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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm another who's surprised by the amount of disdain expressed for PhDs here.  Many PhD programs are super competitive and difficult to get admitted to (and finish). For my PhD program, there were 600 applications the year I applied.  Of those, ~60 applicants were interviewed in person.  Of those, 20 were offered admission.  My cohort was 14 students (only 13 finished--one, randomly, dropped out after the first year to go to Yale for law school).  So with a 3.3% admission rate, it is literally harder to get into my PhD program than to med school.

After my PhD (at age 26), I did four years of postdoctoral research training at two different institutions (the first an Ivy).  I have a ton of education, about as much as my spouse, who is an MD.

Given how competitive these programs are these days, competitive applicants not only need to have top grades and GRE scores, but usually need to have already have co-authored peer-reviewed publications by the time they apply.  I usually steer undergrads/recent grads away from my field, unless they are just one of those super wonky, bright kids who doesn't care that much about high pay and just couldn't see themselves doing anything else.  It's a long, tough road.

Our 5yo kid goes back and forth about whether she wants to become mom or dad's type of Dr.  I just tell her she should best both of us and be an MD/PhD. :)[/quote]
PP, [b]you sound like you went to school only so you could command respect [/b](especially bc you went out of your way to say you went to an Ivy :roll: ). Just do your thing and stop wearing your PhD like a chip on your shoulder... Nobody cares. Especially because you're a dime a dozen in this town.  If you want them to care, you did it all for the wrong reasons.[/quote]

PP.  Nope, not at all.  I just knew I was really interested in the subject matter, and that I loved being in school--I was basically a nerd.  I only provided the other data points to show that the training entailed in and after PhD programs can be demanding and rigorous.

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