#2 Main Reasons Why Many Drop Out of PhD Programmes
What you may not know about doing a PhD
I spent a lot of time thinking about the doctoral and early postdoctoral career trajectory over the past two weeks. I learned that the academic trajectory is not as linear as our projections/envisioning suggest. However, the longer I get stuck, the more I wonder what the way out is. I will spend an upcoming post talking about early postdoctoral career struggles; but today, I would like to highlight major setbacks in doctoral life. Those who are still early in their doctoral candidacy or those who intend to apply for grad school may find this post relevant or insightful.
I spent 50 months on my doctoral candidacy. From my own experience, alongside the feedback from my peers and content creators in the academic niche, below are two major reasons why PhD candidates would (like to) decide to terminate their candidacy. I am not suggesting that you should quit your PhD journey if you encounter the same struggle(s), but, at the very least, you should give yourself room to consider how you are going to overcome the predicament(s).
1. Passive or Irresponsive PhD Supervision
I watched and read numerous YouTube videos and Reddit posts respectively where the content creators or social media users state that they unfortunately encounter PhD supervisors who never or rarely reply to their emails and/or provide any advice or guidance on their PhD research. Passive or irresponsive supervision sometimes happens within and beyond the doctoral level. The same nightmares might occur during the undergraduate or master’s levels of dissertation writing.
As early as when I was a final-year undergraduate student, my dissertation supervisor never replied to my emails and he would ignore all my email requests to write reference letters. The only way I could reach out to him was through his office hours. I would queue up in front of his office during his office hours just to have a chance to speak with him briefly. During my doctoral studies, many times my PhD supervisor was rather passive. If I sent him a new draft of the PhD thesis, even though I followed up to request a meet-up to speak about my new draft, my PhD supervisor would wait for 10–12 months to look at my new draft and arrange a discussion session. Sometimes I imagine if he had not taken a year to reply to me each time I finished a new draft, I would have graduated from my PhD studies way earlier (likely to be 14–20 months earlier).
Yet, unlike my undergraduate dissertation supervisor, I did not dislike my PhD supervisor. Instead, in retrospect, I am very grateful that I was supervised by him and not by any others. Despite the lack of responses at times, my PhD supervisor, if he got a chance to arrange a discussion session with me, would provide genuine and thorough feedback on my PhD thesis draft(s). Also, he was supportive when it came to writing me references to apply for any predoctoral fellowships or research grants.
I understand that how engaging the PhD supervisor is significantly determines how much progress a PhD candidate can make. Therefore, if you are considering applying for a PhD programme, though it makes sense to seek prospective supervision from someone working in big-name universities, you should never overlook whether they are responsive enough when exchanging emails while seeking prospective supervision. Sometimes academics from lower-ranked universities may be more supportive and responsive to help you apply for their PhD programmes. Of course, other than the prestige of the host institution and the engagement of the PhD supervision, the location and safety of the host city or country are also key when deciding where you should do your PhD programmes.
2. Excessive Isolation and Stress
The second major reason why many people drop out of PhD programmes is owing to their encounters with excessive isolation and/or overwhelming stress. Excessive isolation can be depressing, leading to significant self-doubt, chronic burnout and even, in my own case, suicidal thoughts. Yet, as someone living with a social anxiety disorder, I would rather choose a career path that requires excessive isolation over one that asks for the constant assumption of social responsibilities. At the end of the day, it is up to you to decide whether you are willing and dedicated enough to spend your PhD candidacy transitioning into someone who can endure excessive, and mostly unhealthy and constant, isolation.
On top of that, stress is a real thing. Many PhD candidates, like my former self, have (or had) many suicidal thoughts or attempts, or at least mental breakdowns, during the course of the PhD journey. The stress commonly comes from, for example, financial stress or difficulty, imposter syndrome, regular rejections from academic or industry circles (such as rejections from fellowship, internship and/or grant applications), tension with PhD supervisor(s), and/or everyday difficulties (such as encounters with discrimination). These are all parts of the PhD journey. However, I am not saying that these only happen in academia. The same, or even far more, things of this nature could occur in industry or the corporate sector too. I was always advised that undertaking a PhD programme helped build my resilience. But a piece of advice I could give is that taking a regular break from PhD work is necessary if you hope to make progress sustainably. Overall, you still need to stay sane to thrive in your postdoctoral career if you happen to earn your PhD.
Conclusion
Is doing a PhD worth it? Well, it depends. In my own case, upon earning my PhD, I am now able to apply for many opportunities that I once dreamed of applying for. However, in my postdoctoral career, I receive far more rejections than I did during my PhD journey. Therefore, please do not see earning a PhD as a terminal achievement. If you are able to overcome all the struggles and nonsense and earn your PhD, you, hopefully, should have a more mature mindset and resilience to endure a postdoctoral career.
You can view it as a journey of suffering that comes with, if you are lucky enough, some rewards at times. And if your passion suggests that you either want to conduct independent research or teach juniors, then earning a PhD and seeking an independent fellowship or a principal investigator role (for research), or a lectureship (for teaching) may be the answer for your professional trajectory.
I am still finding my way out. I hope you are going to find yours too.
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