There are lots of good reasons for deciding to do a PhD. Deepening your knowledge of a subject you love is an excellent one. Wondering what to do with the next three years of your life and finding out your university will pay you to stay isn’t so bad either. But seeing it as a fast track to a cushy academic job probably shouldn’t be one of them.

PhDs are often glamourised in popular culture. If you grew up watching Friends, you might recall Ross Geller celebrating getting tenure at New York University. Getting tenure in a US university means you are virtually impossible to fire. Your university trusts in your intellectual brilliance to the extent that it’s willing to give you total academic freedom to research what you want. In short, it sounds like a dream.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what it is. If Ross were a real person and not a fictional character, he wouldn’t have been celebrating getting tenure aged about 30 years old – unless he were a palaeontology prodigy. Instead, he’d be on his first or second postdoc, possibly in underpaid, insecure employment. He would also probably be so busy writing research grant applications he’d have no time to hang around in a coffee shop. If – in a decade’s time – he eventually secured a permanent academic position, he’d be one of only 3.5% of his science PhD cohort who did.

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The problem with the academic dream is that the pipeline is broken. Employing lots of PhD students is a great deal for universities – they’re a source of inexpensive academic labour for research and teaching. But it’s not such a great deal for the students themselves. The oversupply of PhDs perpetuates the illusion that there are a lot of academic jobs around. There aren’t – and competition for the few that there are is fierce.

The oversupply of early career researchers means they often feel exploited by their universities. According to the University and College Union, which represents lecturers, more than three-quarters of junior academics are on precarious or zero-hours contracts. Meanwhile, competition for research funding and power-imbalanced relationships between supervisors and junior researchers can make labs and libraries ripe for bullying.

The result, according to recent research from the Royal Society and the Wellcome Trust, is that academia is one of the worst careers for stress. Nearly four in 10 academics have reported experiencing mental health conditions.

So why do so many intelligent people who would probably do fantastically well in alternative careers, put themselves through this? Because being an academic can be one of the world’s best jobs. You might get to push the boundaries of knowledge in an area you’re passionate about, work in international teams comprising the world’s greatest minds, and produce work with visible social impact – whether that’s through lecturing students or seeing your research inform policy.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Choose a subject you really love – three (often four) years of your life is a long time.’ Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

But is it worth it for the majority of PhD students, who’ll never become academics? In some countries, such as the US and Germany, PhDs are increasingly seen not just as a conveyor belt to an academic job, but as an important high-level qualification that leads to a diverse range of careers. In certain industries in the UK, such as science and pharmaceuticals, demand for PhD graduates is growing as their emphasis on research increases.

But at present, a PhD qualification isn’t essential for most jobs. In some industries, a PhD might even set you back, as business leaders often see them as driving a largely pointless three-year wedge between an undergraduate degree and an entry-level position. This is often compounded by unhelpful careers advice from academic supervisors disinterested in the world outside academia.

But doing a PhD in most cases might not hinder your career either. And, if you’re an undergraduate, you certainly won’t be the only one to drift into a three-year stipend while you work out what comes next. Even if you’re not willing to slog it out in pursuit of a professorship, in some subjects more than others, there’s evidence of an earnings premium. In 2010, 3.5 years after graduation, 72% of doctoral graduate respondents were earning more than £30,000 compared with 22% of first-degree graduates.

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If you are going to do a PhD, choose wisely – dropout rates are high. Karin Bodewits, a PhD graduate who’s written a book about her experience, says she rushed into hers. “At the end, I was a disillusioned and defeated doctor, without any future plans, to whom a degree from a famous university means marginally less than a Girl Guides’ camping badge,” she says.

Make sure you pick your supervisor for the right reasons. Don’t be swayed by a star-studded academic track record – a supervisor who makes time for their students rather than occasionally texting from their project in Polynesia is worth their weight in gold. Equally, choose a subject you really love: three (often four) years of your life is a long time. It will probably help your career, since the best researchers are those motivated by a passion for their field, and if it doesn’t lead to a glittering professorship, at least you’ll know you spent that time doing something worthwhile.



If you’re still not sure, just take Albert Einstein’s word for it: “If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”