My husband teaches finance and economics. One of his frequent eye opening lectures is on how much your income is expected to decline if you get a PhD.

PhDs are about family wealth and ideals, not intelligence. If your child likes school, and you have the money to let them get a phd and then have a low income for life, that is great. My family all has phd for three generations and I’m married to a PhD (personally I went JD). If my kids want to go that path, I’d caution strongly against in the current educational climate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:...does the apple fall far from the tree? Would you be surprised if your child earned a PhD as well? Apparently 22% of tenure-track professors have a parent with a PhD. For context, about 2% of adults in the United States have a PhD though I'm sure that number is much higher in the DC area.

One parent is a professor and one works in non-profit (non-research position). One DC is a big question asker, excels academically, and I could see them taking the PhD path if they wanted, though I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. The other DC is more of a concrete thinker and lives mostly in the present. On some dimensions, DC 2 is more similar to certain extended family members.

We are both PhDs. My kid is intelligent enough to get one and smart enough not to.

This is funny, when I think PhD, I think privilege far more than I think "intelligent." A PhD is more about having the time and the privilege, and does not necessarily require any higher level of intelligence than a college degree, really. Now most of the PhDs I am thinking of are psychology, art history, history, etc. Once you get into the hard sciences then yes, that's pretty impressive. But still requires privilege.

Anonymous wrote:...does the apple fall far from the tree? Would you be surprised if your child earned a PhD as well? Apparently 22% of tenure-track professors have a parent with a PhD. For context, about 2% of adults in the United States have a PhD though I'm sure that number is much higher in the DC area.

One parent is a professor and one works in non-profit (non-research position). One DC is a big question asker, excels academically, and I could see them taking the PhD path if they wanted, though I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. The other DC is more of a concrete thinker and lives mostly in the present. On some dimensions, DC 2 is more similar to certain extended family members.

We are both PhDs. My kid is intelligent enough to get one and smart enough not to.

I kind of feel like phds aren't really about being smart or even successful compared to other things -- (although i am considering one!)

I have a PhD and was relieved when DD did not go for one. Prospects in academe were troubling. Plus there is the isolation of grad school vs. the cohort of law or biz school.

I wasn’t surprised to learn that both of Pete Buttigieg’s parents are professors.

The actress Lauren Holly (remember her?) is the daughter of two distinguished PhD academics. You just never know how genetics will play out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The percentage of tenure track professors having parents with a PhD is probably more about their ability to navigate the academic system and family/household SES than inherited intelligence. I don't think was especially brilliant relative to my peers, but I knew how to get the opportunities I needed at each stage because my parents and their friends gave me guidance.

- A PhD daughter of a tenured track professor and MD-PhD clinician.

Totally agree with this. I am not in academia but was on that career path early on and have taught as an adjunct as a side gig. I know a lot of people in academia at many levels (full professors to career adjuncts) around the country and the ones who did well all had parents who were successful academics. The ones who never got higher than adjunct or lecturer did not. It’s a world unto itself and the rules are hard to grasp. I have always thought that they understood it better because they were around it all their lives and got advice from their parents, which makes sense, as that’s what parents do.

Tenured prof who had blue collar parents here. I have a number of colleagues who are first-gen academics. They're often the strivers, in a good sense, and work their @sses off to figure out the weird rules and succeed.

As a woman, and daughter of a science Ph.D and a SAHM with a Master's, I always expected to go to grad school. But I decided to get an MBA. Some reasons not to get a Ph.D:

1) Low pay for most of your 20s
2) Needing to stay tied to an institution for many years vs. easily changing jobs
3) I liked the idea of being a psychology or history professor - terrible job outlook for really great jobs at great schools
4) Didn't want the stress of either being assigned or having to come up with a thesis topic...I'm more of a long form article writer than a novelist, and I just like disciplines broadly, not specifically
5) I saw enough of academia as a research assistant and I knew I wouldn't like departmental politics, publish or perish, etc. I also was loosely aware that babies come at a poor time in an academic career.

I don't regret not getting a PhD. My MBA is lucrative although a more common degree. My cousin has a science PhD and has remained a lecturer at her PhD institution for 15+ years because she chooses not to research and publish. She is happy and has acceptable work life balance but I think she's being taken advantage of. I think teaching is undervalued vs. being an original researcher. I really don't agree that original researchers automatically add magical value to the undergrad experience.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The percentage of tenure track professors having parents with a PhD is probably more about their ability to navigate the academic system and family/household SES than inherited intelligence. I don't think was especially brilliant relative to my peers, but I knew how to get the opportunities I needed at each stage because my parents and their friends gave me guidance.

- A PhD daughter of a tenured track professor and MD-PhD clinician.

Totally agree with this. I am not in academia but was on that career path early on and have taught as an adjunct as a side gig. I know a lot of people in academia at many levels (full professors to career adjuncts) around the country and the ones who did well all had parents who were successful academics. The ones who never got higher than adjunct or lecturer did not. It’s a world unto itself and the rules are hard to grasp. I have always thought that they understood it better because they were around it all their lives and got advice from their parents, which makes sense, as that’s what parents do.

My father has a PhD and works in government (think NIH) and I thought a lot about getting PhD but I couldn't justify the leap. I make way more money than my father ever made and arguably have better work-life balance. Getting a PhD is such a leap of faith and I know so many people with PhDs who are not in roles that require a PhD.

Anonymous wrote:The percentage of tenure track professors having parents with a PhD is probably more about their ability to navigate the academic system and family/household SES than inherited intelligence. I don't think was especially brilliant relative to my peers, but I knew how to get the opportunities I needed at each stage because my parents and their friends gave me guidance.

- A PhD daughter of a tenured track professor and MD-PhD clinician.

Totally agree with this. I am not in academia but was on that career path early on and have taught as an adjunct as a side gig. I know a lot of people in academia at many levels (full professors to career adjuncts) around the country and the ones who did well all had parents who were successful academics. The ones who never got higher than adjunct or lecturer did not. It’s a world unto itself and the rules are hard to grasp. I have always thought that they understood it better because they were around it all their lives and got advice from their parents, which makes sense, as that’s what parents do.

The percentage of tenure track professors having parents with a PhD is probably more about their ability to navigate the academic system and family/household SES than inherited intelligence. I don't think was especially brilliant relative to my peers, but I knew how to get the opportunities I needed at each stage because my parents and their friends gave me guidance.

- A PhD daughter of a tenured track professor and MD-PhD clinician.

Educational achievement of children tracks closely to that of their mother

...does the apple fall far from the tree? Would you be surprised if your child earned a PhD as well? Apparently 22% of tenure-track professors have a parent with a PhD. For context, about 2% of adults in the United States have a PhD though I'm sure that number is much higher in the DC area.

One parent is a professor and one works in non-profit (non-research position). One DC is a big question asker, excels academically, and I could see them taking the PhD path if they wanted, though I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. The other DC is more of a concrete thinker and lives mostly in the present. On some dimensions, DC 2 is more similar to certain extended family members.