Are there too many PhDs?

I wrote this essay sometime ago in response to a question posed, "Are there too many PhDs?" It was a heartfelt, but a frustrated answer. Things are not as bleak as portrayed by my words; they are not exaggerated, nonetheless. It is indeed a personal point of view. Therefore, we would really like to hear what you have to say on the subject of " PhD overdrive." So, please do leave a comment or post your own articles on the same topic. We are thrilled to hear back from you.

As a kid, I dreamed day and night of becoming a scientist; fostered by an extremely supportive family, I travelled from India to Australia, then to Singapore, and finally reached Germany – thanks to an international PhD fellowship. Back when it all started, it appeared to be a well-laid course: masters – PhD – one or two post-docs – come back home to establish a lab - be the savior of human kind. Right now, with the highest degree at hand and no prospects of finding a job, I have the slightest idea as to what my future holds and I am figuring out a new career path just to sustain myself! So, where did it all go wrong?

No one said it was going to be an easy ride, and when I had decided to do a PhD, I did hear a lot about the economy being unfriendly to science. However, all the people I knew with a doctoral degree seemed to be faring well. Thus, I started my PhD with the naïve thought that if I managed to get hold of that coveted degree all would be well, and that academia was the righteous path. An ill-conceived project initially rocked my self-confidence, and with time it only worsened. By the end of the third year, I was plagued by constant disparagement, a sense of underachievement and a massive guilt of wasting taxpayers’ money. Frustrated, I attended a workshop appropriately titled ‘career paths for PhDs’, and came out determined to remain in academia, surprisingly. The plan was to carry out a postdoc after my PhD.

With zero publications at hand, I graduated in December 2013; believing that my certificates, my technical skills and a passionate cover letter would certainly find me a job, I wrote my first application. It has been almost a year since, and I have not landed a single interview yet. I have been staying afloat with temporary contracts in the meanwhile, and recently, I made a heartbreaking decision to quit research if things do not improve. When I told a friend (a fellow PhD) about this, she asked me, “What else will you do?” Yes, what exactly are you to do with a PhD degree?

It is true what they say, you publish or perish - my hopes of an academic postdoc have rightfully ended. I now regret not having invested more time in language courses and internships that would have prepared me for a job outside of academia. I am, therefore, duly under-qualified for the industries. So, after all the struggles, is my PhD of no value at all?

My story is not unique. I am indeed one of those faceless PhDs who are being numbered to illustrate the flaws in the educational system, which appears to have mass produced them without the apparent necessity. However, there are also other PhDs like my fellow graduate school members who have found with ease full-time postdoc positions. But will they all go onto establish labs and become professors? Unlike other sectors, jobs and permanent positions cannot be guaranteed in research. Then, why invest money, time and talents in a degree that cannot assure people’s livelihood? Society does need more science, but what future scientists need is a sensible research education and better working conditions, not a degree handed out to masses in return for cheap labour!

Cover image: Flickr

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