Re: Salaries for PhD's
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17 Apr 2008, 11:14
4 -5 years is a considerable opportunity cost and though PhD is a academic based program with a passion for research and stuff, why do they underplay the salary part so much. One spends 4-5 years (without salary) for getting a PhD and isn't it the responsibility of the university to indicate the kind of lifestyle one would be entitled to post PhD.
I don't think it is the university's responsiblity to inform a perspective PhD applicant about potential future lifestyles. I think they expect you bring alot to the table before you'd even apply to their program, so in a way you are already supposed to know what the life of an academic is like before you apply. As far as annual salaries are concerned, whatever professional association publishes your favorite journals should have that info somewhere.
What I am missing? Am I the odd one out who thinks like this?
I think what you are missing is that if you are thinking about getting a PhD because of some monetary payoff you will be in for a pretty big disappointment - I'd venture the biggest disappointment of your life. like bauble said, thats why you don't see it discussed much. You really need to be into the research culture and the constant intellectual challenge it entails, if not you won't cut it.
I was giving a talk to some prospective MBA students at an info session about this very thing... I basically summed it up like this : as an academic your life becomes a constant term paper. This never ends... youre always (hopefully) working on something, and somethings can stretch out for years. Maybe when you get tenure you slow down a bit, but in the ideal case, you wouldn't want to.
There was a quote I saw somewhere... basically said that as an academic, the little computer inside your head is ALWAYS on. thinking about something, tweaking an experiment, synthesizing things, etc. So this sort of mentality has to excite you. If the thought of extending knowledge doesn't get you off, then there is a problem. More important than the $ you waste over the 5-7+ years, is the time you wasted.
Another doubt:
-> Also, most universities mention PhD fees in the website, but I think everyone gets scholarship and stipend. Hence technically, we get a small cash inflow during PhD and there is no cash outflow. Am I correct on this? (Effectively the opportunity cost of doing a PhD is only the salary lost in 4-5 years and not the PhD fees and living expenses which would be taken care of)
Most stipend packages I've seen place you on a pretty tight budget, I don't know if they technically cover living expenses (maybe if the school is out in a cornfield somewhere). I don't know if the stipends I've seen qualify as poverty line, but I am not 100% convinced that they can cover an average persons living expenses(i.e. someone accustomed to some minimum level of creature comforts) , so I would count on accumulating some debt or writing some grants etc.
-> How do married people take care of their family expenses during the PhD.
Marry into wealth? Put your kids to work? LOL... just kidding. I don't personally know any PhD students who are married, I'd imagine this is very difficult and a source of great strain. Not just from a monetary perspective but from a relationship perspective, since your significant other is going to be ignored an awful lot. Tkkoh is living proof that it is possible, though.