A Jaded Look at Graduate School: Is it Worth It?
There is another question that we get a lot on Biocord: “Should I go to Graduate School?” This is a very difficult question because everyone’s reason to go to graduate school is personal.
Know why you want to go.
First of all, why do you want to go to graduate school? It is my very strong belief that if you do not have to go to graduate school, don’t do it.
The Dream Job. The easiest way I can think of to figure out whether or not you want to go to graduate school is to look up your dream jobs on career boards and job websites and see what kind of requirements they have.
Why I dissuade Graduate School if you can avoid it
Time Commitment. The time commitment that is graduate school varies depending on what kind of program you enroll in. Will it involve coursework? How about research? Do you need a thesis? Is teaching involved? I tell every new and potential grad student that graduate school is a job. For 40+ hours a week, you should be in class, studying, teaching, or doing research. You should be working 40+ hours a week. I personally don’t know any graduate students who spend less than 50 hours a week working. It’s fairly common to have to pull 60 hours in a week every so often, and it isn’t uncommon to have to pull 70 hours a couple of times a year.
Grades. In graduate school, you might still be going to classes and have the title of “student”, but it is more accurate to say that it is your job to do well; it’s permissible as an undergraduate to have mediocre grades, but it is generally frowned upon for graduate students to have any grade less than a B+, especially if you are not doing research. To put it another way, you are supposed to be the creme de la crop. The creme de la crop does not get C’s. That being said, some PI’s don’t really care about the coursework component of graduate school, but you should really take this opportunity to learn the material and take courses that are relevant and important to your research. Don’t waste your time with useless electives.
Imposter Syndrome. Imposter Syndrome is real. Do I love the position I’m currently in? Absolutely. Do I feel like I’m worthy of being in this position? Absolutely not. Another Biocordian wrote an excellent article on Imposter Syndrome. Read it!
A PhD is a weird time because most people in your life think you’re an overachiever, but you feel like a complete imposter who is getting nowhere.
Rhiannon Morris, @SciWithRhi
Mental Health in Graduate School. Mental health tends to plummet. Survey data from the American College Health Association (2019) has some very discouraging statistics: 41% of students felt so depressed that it was difficult to function, and 63% of students reported feeling overwhelming anxiety (source). Actually, Nature published a very nifty article that illustrates the “Tortuous Truth” about getting a Ph.D. I encourage everyone seeking to get a Ph.D. to read it.
Expensive. Graduate school is expensive. I don’t mean the amount of money you have to pay for graduate school, I mean the fact that your stipend is abysmally low for your skillset if you even get a stipend. For example, with my Bachelor’s in Biomedical Engineering, I could be making $65k USD for an industry job, which could bump up to $80k+ after 5 years. With my Master’s (which is an additional 1–2 years after an undergraduate degree), I could start at $75k, and get to $100k after 5 years. However, if I pursue a Ph.D., I’m only making $20–30k per year, for 5 years. If I pursue a post-doc, I’d still only be making $50–65k per year. For seven years post-undergraduate, I would still only be making as I would be in an entry-level position! Additionally, if you factor in the low stipend and the long hours, realistically, you’ll be making $8–14 USD per hour. For reference, Target pays its employees $13 per hour (source). I have a master’s degree and am halfway through my doctorate, and somebody who works full-time at Target makes more than I do.
If you have to pay for your own tuition (which is true for many master’s programs and some doctorate programs), it is very expensive. US News and Report states that tuition for some two-year, full-time graduate programs can cost at least $100,000, not including living expenses (source). If a prospective student has debt from their undergraduate degree, they may have to take on more debt for graduate school tuition and living expenses
Maintaining PI/Lab relationships. Having good peers and mentors is important. This can honestly make or break your degree. Navigating the politics in academia and lab culture is easier when you have people to support and direct you and are understanding of your time and efforts. Office politics run rampant. Elsevier put out a quite succinct post on the PI/Ph.D. relationship, and what a good advisor/student relationship looks like. You will be spending a lot of time with your fellow research peers, and you will have to get along with them. Your labmates are basically your new roommates. BiteSizeBio made a lab organization post that makes me think of the Chore Chart on the shared refrigerator from freshman year.
Is it worth it?
That is a question to ask yourself. This all being said, there are good parts to going to graduate school, but this is a post about dissuading you from going to grad school. If Graduate School still sounds like it is worth it for you, then maybe it is. Evidently, it’s worth it for many people, as there are over a million graduate students in the United States alone (2016, source).
A grueling, yet fulfilling lifestyle. As miserable as it is to be a graduate student, I still love it. Don’t be mistaken: the hours are long, I’m often overworked and exhausted, and I can’t afford to get a new pair of glasses, but I love what I’m doing. The lifestyle is miserable but the work feels meaningful and fulfilling (sometimes). And for myself and many others, that’s enough for what it is. Graduate school working conditions have historically been terrible, and while it has somewhat improved over the years, we are still fighting for better pay and expectations.
TL;DR I’m ranting about how miserable graduate school life is, but I still love it.
If you haven’t read my article on getting involved in research as a student, find it here! And as always, please comment on your own views and experiences of graduate school!
