Should You Get a PhD??? | Reasons to Apply to PhD Programs (OR NOT)

Summary

In her insightful video, Casey Fiesler explores the complex decision of whether to pursue a PhD. Drawing from her years of experience in PhD admissions, she breaks down both the common misconceptions and valid motivations for applying to doctoral programs. Highlighting that a PhD is less about attending classes and more about asking and answering novel questions, Casey dissects the idea that a doctorate guarantees lucrative job prospects or prestige. Instead, she stresses the importance of a genuine passion for teaching, research, and contribution to world knowledge. Potential applicants should critically assess their motivations, understand the realities of academic life, and consider their career goals before committing to a PhD journey.

Highlights

• Casey shares that many apply to PhD programs for the wrong reasons, such as not knowing what else to do or wanting prestige. 💡
• She emphasizes that the reality of a PhD is hard work, low pay, and it's not about getting more school! 📚
• A PhD can be valuable if you want to teach at the university level or have a deep passion for research and writing. ✨
• She notes that academic job prospects vary widely by discipline, demanding careful consideration of your career path. 🔍
• Those who pursue a PhD need to love asking unanswered questions and should relish in intellectual challenges. 🧠
• Casey advises prospective students to experience research in their field before committing to ensure it's their true passion. 🎯

Key Takeaways

• A PhD isn't about more schooling - it's about asking and answering your own questions! 🤔
• PhDs don't instantly make you rich, know why you're in it! 💸
• Want the letters after your name? A PhD might not be necessary! 🤷‍♀️
• Teaching at the university level often requires a PhD, but know your field! 🎓
• Academic writing isn't for everyone - love it or leave it! ✍️
• Passion for research is essential - if you love discovering the unknown, a PhD could be for you! 🔍
• Research is fundamental in academic careers - test the waters before you dive in! 🌊

Overview

Considering a PhD might seem like a natural progression for scholars who excel in academia, but Casey Fiesler urges viewers to reconsider the motivations behind this decision. She points out that while some view a doctorate as another school experience or a way to delay career decisions, this path involves far more than just attending classes. The emphasis shifts towards research, with a focus on questions that haven't been answered yet, making it an entirely different educational pursuit.

Casey dismantles some myths about the financial and professional perks of having a PhD. Many believe that a doctorate can magically open doors to high-paying jobs and esteemed positions; unfortunately, this isn't always the case. She reveals that in some fields, holding a PhD might even restrict opportunities, emphasizing the critical need to evaluate potential outcomes and prospects in one’s chosen discipline.

Ultimately, the decision to pursue a PhD should be motivated by a true passion for learning, research, and academic writing. Casey encourages future PhD students to seriously consider whether they are willing to dedicate significant time and effort to contribute to new knowledge. She closes with practical advice for those contemplating this journey: experience firsthand what research entails in their field to ensure it aligns with their personal aspirations and long-term career goals.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Host Background The first chapter, titled 'Introduction and Host Background,' is introduced by Casey, a professor, who will be guiding a series of videos on applying to PhD programs. Casey has been involved in the admissions process for the PhD program in Information Science for five years. Throughout this time, Casey has reviewed numerous applications and interacted with many prospective PhD students, addressing their questions and concerns related to PhD applications.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Questioning the Desire for a PhD The chapter titled 'Questioning the Desire for a PhD' delves into the initial questions potential PhD candidates should contemplate. It questions the motivations behind pursuing a PhD, emphasizing the need to evaluate whether these reasons are justified. The speaker warns that pursuing a PhD is often not an ideal life decision due to the intense workload, financial struggles, and psychological challenges such as stress and imposter syndrome. The chapter serves as a reflective pause for those considering or currently undertaking a PhD, urging them to consider watching previous content for support and insights into managing these challenges.
• 01:00 - 06:30: Reasons Not to Pursue a PhD The chapter discusses reasons why one might consider not pursuing a PhD, emphasizing the importance of having valid motivations. It starts by encouraging self-reflection on one's reasons for wanting a PhD. Following a brief pause for contemplation, the chapter outlines some motivations that might not justify the pursuit of a doctoral degree. The first inadequate reason mentioned is simply being good at school. The chapter suggests reevaluating one's decision if the reasons for pursuing a PhD align with those on the list of unsuitable motivations.
• 06:30 - 12:00: Reasons to Pursue a PhD The chapter titled 'Reasons to Pursue a PhD' discusses common misconceptions about PhD programs, particularly the belief that pursuing a PhD is a way to continue taking classes indefinitely. It clarifies that while PhD students do take classes, these are primarily to equip them with the necessary knowledge for conducting research. Emphasis is placed on the fact that after the initial years of classwork, the majority of a PhD candidate's time will be spent on research and other activities beyond the classroom.
• 12:00 - 13:00: Conclusion and Future Videos In conclusion, success in a PhD program is not about achieving high grades in classes, as these grades often hold little significance. Instead, the focus is on formulating intriguing research questions and independently finding solutions. Students who excel in getting the 'right answers' in traditional school settings may find this transition challenging. Future videos will continue to explore similar topics, offering guidance and insights into the PhD journey.

