LogFAQs > #971390300

But it's not just money, it's a large amount of time and effort. Personally, it's been hard to watch all of my high school friends move on and settle down, buy houses, start families. Is it worth delaying all other aspects of your life to "learn"? Realistically, the appeal of this career isn't learning, as you can just read. It's about being able to discover things. It's about tackling hard problems that literally nobody has any answer for, nor do they know the right way to get to an answer.

But if that dies at the end of your PhD, where you might just be starting to break into the field and maybe have one meaningful result written up (and many nonmeaningful results written up), not sure you're actually getting much from the deal.

I'm just trying to provide a realistic sense of what it's like.