I have a PhD offer, should I take it?

[Anon212]

I have completed the life purpose course. I want to start some sort of a personal development business, although I love spirituality too. Today my thesis supervisor emailed me and offered me a PhD position in his lab. It is four years long. It is also in exercise physiology which is an area in which I strive. In fact I would consider exercise physiology a zone of excellence for me. I am not however truly passionate about it. I graduate in two weeks and then I am out in the open. Complete uncertainty. I have less than a week to accept this offer. The PhD is the path of least resistance I guess. I have 10,000 pounds saved up. I could go all in and pursue my passions or I could take this PhD and and save more money however it will be four years of my life and by the time I am finished I will be 25. Any advice anyone? Should I take this offer or should I pursue my dreams. I know this may sound ridiculous but I am really tempted to accept. Man this is so tough. I have always excelled in academia, I even got a full scholarship to study my undergraduate degree, however there is just no juice to it. There is nothing exhilarating about doing some EMGs/EEGs and writing scientific reports. I am really stuck here. I really need advice.

Edited May 18, 2021 by Anon212

[Yarco]

PhD is academic, business or exercise physiology is applied. Unless you want to spend your life doing research or teaching in a university, I wouldn't bother with a PhD. It sounds incongruent to your life purpose.

Also while technically it can be completed in 4 years, most people take 5 - 7 to finish their PhD. So you should plan more realistically to be 26 - 28 once you're done if you go that path.

What makes you wanna accept? Just pressure from your family and society, or is it something you really want to do? If you are already iffy about it now, think how you'll feel 3 years in.

[Anon212]

@Yarco Essentially pressure from family and society is correct, however there is the element of certainty. I know I will be fine working at this over the next few years, will have a decent inflow of cash. My final year thesis was similar this PhD program and I certainly was not passionate about it. It was ok at best. Of course my family and friends are pushing me to take it because it is an opportunity on a platter.

[Thought Art]

Hmm, Phd sounds pretty good to me. I took the route of exploring my passions. I am not done, glad I did it. but a Phd sounds nice. It will be up to you! There are no wrong answers. A Phd would be great though. Life is long 

[Raptorsin7]

@Anon212 Have you considered how much debt you will accumulate and what your earning potential will be after finishing the program?

Also because you're so young can you take a year off and then come back and re apply to PhD programs?

[Bubba66]

@Anon212 I think you have a unique opportunity in front of you. I have a ton of things I could tell you, as I sit on the other side of a really tough academic endeavor (I became a Registered Nurse). I would say the most important thing is to not get stuck in analysis paralysis, or "all or nothing" thinking. You can always start down a path, challenge yourself to stick with it; all the while using the trial by fire of a PhD program as the perfect context to isolate yourself and do SERIOUS personal inquiry. With sufficient struggle, you will find out your authentic desires (that's a nasty secret that gets glossed over; you don't get authenticity without suffering). 

Definitely check out this guy's perspective as a medical student for an example of what I mean.

 

You never have to feel limited, you can definitely let your unique opprotunity compliment your personal development business. There may be insights for your business that are indirectly and directly related to your physiology studies; remember, open-mindedness is key. 

Heck, you might decide a personal development business was just a form of mimicry of Actualized.org, and a form of procrastination on your REAL purpose (which is often terrifying, but way more fulfilling and grounding). 

Stay on the path! Also, as a general tip, I find I make the best "gut decisions" after an hour of intense cardio. I get the most objective and long-term results from this place. 

 

 

[Anon212]

@Raptorsin7 It is paid at 20k per year. There will be 0 debt. With a doctorate you can certainly expect to make 80k+ starting but it depends on where you find work. 

[Thought Art]

@Anon212 Lol, you won!

[Anon212]

@Bubba66 Thank you for this response. I think I will speak to my supervisor regarding the opportunity. I don't think personal development is a mimicry of actualized.org. I found actualized three years ago and I have been a personal development junkie  since 15 years old (through Elliot Hulse). That's 6 years ago. Yes I started doing personal development at a very young age and its the reason why I secured a scholarship for college. I love spirituality too. I have probably read 10+ self help/spirituality books in the last few months alone while also working on my thesis. I always make time for this stuff. I have paid 100s for self-help/spiritual courses too (including the life purpose course) and have been working on various meditations for the past two years. Last year of college was quite easy and I spent most of time studying spiritual teachers and self help teachers. I think I have amassed 30+ of them now and read 50/60+ books on this!! This stuff is my whole damn life! I love learning but doing it on my own terms. I am 21 years old now, I have no debt and a decent amount of money saved up. The only thing is that I am out in the open in two weeks without any certainty. My mates have all gotten PhDs sorted though I am very different to them. They think I am a a bit if a nutjob when I talk to them about consciousness lol. I just feel very uneasy right now. I don't know what to do. 