Should You Get a PhD??? | Reasons to Apply to PhD Programs (OR NOT) Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Hi, I''m Casey. I'm a professor, and this is my first in a series of videos about applying to PhD programs. It's that time of year, right? I've actually been running admissions in our department for our PhD program in Information Science for about five years, and I have read a lot of applications, and I have talked to a lot of prospective PhD students about their questions and concerns about deciding to apply for a PhD. And one of
• 00:30 - 01:00 the first questions that I tend to ask people is: why do you want a PhD, and are those the right reasons? Because honestly, in general, a PhD is not a great life choice. You're going to work really hard. You're going to be broke. You're going to struggle with things like stress and imposter syndrome. And actually if you're a current PhD student watching this and you are struggling with some of these things, you might want to check out my previous video. Okay. So I want you to take a minute to think
• 01:00 - 01:30 about why you want to get a PhD. I'm actually going to give you a second to think about it. [cheerful music] Okay. so now that you have those reasons in your head, I'm going to start out with a list of reasons that are not good ones. If these are your reasons, then you might want to rethink things. First: you're really good at school, and
• 01:30 - 02:00 you want to keep doing it. You might be thinking, for example, I love taking classes so much and I just want to keep taking college classes forever. A PhD program is not about taking classes. Like, sure you're going to take some but they're not the most important part. You basically just take classes to learn the things that you need to learn in order to do your research. Plus you're going to be done with classes after a couple of years and then the entire rest of the time you're going to be doing other things.
• 02:00 - 02:30 In a PhD, grades don't really matter when you're even taking those classes. Like, sure you're a PhD student, so you're going to get A's, but nobody really cares. But in general, being good at school often means that you're able to get the right answers. But a PhD is not about getting right answers. It's much more about asking interesting questions and then answering them yourself. And people who are used to just being able to get the right answers actually tend to really struggle with this. All right. Reason number two that is not
• 02:30 - 03:00 a good reason to pursue a PhD. And perhaps this is the most common one unfortunately: You don't know what else to do. Here's the thing. You're going to finish your PhD eventually. And when you're done you still need to get a job. And arguably having a PhD actually limits your job prospects in some ways. Do the jobs that you could get with a PhD seem way better than the jobs that you could get now. If that's the case, sure, consider this. But if you could go get a job right
• 03:00 - 03:30 now, maybe you should do that. Unless you have other reasons for wanting to pursue a PhD. But if it really is just a lack of knowing what to do next, not a great reason. Being someone smart who doesn't know what to do next is also not a great reason to go to law school. All right. Number three that is a bad reason to want to get a PhD: you want to make a lot of money!
• 03:30 - 04:00 You're going to be so disappointed. So there is mixed research about the financial benefits of a PhD over a master's degree, for example. I suspect that this varies by discipline. However, even when it does help it's not a huge amount. And in some fields, computer science being one of them, there are jobs that you can easily get with a master's degree that actually make way more money than the kinds of jobs that you would have with a PhD in computer science. This is especially true in fields where the dominant job
• 04:00 - 04:30 is academia. You definitely are not going to make a lot of money as a professor. I mean professors, certainly make more money than, say, high school teachers. But also how much money a professor makes varies greatly by discipline. And this is market-based. So, for example ,if you are an English professor you probably make less money than a computer science professor. However, the reason for that is because a computer science professor could go work at Google and make way
• 04:30 - 05:00 more money than they're making as a professor. Also you're putting off saving money for retirement. I finished my PhD at 33, and that's when I started saving for retirement, so basically, I'm going to be working forever. You're also going to be broke while you're in your PhD program. Now for most PhD programs you're not paying to get your PhD. And you are getting a stipend because you're working as a teaching assistant
• 05:00 - 05:30 or a research assistant. However, that stipend that you're getting is not very much money, unfortunately. It's probably enough to live on, but barely. Now you can definitely make it work. I did. But it's tough. So if your great plan is making money, then spending five or six years making no money is probably not a logical way to do this. All right. Next reason, not a great reason to get a PhD: You really just want the prestige. You want letters after your name.
• 05:30 - 06:00 A lot of people feel pressured to have letters after their name because they want to make sure that everyone knows that they're the smartest person in the room. You don't need letters after your name to prove your worth. There are tons of people who don't have PhDs who have tons of respect for being experts in their area. I mean, I've got two sets of letters after my name. I have a PhD and a JD and nobody rolls out the red carpet for me. I did put it in my Twitter bio though.
• 06:00 - 06:30 Okay, finally, and perhaps this is the most important thing: Not a good reason: you really think that you're going to have more solid job prospects after you get a PhD. Sadly this is not inherently true. This is also something that varies greatly by discipline. But particularly if you're in a field where the dominant job prospect is academia, make sure that you know what your actual job prospects are. How many people are getting a PhD every year versus what does the job market look like?
• 06:30 - 07:00 In some fields there just isn't enough demand to fill the supply of PhD graduates. It's unfortunate but it's a reality. Though there are other fields where you have a lot of prospects beyond academia. So for example in my field, information science, more on the computer science side, it gives me some comfort knowing that my PhD students, even if they do want a job in academia, if they can't get one they can probably
