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've found for a PhD student is lack of research experience during the undergrad degree.<p>I've seen it over and over.<p>A newly-minted bachelor'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're an undergraduate and harbor the slightest ambition to get a PhD, drop what you're doing right now and start looking for a research group to join. You're going to need 2-3 years of experience actually doing research to know if it's something you'll enjoy long term.<p>You may well discover that you don't like what you find. If so, better to know that now than when you're in your late 20s.<p>If things do work out, you'll have a better idea of what to look for in advisors and schools.