Reply to Do people who do PhDs realize that they aren’t worth the time?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]For engineering and experimental sciences (not social sciences), MS and PhD programs are usually free with an additional cash stipendin exchange for being a TA/RA. So those programs graduate students with little or no grad school debt, and with very solid job prospects.

PhDs in non-science/non-engineering subjects often have huge debt and result in jobs with much lower incomes afterwards.

So the reality is that cost/benefit of grad school varies very widely and the cost/benefit correlates strongly by the type of degree.[/quote]

Most humanities and social science PhD programs also are typically ‘free.’[/quote]

Depends on what you mean. Their stipends are lower than STEM PhD students. $30k/year stipend won’t get you far in Boston or Berkeley even with several roommates.

Definitely not free wrt opportunity cost![/quote]

Yeah, let's talk about opportunity costs. My sister got a radiology tech associates degree and immediately started making ~60k (today's dollars) right out of college, no debt. 20 years later, she was making ~80k, felt like she wanted to do something different and make more money, and had absolutely no way to go about doing it because her particular degree is so specific.

If you get a PhD in, say, a social science (which is what mine is in), you make ~30k in today's dollars. Then let's say you start at 60K -- and sure, you spent 6-8 years making 30k less than our radiology tech sister. [b]College professors, depending, can hit 150-200K in that field 20 years after they graduate. [/b]Plus, the job allows you to have way more control over your life than working a job like my sister's. The government, consulting firms, nonprofits -- all of these hire PhDs regularly.

Yes you need to be a little lucky, and a lot good at it, to become wealthy -- but that's true in all sorts of jobs. [/quote]

Nope, not in non-STEM, non-business fields. There are basically no spots open today for TT faculty in the humanities or social sciences.

[/quote]

This is just flat out false. 5 seconds of google searching will help you. 
https://www.higheredjobs.com/faculty/search.cfm?JobCat=90&StartRow=-1&SortBy=4&NumJobs=25&filterby=&filterptype=1&CatType=

It's not "market season" for political science, but there are still TT jobs on this list.

Look at the placement records for major programs; they put this info online.  Are there thousands of jobs? No. Do you get to pick where you live? Not necessarily. But to say there are "basically no tenure track jobs" is just untrue.

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