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#EconTwitter Important question of broad interest: What should potential econ PhD applicants make of the info that depression is high among grad students, and worries about whether this will be a path that ends up being fulfilling to them?
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A few thoughts, but looking forward to hearing from others:
1) Don't do an econ PhD for the title. It's too long and intense for that. Do it only if you are interested in doing research and see the PhD process itself as a job that you might enjoy.
1) Don't do an econ PhD for the title. It's too long and intense for that. Do it only if you are interested in doing research and see the PhD process itself as a job that you might enjoy.
2) Many experience 1sr year (i.e. 8 months) as the worst, but then with field classes and research it gets closer to what you enjoy. Once in, dont quit because you don't enjoy the first year, that is not at all representative of how the rest will be.
3) One big benefit of a PhD in econ, compared to many other disciplines, is that econ has excellent outside options. If you realize at the end that academia isn't for you, there are tons of interesting jobs for econ PhDs, from journalism to NGOs to Silicon Valley and government.
The flip side of that is that among those interested in academia, in the US the number of assistants prof positions to applicants is relatively even, so you have a decent shot at teaching/research, compared to the situation in many other disciplines.
4) It's not clear to me to what extent the higher reported depression rate is a selection or a treatment effect. My hunch is it's a bit of both. The type of person who tends to be interested in a PhD might tend to me a bit more anxious than the average population to begin with.
5) Dealing with this environment may works better for people who can maintain a focus on learning & contributing when things get stressful. A bit more challenging for people who base a lot of self-esteem on being successful. Academia will challenge that confidence all-the-time.
6) If you do a PhD, note that learning how to manage yourself, how to practice self-care & how to deal with rejections, is a big part of the PhD learning process. It can be learned like any other skill. I got *way* better at it over time. Talk to others & exchange best practices.
I used all the available resources on campus, from gym to meditation to shrink to support groups. Learned a ton from all of that, which helps me deal with many other challenges in life now, too.
7) Working as a pre-doc RA can be a good way for some who are unsure to see if they might like the type of work PhDs do. From having only done classwork, that is very hard to anticipate. As pre-doc one can also learn skills that will make the transition to own research easier.
8) Generally, my sense is that people who like structured environments and clear direction and who dislike ambiguity, uncertainty and long stretches with limited feedback tend to be somewhat less likely to enjoy the PhD. In that sense it is similar to launching a start-up.
Looking forward to hear other people's views!
Ps. Here's a somewhat related thread I wrote a while back about questions that might help students figure out whether an (econ) PhD might be a fit:
#EconAdvice
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