Hiya – I’ve also a recovering academic with a PhD. My advice from 15 years down the line is:
a) the subject needs to be something you feel truly passionate about – it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and you need to keep the motivation going (that’s the hardest part), If it is something that you’re not 100% happy/comfortable with, it makes the experience unbearable.
b) The department you work in needs to be supportive and a place that you really want to hang out. I see academia rather like a school playground for grown-ups – several people have never left the closeted educational system, and unfortunately act like it. It’s a dog-eat-dog environment (or carrot-eat-carrot for vegan purposes ;-)) and it was something I was unprepared for. If your supervisors are supportive and you get on with them, that makes life so much easier.
c) Fully fully expect the final year/writing up to be nervous breakdown territory. It happens to everyone. Pare down your schedule, reduce any external commitments, and be prepared to lose a year of your life. You’ll have multiple moments when you want to quit – ignore that instinct, but be aware that you’ll lose all perspective in life. The PhD is the be-all-and-end-all of everything that you exist for at the time. It takes time to recover normality.
d) Plan out the whole of the PhD i.e. work packages and interim deadlines – I did the stupid thing and thought “meh – I’ve got ages yet!” and regretted it. Make sure you keep on-top of new publications and techniques, and write summaries of them, then classify them into subject areas, as you go along. That’s your background section sorted!
Really the hardest thing isn’t an intellectual one at all (I think I got dumber actually), but the ability to keep going and see the end goal. It is worth it, and you learn a hell of a lot about yourself as a person (As well as the subject area).
If I was to do a PhD now, I would approach it far differently and with much more maturity – and you have that in spades already. Use your savviness, and you’ll be fine!

I would ask you “Why do you want to do a PhD?”. Looking forward to your response.

Why yes – that lovely sound is a guaranteed smile! What a doll he is!

My love list for the day is being thankful for a group event that went ridiculously smoothly until the 11th hour. And even then, things worked out as best as they could. This has never happened in my 11 years doing this job and for that I am infinitely grateful. I bid them farewell in the AM and then am off to Paris for a few days of beautiful wine and fantastic people watching.

Voilà ma liste d’amour! <3

Not everyone has that experience in the academic humanities. I have a job at an R1, doing the research I love and teaching the classes I love, and I have hobbies, a life, a family, and friends. I work in a supportive department with colleagues who rock, and don’t play mind-games with each other (though I see that in other departments, not everyone needs to fall prey to that). Maybe I got lucky, but it’s not fair to say that no one ever gets to have the life and career they want in the humanities.

Yes, you got extremely lucky. The chances of most PhDs having similar luck are pretty slim, and I cannot encourage my students to enter a field where one’s entire future depends so very much on luck. But I don’t know much about how it is in the sciences, or what Sayward’s goals and needs are.

Sayward! Ok, I’m probably a little biased here because I’m after my PhD (currently working on my MA, just was asked by my department to interview for the PhD) but I really think a doctorate is essential for kick ass jobs in the academic world. And you seem to like school, so I think it’d be a good fit for you. I feel much the same–I really love the process of being a graduate student so I want to stay and work on PhD coursework more than anything, but I realize that it’s tough and not doable for everyone for so many reasons. I get the sense from you musings and photos that you also like the hunt for knowledge–the act of learning and everything that goes with it. If you’re ok doing another round of graduate work (mentally, physically, emotionally it’s all draining but simultaneously invigorating let’s be honest) and all that comes with a doctoral thesis etc. then I say DO IT! It definitely differs between fields, (art historian here, for sure! I know nothing about specific job markets etc in the sciences…) but I think as a whole if PhD is desirable and possible, then by all means get out your notebooks and go for it! Always happy to commiserate/talk academia.

Anyway, enough rambling. LOVE LIST!

hemp milk, my new jam // BOOKS! It’s summer and I’m back to reading! I just finished the 5th Game of Thrones book (I read books 2-5 over the course of the last semester!) and now I’m on to some new books that I found at a beautiful local bookshop recently. Thrilled to read again, especially read outside! // the hearts of palm ceviche that’s on my menu for this evening. // Finishing the semester, and taking a staycation to recuperate from it. // The new vegan messenger bag I’m buying to mark the end of this term, and to take with me for over the summer work and excursions. :)

Hey Sayward (and the bonzai community), I love reading all the love lists and watching your videos (just watched your unboxing video from march – would like to see more of those). I’m thinking about getting my PhD as well so I have no advice and I guess the academic system in the US works quite differently from the system here in Germany… but you’ll find the right way for you.
My love list:
- long walks with my favorite person
- vegan strawberry-cookie dough milk shakes
- growing your own food
- having a new hair cut
- that I’m able to follow my dreams

Have a great weekend everyone!

