PhD: They Make You Want It

My former boss at the Writing Center informed me once that PhD programs in general have about a 50% dropout rate, and I think I understand why. Part of my job, you see, is reading and editing the dissertations, theses, lab reports, journal articles, and grant proposals of PhDs and Post-Docs.

And I gotta say, you read enough of these documents, written in the obscure, esoteric, almost mystic prose of academia, and you can totally see these poor ol' PhD candidates, hunched over the dull glow of an outdated computer, their 30th birthday coming up but still living alone on some sub-poverty-line stipend, typing away to (hopefully) get the funding necessary to explore the possibility that a specific strain of bio-iluminescent bacterium (one of countless thousands of possible candidates) might function as a viable possibility for increasing energy efficiency in next-generation organic-based LEDs, all while the e-mail alerts ping reminders of an in-box full of spam, status updates, and irrelevant cc's from ancillary project members, and their neck pops as they hang their head, when suddenly they jump up and scream, "What am I doing with my life?! Screw this, I'm going out to feel some sunshine on my face." And they run outside and never come back.

Later, the PI wonders vaguely where's what's-his-or-her-face, 'cause they need someone to grade some undergrad papers.

They make you really want it, is all I'm saying; I'm betting that it isn't that PhD drop-outs can't hack the course work, but rather that they just couldn't put up with the alienating lack of purpose in their lives (which is ironically why they probably entered grad school in the first place).

I sense that the only people willing to put up with the dedication necessary to complete a PhD are those who either 1) truly, passionately love and believe in what they are studying, or 2) are conscientious grinds who don't know how to do anything else but grind away.