• 07:00 - 07:30 go work at Facebook or Google or something like that. If you only want to be a professor, make sure you find out what the market is like, and you need to think hard about your level of risk aversion, and think about a contingency plan what would you do if you weren't able to get an academic job. Would you for example be willing to teach in K-12 if you really really want to be a teacher? Would you be willing to be an adjunct professor? And would you be willing to consider other things? But basically consider how much you want it for all of the other reasons that i'm about to explain.
• 07:30 - 08:00 and then weigh that against your job prospects and what might happen afterwards. Okay so I started on a downer so that I could end with the happy stuff. What are some really good reasons to pursue a PhD? First: you want to teach at the university level. Though there are some teaching positions at universities for people with master's degrees,
• 08:00 - 08:30 there's certainly more for people who have PhDs. This is also something where you might want to find out for your particular discipline how important it is that you have a PhD for the kind of teaching that you want to do. But particularly at research universities and for tenure track professors, you do have to have a PhD. You also need to make sure that you know what it means to actually be a professor and in your particular field. So i could probably do a whole video about thi,s but some quick misconceptions about what it means to be a college professor.
• 08:30 - 09:00 They just teach a few classes and they don't really do that good of a job most of the time anyway. They get summers off! It's basically the same job as teaching elementary school but way easier because you're teaching adults instead of five-year-olds and also you make way more money. [chuckles] Okay that said being a professor is awesome. Especially if you love research, writing, and teaching. So if you
• 09:00 - 09:30 don't love all of those things make sure you know what a professor in your field tends to be doing. Okay, a great reason to get a PhD: you love academic writing. One of my classmates in grad school actually decided to leave the PhD program with a master's degree because he said he'd rather walk on broken glass than write another academic research paper. So if you don't love writing you should probably rethink this.
• 09:30 - 10:00 If you're going to be an academia, it's super important. Publish or perish and all that. But even if your goal after your PhD is to, for example, have a research job in industry and you're not going to be writing more, you still have to spend five or six years of your life writing a lot. I mean, even if you don't publish that much you still have to write a dissertation. A dissertation is basically a book, My dissertation for example was 56,000 words. To put that into perspective, The Great Gatsby was 50,000 words.
• 10:00 - 10:30 The notebook was 52,000 words. And if you're in a field where academics write books mostly, like in the humanities, then that should be what you want to do. So if that sounds awesome, if you're like, let me write all the things, then, yeah, getting a PhD might be a good choice for you. I like writing all the things. Okay, next, a great reason to get a PhD is that you really want to add knowledge to the world about a thing that you are
• 10:30 - 11:00 passionate about. Again, a PhD is not like undergrad where you're learning things that other people already know. A PhD is about learning something that no one knows yet. I's about finding questions, asking them, and then answering them yourself. And you have to be really passionate because especially near the end when you're in like dissertation tunnel mode, you are going to eat, sleep, and breathe that thing. It is super intellectually rewarding to get a PhD if there is that thing that you're
• 11:00 - 11:30 passionate about. And if you don't know what that thing is yet, figure it out because you might also not even know what discipline you want to get your PhD in yet. All right, and finally, and maybe this is one of the most important reasons to get a PhD: you want research to be an important part of your career. Now as a caveat, what research means looks really different in different disciplines. So for example if you are in a humanities discipline, that might mean writing books that
• 11:30 - 12:00 contain lots of analysis. If you're in a STEM field or a social science this means doing original empirical work. I tend to think of research more in terms of the latter, but you should definitely find out what it means to do research in your discipline. and that is something you want to do. Because basically, if you don't enjoy this you won't enjoy your PhD. So my best advice if you are thinking of getting a PhD is to do whatever research looks like in your field, get experience doing it.
• 12:00 - 12:30 Not necessarily to make your applications better, but it'll also help, but because you want to be sure that it's something you're going to enjoy doing, if not for the next six years, for the entire rest of your career. So of course this is not a comprehensive list of good things or bad things or reasons why you might be considering a PhD, but I hope that it's given you some things to think about. If you're watching this and you're a current PhD student or you already have a PhD, why did you decide to pursue your PhD? And if you're still thinking about it,
• 12:30 - 13:00 are there any questions you have about what a PhD is all about? For both of these leave comments down below and I will do my best to answer. AsI said, this is the first in a series of videos about applying for PhD programs that i'm trying to get out now while it is application season and people are making these decisions. My next video, which will be out next week, is about tips for the PhD application process, especially with the focus on people who
• 13:00 - 13:30 are applying to STEM PhD programs. So if you want to make sure you see that, subscribe, hit the bell, whatever. And there will be more to come. If you have questions about the PhD application process, make sure you leave those in comments below so that i can try to answer them or to address them in future videos. Alright, well, that's all I have for you right now. I just want to say good luck as you are trying to make this really important life decision. This is Casey. Thanks for watching.