PhD degree is a highest recognized degree, currently considered as one of the requirements for several jobs like academic, scientific, managerial and other positions that are highly paid and respected in the scientific society.
Therefore, there is a obvious race to pursue PhD from the best of the eligible universities and to land up in a well established lab, to publish as much papers as possible and finally get PhD degree in shortest possible span of time.
Do you think it is wrong ? There is nothing wrong in competing with the above objectives but what I feel is all concerned about the blind race which eventually limits the quest for learning, enjoying the pursuit of knowledge discovery, being creative, confident and end-up with the self discovery.
Thus, this tricky race has lead to increased stress, anxiety and depression among research students. Most of the time, I realized that even after the PhD degree, people end-up breeding egos rather than humility which lands them to the mediocracy. However, this mediocracy keeps them moving up the ladder. Actually, each PhD journey is unique and should not be subjected to the comparison to other PhD's.
What is your overview of the current state of the PhD's ?
Do you have ever thought that doing PhD is a wrong decision?
or There is nothing wrong in competing with the sole objective of publishing more. How the basic approach or the training may change the whole course of your research career. ?
No I never thought that doing my PhD was a wrong decision. I was exciting and I learned a lot but did not get rich of doing that.
S. Béatrice Marianne Ewalds-Kvist
Yes, that's true in most of us case, but while interactions with the ongoing PhD's, there is some hint about something better was there on the plate.
I also never regretted doing my PhD, though keeping the deadlines and publishing while writing the dissertation can be very challenging.
At the same time, I put this publication, conferences, and other research activities on me myself. I chose to say yes, hoping that these would help me to land a job more easily (the future will tell me).
I am not denying it, it can be very stressful, especially if you are not funded, and I think that is the main element to consider. It is all good to enjoy doing research, but at the end of the month, it is not necessarily the stress of the PhD itself that can be hard, but rather the addition of every little thing. It can be hard to live on the few rewards and compliments you can get during the process.
And I agree on the humility issue sadly. It can also be hard to cope with some people, but I do think it is not the majority.
Stephan J. Hauser Your reply gives a perfect picture of what usually goes in a researchers mind under various uncertainties and pressure to get published.
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