A PhD should be about improving society, not chasing academic kudos
<i>When you look at the stats, it’s hard not to conclude that the current PhD system is fundamentally broken. Mental health issues are rife: approximately one-third of PhD students are at risk of having or developing a psychiatric disorder like depression. The high level of dropouts is similarly worrying – and possibly another symptom of the same problem. Research suggests that on average 50% of PhD students leave graduate school without finishing – with numbers higher at some institutions.</i><p>The biggest risk factor I&#x27;ve found for a PhD student is lack of research experience during the undergrad degree.<p>I&#x27;ve seen it over and over.<p>A newly-minted bachelor&#x27;s student without research experience has no preparation for the frustration, isolation, and sense of futility that real researchers face.<p>When it hits them, many discover they lack the temperament to actually move a research project forward. By then, they will have sunk 2-3 years of their life (or more) and a major amount of prestige into a failed attempt.<p>If you&#x27;re an undergraduate and harbor the slightest ambition to get a PhD, drop what you&#x27;re doing right now and start looking for a research group to join. You&#x27;re going to need 2-3 years of experience actually doing research to know if it&#x27;s something you&#x27;ll enjoy long term.<p>You may well discover that you don&#x27;t like what you find. If so, better to know that now than when you&#x27;re in your late 20s.<p>If things do work out, you&#x27;ll have a better idea of what to look for in advisors and schools.