Is There a Conspiracy?
Though most first year Ph.D. students work extremely hard, statistics reveal that many will not meet the first year requirements of their graduate programs anyway. No more than one of every six students who start a Ph.D. program in the humanities and social sciences finishes it.
Some suppose graduate departments with large undergraduate programs accept more first year students than they can fund in successive years because they need the teaching assistants. People consider that professors purposefully give out low grades so they can "flunk out" graduate students the department can't afford to keep after the first year. Such sureness is so widespread that, in departments that guarantee to fund graduate students through teaching or research assistantships, there's probably at least some truth to that theory.
Students who don't complete the Ph.D. will leave with master's degrees; others will leave with no degree at all. Every one of Ph.D. students should have a backup plan.
Can You Live Like a Monk?
Mainly, Ph.D. students must live entirely or almost entirely on their earnings from teaching assistantships, research assistantships, or other low-paying employment. Obtaining a Ph.D. means being a starving student for another five years or more. Often students uncover that getting a Ph.D. takes longer than they thought it would.
It’s intellectually rewarding to take a Ph.D., but not necessarily financially rewarding. Unless their specialty is a hot field such as computer science or nanotechnology, Ph.D. students usually find that the academic job market is even more competitive than they had imagined, too.
Sacrificing financial security for the pursuit of new knowledge is noble to some but foolish to others. The person who might be critical of the low priority you are putting on financial security might be your significant other. If you don’t have an outside income, you will have a combination of a tight budget, stressful work conditions, and Spartan living quarters that can make life difficult for your special someone.
Take into account that your significant other is indeed significant.
Where the Grass is Greener
Ph.D. students typically start to think that the mail carrier, the departmental secretary and just about everyone else in the world has it made compared to them. They work fewer hours, get better pay and benefits, have more job security, take less flak from supervisors, and have no exams to take. Other careers may seem particularly attractive after a low grade or biting criticism from a professor. There are first-year students that leave their programs voluntarily because they think grad school just isn't worth the time, effort, and lost pay and benefits.
Notwithstanding the long hours and low pay, people stay in doctorate programs because they enjoy learning for learning's sake. They just find irresistible intellectual stimulation, and they find academic work fun. Many Ph.D. students suppose only researchers and academics have it made because they get paid to undertake intellectual problems. Faculty members of graduate school and most other professors reinforce this belief, too.
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