Thank you so much for all the input Bel! Lots of food for thought here.

a) The subject matter itself is not something I’m particularly excited about. I like biology/science well enough, and I have a LOT of experience with it. But hte truth is, learning/talking about science does not give me the same *charge* I get as, say, learning/talking about veganism, or nutrition, or social justice, or even politics.

What does give me a charge is the teaching aspect. And writing. Both of which I would want to do with a Masters or a PhD. Getting a PhD would give me a LOT more clout and therefor offer a lot more options in both of the areas I want to pursue – teaching and writing books.

So then, is it enough to be passionate about the end result, if you’re not passionate about the process of getting there? I don’t know, but from what I’ve heard from folks with PhDs, the answer might be “no”

b) The department is bomb-diggity and I have a lot of connections there. That part is great.

c) See, this part really worries me. I am prone to stress and anxiety and I don’t want to turn into a stress-mess because it seriously negatively impacts my parenting. It’s happened before and I don’t want to go back there. It’s not fair to Waits.

d) This is fantastic advice, thank you!

Thank you so much for all your insight, it really helps!

Oh man, I have so much advice that it would fill a book (indeed, one that I’ve been meaning to write for years…). I did an MSc and a PhD. I’ve taught at the university level, mentored a whole bunch of grad students, and I’m now working in science communications for an amazing biotech with a gazillion other (brilliant) PhDs that got the fuck out of academia before they drowned. Note: I made this leap, walking away from a fantastic postdoc offer, and have never looked back. Best. Decision. Ever. So, be warned: academia is a beautiful, fascinating, and very very broken world.
Let me see what I can get out (in braindump form – no particular order). You are in a good position because you’ve started as an MSc so you know what you’re getting into. Sort of. Keep in mind that a PhD is FAR more rigorous and far longer of a commitment. The expectations of you are much higher, and if you want to get anything (except anxiety, depression and a lot of dept… along with a couple of letters behind your name), you need to do a fucking STRONG PhD. I mean, several high impact publications, a few awards, some scholarships, many international conference presentations, some authored book chapters (real, invited ones, not the ones that you pay to do), perfect grades in the courses that you take, AND you must do all of this quickly, likely while TA-ing full time, preparing for your qualifying exam, and raising a son. So, none of this 7 year bullshit. 5 years, tops. Sounds harsh, but the competition is relentless and INTENSE. Frankly, you have to do it this way to even hope to get noticed and move on, or you will be buried in the huge bucket of mediocre PhDs, which, to be fair, is still a very awesome accomplishment, and not easy to do, but you will not make it career-wise with a mediocre PhD. At best, you will be trapped in the endless postdoc cycle until, still broke and too old to get another postdoc, you have to rethink your entire, overtrained, expensive career choice).
Next advice: nurture your soft skills. Sure, your research project (as well as the scientific knowledge and the bench skills) will be the primary focus of your PhD. But, the soft skills like data management/analysis, writing and presenting complicated ideas, project management, mentoring/teaching, experimental design – THOSE are the skills that are going to get you a job. So, throughout your journey, do anything you can to enhance and highlight those things. I got my sci comm job by focusing on the fact that I could communicate my research well. I took some workshops and courses, won some awards for my work, wrote a few side publications and became known as the “person who could write” in my little academic world. And it worked.
So, do you do a PhD? Well, I don’t doubt that you have the grit to get through. But, do it with realistic expectations. Being “Dr” and expecting some level of career in the end is absolutely not the goal. Learning, developing your skills, and contributing to science? Good goals.
GOOD LUCK!

I’m not sure I have much to add to the superb Ph.D.-related comments below – I think there’s truth to each and every one of them – that it’s all-consuming, taxing in every way, and unlike a M.S., much more open-ended (see “7-year bullshit”, below :)). I think that it was a very challenging part for me. I would work like a beast for months, and would then have many little burnouts. And because the scope of the project was so large, it was hard to always keep an end goal in mind. And research, you know, is such a fickle mistress. One of the main things you learn is how to continuously recover from failure and keep going.

