Exploring the Motivations Behind Pursuing a PhD: First-Hand Accounts

[Suyash Singh]

I wanted a recent first hand answer from people.
Why would you do a phd?
I thought everyone hated studies and just did it to get a job

 

[phinds]

I thought everyone hated studies and just did it to get a job

Then you thought wrong.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I thought everyone hated studies and just did it to get a job

When you enjoy something, don't you want to do more of it? Maybe you think this way because you haven't found your passion yet?

 

[Borg]

Whether you're studying for a phd or learning a new task on the job, there's always going to be something new to learn.

 

[mathwonk]

i started out in a phd program because i wanted to find out if i really liked mathematics, which i had always assumed. then i washed out in the furore surrounding the vietnam war in the 60's, and taught a while but was faced with losing my job unless i got a phd. at the time i thought i knew more than my colleagues who had phd's and felt it unfair that i needed one to hold my job. then i went back to school and struggled to get the phd, and learned that there really was a level above what i had reached; i.e. i may have known more facts than my friends but had done no original work; so although i hated the brutal graduate experience, starvation wages, unlimited work requirements, lack of respect,..., I appreciated getting to a higher plane of understanding and achievement. At that point i actually resigned from the previous desperately valued job, and stepped out on faith to get one year's further training, to rise further in understanding, and hoping for another job afterward. fortunately it worked out for me. so for me it meant becoming a mathematician, something i had always dreamed about. financially it was not a plus, as my colleagues who stayed at the teaching college earned more, but i got to do research and meet with and learn from famous figures in my field.

 

[nuuskur]

I've learned a lot about the theory of semigroups, mostly on my own, as we don't have a dedicated course for semigroups in recent years. I wrote my undergrad work about a certain key component in the theory of finite semigroups, and interestingly, without knowing it then, about deterministic finite automata. It turns out one can identify a deterministic finite automaton with a certain finite semigroup.

On one level, that's like connecting a part of computer science with some abstract gibberish about semigroups, wreath products and whatnot.
Furthermore, what more can we learn about finite semigroups? (there is a book called The q-theory of finite semigroups which gives many answers, already).
Do we switch to theory of automata to be able to more conviniently study the properties of finite semigroups, instead?(or vice versa)
Are the numerous theorems also applicable to ordered finite semigroups? If not, which "minimal" constraints would be sufficient? Is the theory still "interesting" or does it become some kind of trivial nonsense?

I see a way forward. Enroll for PhD studies and continue as a research fellow.

 

[symbolipoint]

I wanted a recent first hand answer from people.
Why would you do a phd?
I thought everyone hated studies and just did it to get a job

Not everyone is that simple. Some people want a research career; some people want to explore knowledge deeply; some people want to help people learn at an advanced level.

 

[PeroK]

For some people it's the other way round. They hate the idea of a job so they keep studying as long as possible.

 

[Vanadium 50]

You don't have to study, One can always find a job in either the food service or housekeeping industries.

 

[ZapperZ]

I thought everyone hated studies and just did it to get a job

Your "thought" is wrong.

Zz.

 

[DrClaude]

Your "thought" is wrong.

On two levels, actually. Not only does not everyone hate studies, but a Ph.D. is not at all like undergraduate studies. It is mostly research, quite a different beast.

 

[Suyash Singh]

You don't have to study, One can always find a job in either the food service or housekeeping industries.

Entertainment also.Not the main thing cause that requires talent and loads of luck.I mean in photography, film set decorator or something on the side.

 

[Doc Al]

I thought everyone hated studies and just did it to get a job

Getting a job never even occurred to me.

 

[nuuskur]

While working as a research fellow or taking a semester to run a course on linear algebra or real analysis or ..
Does that not constitute a job?

 

[waternohitter]

I will for a better future.

 

[gibberingmouther]

I don't see myself completing a graduate degree in a STEM field. I love learning about STEM topics such as physics and electronics and I study for fun, but I'm bad at multitasking and I have kind of weak mental stamina. So I get good work done when I get work done but it takes me a long time and there are lots of breaks. I scored high on IQ tests as a child but as an adult I feel like I'm both above and below average in different respects. I'm good at self learning if I have the time (which I do, because my parents support me), but I can only really go half time if I'm taking classes. I doubt I'd survive the hardships of graduate education, due to not being able to learn fast enough. This goes along with having schizophrenia. I'm very high functioning for a schizophrenic but in some ways still have some of the features of somebody with a mild brain injury. I am thinking about taking the physics GRE some day. Just to prove to myself/or even employers that I have a general competency. I am good at standardized tests. I've still got of ways to go though.

 

[Ucha]

If one is able to, I don't see why not.

If anything it's a great way to challenge yourself, and if successful and you obtain the degree then even better. Comes with respect from peers, a better job, and self-confidence.

BUT I've heard it's hard as hell as well so people who get stressed out easily and what not should give it a second thought if they are doing it for a challenge.