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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Among the people i know with phds:

- they range from "above average" intelligence (not particularly bright, but not morons) to very bright
- they all have some family financial support.  Yes, they got funding and a small stipend (say, $15k). But the family money was what allowed them to not worry about not saving for retirement for those 10 years, or family bought them a cheap studio apartment when they were 23 so they already had a toe in the real estate market by the time they graduated, family money paid for periodic vacations during the tons of down time they had as an academic.  
- the liberal arts phds had an inflated sense of self.  While the stem phds were interested in their topic and spending a career in research, the liberal arts phds just wanted to be a plush teaching schedule and thought their obscure phd topic was a lot more important to the world than it really was. 
- they were all persistent, but that persistence was driven as much by the desire to not have to work in the real world (aided by their lack of financial stress) than anything else.  [/quote]

Almost none of the PhDs I know fit even one of your categories.

-And the liberal arts PhDs tend to be more interested in their topic and spending a career in research than STEM PhDs - they have to be dedicated to their research area enough to pursue it despite their very slim chances of enjoying a "plush teaching schedule," given the academic market which is so much worse for liberal arts than STEM PhDs.[/quote]

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