Why Are you getting a Ph.D?

[jimmy_01]

The title says it all. Please be as honest as possible!

Edited April 17, 2013 by jimmy_01

[misskira]

I'm other...

I've worked as a public school teacher for 4 years, and would like to consult with local districts, research, and develop curriculum instead.

[Queen of Kale]

well, since it's public anyway... GO SELF FULFILLMENT!

[TakeruK]

Career options available to PhDs are a little more varied than the choices put here! I chose "love academia and research" because it is the closest match but I don't fully agree with that statement. I would like it more if it said "love academia OR research", since you can do research outside of academia! Anyways, my reason for a PhD is that I want to aim for a job at a university (not sure if I would want to try for a tenure track position or simply a permanent research staff member) but I would also like to be able to teach! At this point, I'm not completely sure what ratio of teaching-research-admin duties would make me the most happy though. 

 

But I'm not of the mindset that "only academia/research" jobs will make me happy. They might be the goal right now, but I think there will be many options and jobs that I would like to do and they all either require a PhD or I would have a great advantage if I did have a PhD. So maybe I could check off a little from almost every box!