Your description of the way that academic life lost its appeal makes me glad I did not pursue a PhD (something I at one time considered). I think I would have had much the same findings as you
Very enjoyable reflective piece, and I think will be helpful to many future students.
I want to push back on "more people should start PhDs, fewer should finish them." The implicit claim is that starting a PhD is the best way to learn whether academic life suits you. But is it? The information you gained might have been discoverable through a predoc or conversations with academics. Those paths cost less in time, money, and opportunity (especially given the costs of applying: writing statements, getting letters, sitting the GRE etc).
Thanks for the thoughtful pushback! In my case, I think starting a PhD was the best way to learn about academic life, but much of that is because I wasn't as proactive during my (mostly remote) predoc. I perhaps could have learned most of the above without starting. One challenge is that predocs are disproportionately with high-profile professors with teams, so they aren't quite representative. However, this doesn't preclude talking with grad students.
Your description of the way that academic life lost its appeal makes me glad I did not pursue a PhD (something I at one time considered). I think I would have had much the same findings as you
Very enjoyable reflective piece, and I think will be helpful to many future students.
I want to push back on "more people should start PhDs, fewer should finish them." The implicit claim is that starting a PhD is the best way to learn whether academic life suits you. But is it? The information you gained might have been discoverable through a predoc or conversations with academics. Those paths cost less in time, money, and opportunity (especially given the costs of applying: writing statements, getting letters, sitting the GRE etc).
Thanks for the thoughtful pushback! In my case, I think starting a PhD was the best way to learn about academic life, but much of that is because I wasn't as proactive during my (mostly remote) predoc. I perhaps could have learned most of the above without starting. One challenge is that predocs are disproportionately with high-profile professors with teams, so they aren't quite representative. However, this doesn't preclude talking with grad students.