work as an R&D engineer at Intel, AMD, Apple, etc. but you are in that position mainly because you are a PhD. Try applying to a low pressure entry engineer job or software engineering job, you'll have a difficult time getting hired because you'd be quite overqualified. It's weird, but anecdotally from everyone I know those who have bachelors or masters have easier time with jobs than those that get a PhD and want to try something outside of the realm of academia.
my reply is obv limited to me and my experience. itd be interesting to read what others' motivation was/is.
it may well have something to do with the field. as an engineer, you have a decent chance of landing a good job without graduate training. its a very pragmatic profession.
in the social sciences and humanities (with a slight exception for economics) its not about pragmatism (which is not to say that it plays no role) but rather sheer interest. a phd is basically a major research project: you have a puzzle/question that you will devote some 5-7 years of your life to. in the process you become an expert in that field. needless to say, this enterprise requires passion. otherwise you burn out--hence why attrition rates in phd programs (the percentage of doctoral students who drop out) is so high. its solitary work, demanding, and, unless you secure research grants/somehow land a tenure-track job at the end of it, poorly remunerated. as one of my supervisors put it: your chosen subject matter should actively
trouble you/keep you up at night. if it doesn't--that's a red flag.
before the 1990s, the process led to a cushy life-long job in the university system. i maintain that there is no better job whatsoever than a tenured academic position. basically unassailable job security, complete autonomy over your own work, usually high pay, status and prestige.
the situation today is bleak, since academic jobs have been dwindling for decades (as the book
The Professor is In details). nevertheless, there are enough people out there like me and birdy who enroll regardless. i am enticed by the challenge of mastering a subject matter and publishing a book on it (the end goal of a dissertation). i will be 31-2 when i finish and, like i said above, well see after that.
that said, whenever one of my students asks me about grad school, i always give them a very stern warning to stay away