But it was manageable. Until I had a child in grad school, and then I almost broke :) No other student in my program had a baby, and in an area where being immensely dedicated is a must, spending sleepless nights in the lab is glorified, and showing up disheveled to department talks is your nerd cred, this was very challenging. You should really ask yourself what you are prepared to miss. And I am sure you are dealing with that already, but this would be missing stuff with a far-off, fuzzy endpoint, potentially.

Now, say you have decided that it is, in fact, for you (go girl!).

What do you want to have it for? Teaching? I am not 100% sure, but depending on the venue, you might need to do a proper academic postdoc for that. I thought this article was pretty cool (and realistic) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3814144/

So, depending on the postdoc you want, and how competitive you wish to be later on in acquiring a choice teaching position, you might need to be really flexible with where you’ll end up for a number of years. So, deciding on whether you want to stick around in school should include considerations of that you’ll do immediately after. And you should choose quickly – there’s a time limit for getting fellowships post-graduation, it’s harder to do academia after industry, etc.

While having a Ph.D. opens many doors, gives you many options, and breaks many ceilings, it is also not the end. The postdoc matters a great deal if you want to be in academia, and I’ll tell ya – the 50+ hour weeks are expected, my male colleagues are not running out of the door at 5:10 to get their kids from daycare because they have wives to support them full-time, and the competition and performance anxiety sometimes feels like grad school 2.0.
(maybe that’s why Nicole said she never looked back when she turned down that postdoc and the academic track! I completely get it)

I don’t want to sound like a super-downer. I don’t regret having this degree. I like research, and although I have no aspirations of having my own lab (one of those things I need to justify all the time to people), I also know that my project isn’t just going to be given away, and I have greater ownership of my work that even a Master’s would afford me. And although I don’t formally teach right now, I do have mentoring requirements, which I greatly enjoy.

So, not awesome bottom line, but just some things to chew on, perhaps. Good luck, looking forward to getting to hear what you decide!

and now that I’m so inspired, my love list:
- Being done with my Ph.D.!

- Never going to school ever again. Ever.

To be honest, I really just want the PhD in order to increase my opportunities/chances/earning potential in the 2 things I already plan to do with my Masters – teach at the college level, and write books. Both are more available to PhDs than to MA-holders, but I don’t reckon that’s a good enough reason to spend the next 5 years of my life living on the brink of nervous breakdown.

And that’s why I’m definitely leaning away from it . . .

I will be at Vegan Beer Fest, too! Hope to see you there.
I do not have a PhD, so I am not sure how much help I will be, other than to encourage you to go for it, if you are feeling inspired! And, do it now before you take a break since you are already in the school mode.
My love list this week: a patient, understanding husband, Bach rescue remedy, naps, dog hugs, Iyanla Vanzant, lentils, cruelty-free make-up and peppermint oil.

Ooh Angie definitely come say hi if you see me at Beer Fest!

This is exactly what I’m afraid of – the stress destroying me and basically making me lose these precious years where I want to be fully present in Waits’s little life. I don’t want to be an angerball all the time, when he needs me to be supporting him and spending time with him and helping become a big human!

Right now I’m looking into another option – a PhD in Science Education, which migh tbe a more relaxed path that would still get me to my same goals.

Thanks for all the thoughts and input Bel!

Paris! You lucky duck! Have the most amazing trip!

Ditto Deirdre! To you too! (6 days late, whoopsie) ♥

Thanks Shannon, luckily that’s one thing I’ve really got going for me here! The profs I’m close with in the dept are wonderful, and all of them are urging me to stay and keep going, which is so nice.

Thanks for the Love List! Yay for walking – that must have felt AMAZING!

Wow, so much info and insight here Nicole! And so applicable to my situation and my potential path. Thank you thank you thank you!

Haha, thank you for this comment and I LOVE your Love List.

I’m terrified of the 7-Year Bullshit!!! =D

Hey there! I commented on this from my phone a while back, but I suppose it didn’t go through. Everyone makes great points about PhD land, so I’ll try not to be repetitive. Yes, it’s emotionally taxing and you have to love your field of study. Agree agree agree. I think another exercise that could be useful in the decision process is making a list of careers you could see yourself really wanting at the end and asking if a PhD is *really* necessary to do those things. Halfway through my first PhD field season, making that list and being able to say “Yes, all these career choices are made better/easier by having a PhD” really helped me get back on my horse (said horse had like, thrown me off and sat on my head, so I needed the boost). Also, you are so obviously smart enough to get a PhD, so don’t let that factor into the choice. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should or that you have to in my opinion. Anyway, just my two cents.

Good luck staring down the end of the spring quarter. Summer soon!