The worst? I stopped to do research after my PhD and now, I forgot everything. Dumb as a rock AND without any useful knowledge of my very peculiar subject.
But I still have the paper, yay!
But surely everyone greets you by saying “Dr. Fossilesque, I presume?”.
That alone has got to be worth the overqualification issues.
Finishing up my thesis but, god I hope not. Those people are insufferable.
The more PhDs I know and the closer I am to grad school, the more it feels like getting a PhD is about being stubborn than it is about being smarter than everyone in the room.
In my experience it’s being stubborn or possessing a robust resiliency to mental health damage. Being smart, or better yet from a family that is wealthy enough to support you just makes everything a fair bit easier.
Also, making friends with your advisors doesn’t hurt either.
And a lot of debt, usually. Don’t forget that one.
If you have to pay to get a PhD then you were fleeced and probably deserve to lose that money
I don’t know, there are lots of PhD programs in the U.S. where you’re a research assistant, which basically means your tuition is free and you’re paid a stipend for the research. In my experience, I’ve only met US PhD students who were fully funded.
According to the NCES, in 2015-16 the average PhD graduate had about $100k student debt
I honestly believe that the usefulness of a specific piece of knowledge resembles the logarithmic curve, the higher your education already is.