[Anon212]

@Thought Art Haha, I'm hearing this from many...  buuut there is a side to me that wants to take a risk. I have nothing to lose... or maybe I'm just a naive young man. Maybe I need to be more pragmatic!

[Girzo]

I would take the PhD. It's a good job and isn't parasitic to society. Imagine if instead to survive you had to work at a gas company and your job was to justify unsustainable development of new extraction wells, for example. It would suck.

4 minutes ago, Anon212 said:

buuut there is a side to me that wants to take a risk.

Pointless risk. Chances of failure are 87.9%. Source: Institute of Data Pulled Out of My Ass

Edited May 18, 2021 by Girzo

[Girzo]

I mean, exercise physiology doesn't sound that bad. Maybe you could use the knowledge and skills in the future to make experiments on yogis or something, haha.

[Anon212]

@Girzo haha sure, I mean I learned a yogic kriya recently and a claim that came with it was that 100% of lung capacity is reached within 3 years of practice. Just as a comparison high level athletes are at around 80%... Maybe putting these claims to the test might push science forward a bit if they turn out to be true ...

[Girzo]

@Anon212 I think in yoga they just meant "whatever you possibly can achieve through this technique" as 100% and not literal 100%. 

I have heard similar stuff about "normal" yoga, Hatha Yoga, that after 2 years of rigorous practice you can reach the limit of your movement, that is you can't stretch legs wider, etc., anymore.

Edited May 18, 2021 by Girzo

[Jacobsrw]

7 hours ago, Anon212 said:

I have completed the life purpose course. I want to start some sort of a personal development business, although I love spirituality too. Today my thesis supervisor emailed me and offered me a PhD position in his lab. It is four years long. It is also in exercise physiology which is an area in which I strive. In fact I would consider exercise physiology a zone of excellence for me. I am not however truly passionate about it. I graduate in two weeks and then I am out in the open. Complete uncertainty. I have less than a week to accept this offer. The PhD is the path of least resistance I guess. I have 10,000 pounds saved up. I could go all in and pursue my passions or I could take this PhD and and save more money however it will be four years of my life and by the time I am finished I will be 25. Any advice anyone? Should I take this offer or should I pursue my dreams. I know this may sound ridiculous but I am really tempted to accept. Man this is so tough. I have always excelled in academia, I even got a full scholarship to study my undergraduate degree, however there is just no juice to it. There is nothing exhilarating about doing some EMGs/EEGs and writing scientific reports. I am really stuck here. I really need advice.

Firstly , well done on getting this far, many don’t so congrats. Secondly, I’d say this is not a black and white answer. I myself am deciding on whether to further my studies in psychology or counselling. When it comes to higher education and academic excellence I think it’s good to consider whether you see yourself using the qualifications it affords you or not. Would the PhD be supporting your future needs in your career or would it merely be a mantle piece achievement? This is important to distinguish.

Also, this probably isn’t a logical decision to be made but an intuitive one. What does your intuition tell you? What is the underlying deep sense you feel needs to be met? A decision of this sort needs to be aligned with a deep sense of passion otherwise you invest a lot of time into something that just serves the analytical mind. Creative passion is extremely important in big career moves in my view. If this is absent moving toward further education, I’d leave it for now. The PhD may be something you could do later worse case as well.

Edited May 18, 2021 by Jacobsrw

[aurum]

@Anon212

Tough call.

It doesn’t sound to me like you’re very enthusiastic about the PhD, sounds like it’s mostly just a job for you. And that’s okay, most of us have taken a job at some point we weren’t super passionate about because, hey, we got bills. And you never know where an opportunity like this might lead you in the future. You’re young enough that 5 years doing a PhD will still only put you at 26. And it doesn’t sound like you really have any other tangible plan.

At the same time, I obviously hesitate to push you in a direction if you really don’t feel good about it. You’ve ultimately got to follow your intuition. You are the captain of your ship, and part of that power includes the responsibility of making tough choices like this.

If you do intend to turn down the PhD, I’d start working out some sort of alternate plan as soon as possible.

[Anon212]

Thanks for all of the feedback. The offer was on very short notice. I turned it down. I am not spending another four years in college. It just hit me how absurd it would be for me to do this college shit all over again. Again, I appreciate all of the advice! Time to get to work...

[Raptorsin7]

@Anon212 Nice sounds like a good call. Take sometime and really evaluate what direction you want to take. You're young enough where there isn't a lot of pressure to get it right quickly. Don't commit to something that there's a strong chance you will regret

At the same time if you do pursue a PhD program you can leverage it in unique ways, and you can certainly find a streamlined approach to course work where you can be far more efficient than your average PhD student.

[PercySimmons]

Hello, I would be in your place to take this offer, get a degree and then you will be more in demand in the labor market, all who are here suggest where you can apply for help in writing a dissertation?