Real convo I had when I first started my PhD (paraphrased):
Them: So, what do you do for a living?
Me: I'm a PhD student here at the University in Department XYZ.
Them: Oh, cool. So, you're going to be a doctor?
Me: Yeah.
Them: Then you can do surgery, or whatever?
Me: No. Actually, I'm in a non-medical field, so I'll still be called Dr. Awesome, but my area is XYZ.
Them: Oh. [lonnnnng pause while they think]. But, you COULD be a real doctor if you wanted to, right?
Me: I *will* be a real doctor, just not a medical doctor.
Them: But don't you want your own practice or something?
Me: Still not that kind of doctor... I'm going to teach XYZ as a professor, which is a non-medical field.
Them: Why would you teach, when you could work at a hospital or clinic or something and make more $$?
Me: [needing to end this useless convo]... Yeah... good point... I'll consider that...
silentnoise reacted to Andsowego in Sh*t people say when you are applying to grad school