Someone posted this on another site and it was hilarious though probably wise food for thought. Infographic On The Costs Of Going To Graduate School | Geekosystem But it is also probably why people whose goal is to earn a PhD for personal fulfillment will do so if necessary through for profit programs (ie pay extra since they have no plans to try to be tenure track or necessarily derive large financial benefit from it). Side thought...does Europe have the equivalent of for profit PhD programs or are theirs still all traditional academic programs for those desiring to enter academia?
This pretty much explains my hesitancy in going on to earn a PhD ... to me the salary figures don't really matter too much, the scariest is 100K PhDs granted vs 16K professorships created. I know that profs will retire nstuff, but still ... that's a heck of a lot of newly minted PhDs without the academic jobs they desire, especially in the humanities ... When I mention to people that I'd like to do a PhD but am hesitant, they usually will respond with encouragement, ex "You should do it! You're a good teacher!" But that's really not the main issue. Makes me think of the Monty Python dead parrot sketch ... Mr. Praline: Look, matey, I know a dead parrot when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now. Owner: No no he's not dead, he's, he's restin'! Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue, idn'it, ay? Beautiful plumage! Mr. Praline: The plumage don't enter into it. It's stone dead. The "Dead Parrot Routine" - YouTube Doesn't matter how beautiful the degree is or how good a teacher you are if the job opportunities are dead ...
If I ever decide to pursue a doctorate of any sort it will likely be SA or DETC based, allowing me to finance it out of pocket. Just can't justify it otherwise. Very interesting graphic, thanks for sharing it.
"In the US, there are more than 20 million students enrolled in graduate school today..." This is certainly not true, in a country of 300 million there is no 20 million graduate students. According to National Center for Education Statistics there was 2.7 million graduate and first-professional students in 2008 (including masters, doctorates, graduate certificates, MDs, JDs etc.)
I had no idea there's going to be a movie based on the PhD Comics series. Here's a link to the trailer.... PhD Comics The Movie Trailer Released | Geekosystem
