philthrowaway

Thank you for your thoughts, @gughok.

I agree that pursuing philosophy will be an incredible life experience and I definitely do not want to distract anyone from doing this. I also agree with your "adventure" mindset, which I think is a very good approach. In good faith and not wanting to unwittingly mislead anyone about anything that I might have said or implied about my own situation, I should clarify what I meant about my comment - I do not mean that anyone smart enough to get into a competitive PhD program will be able to find lucrative employment afterwards and elsewhere. In fact, I consider this to be very unlikely (for a plethora of reasons which I will pass over because I consider them to be ancillary) but I only note my dissent because, in accordance with your "adventure" mindset, one shouldn't pursue philosophy for extrinsic economic or social considerations, including thinking that lucrative non-academic employment will be available at the end (which is not true). Rather, more humbly, I mean to advance a more modest proposition or dilemma. That even normal life opportunities will be passing you by in the formative years of your 20's as you pursue your PhD candidacy, such as earning and saving money, travelling, buying a house, establishing yourself, getting ahead (beyond academia), and/or having a family (although it doesn't matter if none of these are important for you), noting that some opportunities only come by or are the most fruitful in your 20's. I only wanted to clarify because I do not wish to mislead anyone about their non-academic job opportunities afterwards. Part of my own agony comes from the realization that my own fulfilling career will be gone if I choose to pursue a PhD and wanted to return.

I can empathize with this. I understand you to mean that, given the abysmal state of the philosophy job market (as partially reflected through the potluck nature of the admissions process), it is a hard personal choice to choose between money/comfort vs passion when you potentially could have both. I didn't read this as a negative indictment on those who choose to pursue philosophy, rather it acknowledges the fact that such will be a long and difficult road with an uncertain payoff at the end. I confess that it's a dilemma that I'm personally struggling with, and that's keeping me awake at nights. If Leiter's reports are accurate (for example), I am making more now in my 20's than what many seasoned and distinguished philosophy professors in their 40's and 50's are making, and definitely more than the most comparable example for me of an assistant professor in their 30's newly hired in the 2000's. Taking into account the time and salary foregone in both completing a PhD and trying to find a job afterwards, the loss in terms of opportunity cost is even greater. It's an unnerving reality for me because I grew up poor and I realized, when I made it, that money doesn't bring you happiness but it does bring you freedom, which is priceless. I took my mom to Disneyland last year and she cried because she couldn't afford to have taken me there when I was a kid knowing how I desperately wanted to go back then (I remember taking free travel brochures home and pouring over all the deals concerning Disneyland, staring in amazement at pictures of the Disney Castle). So I guess what I mean to say is that, if one is brilliant and smart enough to get into competitive PhD programs, then one is more than likely to succeed in other fields. And like with people, there can be more than one love in work. I don't know what to make of this and would love to hear any other insights. (PS. Congrats @Epictetus on your raise - knowing how difficult they are to come by, it must be a well-deserved recognition of your work). (PPS. I concur with @dthatphilosopher 's suggestion that perhaps this should be taken to another thread in due course).