Students ask me from time to time, “why do I need advanced graduate degrees (Masters or PhD)?” “I don’t know whether I want it or need it?” I figure I write down my thoughts to share, perhaps, offer some options to those who are looking for answers.
The short answer is, try to get it anyway!
The long answer is: There has been a hot and long debate lately about LIV golf tournament and PGA (if you don’t care about golf, it is more than golf. Try to do some readings to catch up, why people discuss about the controversial exhibition type of LIV golf tournament. I’m not here to discuss golf, so I’m gonna leave it here). So. this year marks 150 anniversary of The Open (the British open, a major tournament, in St. Andrew). A major is always a huge deal. When Tiger Woods was interviewed and asked about his opinions about the LIV golf. He mentioned about …“what’s the incentive to go out and practice? To respect the history, which makes the golf competition mean something.”(he meant PGA tour creates the competition that incentivize players to practice and earn the trophy, as oppose to LIV-style of exhibition game.) I understand the money is such a temptation in LIV. It’s hoping to use the money to remove some pressure for the players. But then, what’s the grind? It makes me think of pursuing graduate degree, the PhD degree, is kinda in the similar “grind”, similar mentality. If the goal (of life) is to make (big) money, I’m sure you will find a way to achieve it with any degree that you may have. (Which some golf players found the tour that’s less competitive and more money and stay with it.) If the goal of life is to prepare yourself become a more independent problem-solver and self-driven individual (sometimes may require NOT to prioritize salary/money over certain things), then I think advanced studies is absolutely needed. Again, if you can find ways to get advanced studies, you gotta do it.
At the time when I was doing it, tuition was an issue. Coming from true middle class family, my parents have supported me for so long, I didn’t pay $1 from my own money, because I had zero. (I worked 2 years in industry, I had exactly $0 saved, I’m not even a huge spender, that’s the economy!) My parents were thinking to take a second mortgage to pay my PhD tuition. I felt absolutely grateful and in the meantime, super stressful. Grateful: for their willingness to support me; Stressful: I’ve set up my mind to pursue my PhD, if I were borrowing money from parents, when and how am I gonna pay my folks back??? All my peers at the time were making big money, and I was making 0 and still spending on studies (something intangible). The feeling didn’t get shaken off ever! But I got through it.
It means tremendous for PhD students to “earn” the scholarship. Almost all my graduate school peers at some point of their studies had to think about tuition situation, “can my advisor continue sponsoring me? where am I gonna find tuition money if no one’s sponsoring me? why am I doing this, all my friends are making big money, why am I doing this???” Suddenly all sorts of self-doubts arose. I would shampooed twice in the shower without noticing I’ve already done it, because I was all thinking about the school work. Eventually, I took a semester tuition loan from my parents, and worked to find scholarship during the very first semester. I needed to perform to impress my advisor, to get funded! Work Work Work! That’s a lot PhD grind: Finding sponsorship, applying scholarship for conference attending, doing everything to NOT pay the tuition out from my pocket or my parents’, that’s pretty much what I set out to do at the beginning of the study. It sounds straightforward, but you know, it’s DXXX hard. Any sponsored projects can be terminated; your advisor may have 10 other students just like you, even more senior; every PhD students begin as inexperienced researchers, while learning domain knowledge, you also have to learn how to thrive quickly, if you have the financial stress….that’s not everyone dreams of kind of life, is it. If you go out to industry to work, I bet you will have stress, but perhaps not immediate financial stress. Afterall, you are making some big paycheck. (In fact, I often joke about who makes big money and has big expenditure, that could potentially become a vicious circle, wanting to make more money)…. Anyway, at the beginning of my advanced graduate studies gave me the opportunity to build to grind to find solutions to resolve my financial stress….and so much more throughout the studies (network, see the world, reflection skills…etc. another topic another time).
The whole grinding process is attempting to make myself unique and useful. The only way I know how, at age 25, is to keep on trying and trying harder!!!! you go out the length to take more initiatives to help your advisors to obtain research fundings, and in turn, you find yourself scholarship. You apply graduate support grants all over the places….and you develop all sorts of soft and hard skills required for your discipline. I received an email from my advisor at the end of the first semester, he reached out to say he would like to discuss more on the idea I proposed and there might be a chance to work on an RA position. The idea later became my preliminary exam topic and got me published 3~4 papers. A year or 2 later, I received an email from my advisor, saying, he wanted me to know he would provide full funding until I graduate, so I can work financially-stress-free and enjoy the process, which I thoroughly did. I graduated with outstanding graduate student award and with a postdoc position upon graduation. If I sound smug when I said that, that’s because I am really proud of it, because I EARN it.
I can genuinely say it out loud now. The incentive for me to do what I’m doing everyday, is a competition with myself, to become a better version of me. It means something to myself that going out to work everyday, researching and teaching, is to practice and be better to deliver knowledge.
After the advanced studies, years of grind and training, I still don’t think I’ve learned enough, I want to learn everyday. Now, I become an employer I hire students to work on projects with me, I can see people who has or who doesn’t have the quality of “grind mentality“. It is not something you can inherit from. It is something you have to experience and build it. So, yeah, I consider graduate studies is the holy grail. You will get rewarded if you grind it out.