Are you thinking about applying to a PhD program? Are you already a doctoral student? PhD is a huge investment of time and money. So make sure you spend 15 minutes of your time reading this blog devoted to PhD program success and survival tips. I'm confident that these tips can save up to 10 years of your life, up to $1,000,000 of your money, and, most importantly, your physical and emotional health.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

When to Quit your Doctoral Program II

Here's one thing you need to understand in relation PhD experience. Having ups and downs during your PhD program (and especially during your dissertation stage) is absolutely normal. However, if one or more of the following is true, then you probably need to quit:

  1. You suffer from depression (inability to concentrate, insomnia, feeling sad all the time, having no energy when you wake up in the morning, constant feeling of fear and anxiety, etc) for more than a few month
  2. You did thorough research on the amount of time, money, and energy it will take to get a PhD and you think that, given the employment prospects, it's simply not worth it
  3. You don't think you want to be a professor. Again, every researcher, no matter how successful he or she is, has some periods when he or she feels like quitting. However, if your attitude towards the profession doesn't change for more than a few months, then you should consider quitting.
  4. You feel your work has an irreversible negative impact on your health. Trust me, losing your health to be a professor is not worth it. This career is not that lucrative and important to justify the sacrifice.

When deciding on whether to quit your PhD program, here are a few things I think you need to avoid:

  1. Don't listen to your friends and family. Don't continue your PhD program simply because you feel obligated to them to get the degree. Despite having your best interest in mind, these people often have no clue what academia is really like. They are as naive as you were when you started your PhD program. They think that a PhD is a ticket to wealth and status, BUT IT'S NOT! I often meet quite intelligent people from outside of academia who think that a person with a PhD can land any high paying job he or she wants.
  2. Don't be stubborn. I think most people who come into a PhD program are of the type who don't give up easily. They are used to finish everything they started despite all kinds of hardship. The thing is that you stubbornness may lead you to the same state of despair years and thousands dollars later. I would applaud a person who year after year keeps trying to become a millionaire, discover a drug against AIDS, or pursues some other big dream. But I would think that a person who is doing the same thing to get a hard, low-paying job of an English teacher is simply crazy.

11 comments:

  1. Oh my God...this GREAT MESSAGE FOR ME AND THE WORLD....

    GOD BLESS YOU PAL FOR SUCH IMPACTFUL MESSAGE...

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  2. Thank you for your kind words!

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  3. I couldn't agree more! I've just quit my PhD and I feel light as a feather, after two years of feeling miserable and putting the inevitable decision off. You were so right when you talked about stubborness, and insisting on pushing yourself through hell--precisely what I did for nearly two years! I knew the PhD wasn't right for me three months into the program, but I stayed because I was terrified of what others would think if I quit. I no longer care, and I can't tell you how liberating that is. Thanks Alexander!

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  4. Yes, you may feel embarrassed to be a quitter in the eyes of you family and friends. But you will be even more embarrassed when you are in your 30's, completely broke, and with very uncertain employment prospects. This is the worst feeling of all.

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  5. What if you want to quit but have no idea what you would do even if you did quit...

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  6. It is so nice to hear people in the same impossible position! I am getting to the point that I need to quit my PhD, but this action is tied to my self-worth and fears about landing a job . . . how do you deal with letters of recommendation from advisors in a program you quit?? Will I always feel like a failure? It is agony. I'm glad that someone else on the other side is 'light as a feather' and happy with the decision.

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  7. You exactly captured all my problems.. the only difference being that my PhD is quite well-paid.. so it's difficult to make up my mind between money and health..

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  8. I just stumbled upon this blog today after having been brutally honest with myself and my family the night before about how I really feel about my program. I'm beginning my second year in a program that is NOT AT ALL what I expected going into it. It's good to hear an honest depiction of what one should consider if they are making the decision to continue or not. Now the hard part... Making the decision to quit or not to quit?

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  9. I am struggling with the decision whether or not to quit right now. I am employed as a history professor at a small community college. Given the nature of the economy, I am grateful to even be employed. I am a recovered alcoholic who has suffered from intermittent acute depression throughout life--most recently when I went on the job market. I somehow pulled myself together and managed to land the job I have now. My wife argues, and she is probably right, that my prospects for career as a professor, even at the community college level will be limited if I don't finish my dissertation. We bot work at the same college--she hates both the city in which we live and the college where we teach. The dissertation is causing major friction in our marriage. What is more, we have a young child--so I'm not going anywhere.

    The dissertation itself is problematic. An expert in the field told me that my topic was not feasible. I should have listened to him, not my dissertation adviser. After doing the research, I have found that the expert was probably right. Given that I have a 2012 completion deadline, I am pretty sure that it's too late too change my focus. Moreover, I don't have the motivation to do so.

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  10. Just want to say, THANK YOU!

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  11. This blog is enormously helpful for someone like me who is two years away from applying to a PhD program in Economics.... THANK YOU! I wanted to ask you a follow up on a point you made about research. In your opinion, would you say it's not worthwhile to go into a PhD if you're interested in specifically doing research? I'm interested in being a government economist in transportation and a PhD seems like a gateway to a lot of those jobs, but it sounds like that may be a misunderstanding on my part? I guess my question is: Should someone who specifically wants to get into research/public sector and, more importantly, does NOT want to get into academia bother with a PhD or is an MA sufficient for that?

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