When it comes to discussions with students, there's one question that's a "hardy perennial". There's no simple answer, whatever your discipline is, but Tim Hopper is tackling the question, Should I do a Ph.D?, with a series of interviews.
The first interview is with John Cook, whose blog, The Endeavour, I like to follow. So, I was especially interested in what John had to say. He comes at the question as formally trained mathematician, with broad "real world" experience, but I found my self nodding appreciatively at most of what he had to say.
Tim provides links to some other related material that addresses the important question that he's raised, and I'm looking forward to seeing his upcoming interviews on this topic.
© 2013, David E. Giles
Satisfaction is what all my peers answers to the question when I was in grad school. To me it was a simple decision. I received a full scholarship when I was a combat solider during the Iraq - Iran war. I chose to do a PhD rather than be in a war. My daughter did it, she said, because she wanted to prove to herself she can do it! It is unclear that expected earning is the reason.
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