PhD Students Told to Consider Selling Avon Products to Make Ends Meet

In another life I might have considered doing a PhD after I finished my masters. My father (who has a doctorate) quickly put me off that idea. Looking at what you have to do and get paid to do a PhD (at least in the UK) it feels more similar to being a struggling artist busking in the streets while trying to finish their &quot;killer track&quot;.<p>No wonder the most promising students drop out and go on to join finance or tech firms - the pay is an order of magnitude higher.

&quot;future leaders in environmental science and sustainable business&quot;<p>PhD students in a worthless program that would traditionally exist for children of the rich to dabble in get mad at being told to get a job.

PhD in the UK is a different level of poverty compared with PhDs in any other “Western” country.<p>Can you imagine graduating at the top of your class and you living in London or near London on less than 20k pounds a year? You can double or triple that income in other phd programs.<p>The only advice if one really wants to do a PhD is to sample broadly across different countries and PhD programs and choose one that unlocks future options and also pays living wages.