Why am I pursuing a PhD?

Why do you want to pursue a PhD? You thought this was just a question for your grad school applications? Nope. Surprise! People will keep asking you this even after you’re accepted, and yes, even your fellow PhD students will casually drop it into conversation. So… how do you answer this?

For your grad school personal statement, you probably wrote something like: “[Insert research area here] is my true calling” or “I can’t imagine doing anything else but [insert research area here]” before diving into your life story. Or maybe that was just me. Anyway, the answer you give in real life might not be quite so poetic.

I guess this is a valid question, The opportunity cost of a PhD can be huge, especially in AI/ML. Let’s break it down: If you’re good enough to get into a top PhD program, you’re probably good enough to land a FAANG job. Actually, you can definitely get a cushiony job in tech even if you’re not able to get into a PhD program with how high the bar is at some of these schools. Your starting total compensation of $150K–200K. In 5-6 years, you’ll probably have been promoted a couple of times, and you could have easily earned well over a million dollars (before Uncle Sam gets his share, of course).

Or… you could use those 5-6 years pursuing a PhD living off a stipend that’s less than what you would make flipping burgers at McDonald’s. You’ll be working long hours, research does not care if it’s past 5 or if it’s the weekend. While your friends in tech may be pushing products to millions of customers or your friends working in healthcare are literally saving lives every day, you’re publishing papers that might get a few citations—100 if you’re lucky, 1,000 if you’re really lucky. After graduating, unless you purchase a ticket for the academic lottery for a tenure-track faculty position (which is becoming beyond competitive), you’ll likely end up working at a tech company, which you probably could have done even if you didn’t pursue a PhD in the first place. All of this for the pursuit of knowledge… right???

To be fair, there are some silver linings. A PhD can open doors to more interesting research-focused roles that would be hard to get otherwise. You’re also likely to start at a higher salary, and the advanced degree can give you a leg up on moving up the corporate ladder. A PhD It’s becoming increasingly valuable in ML research and, in many cases, necessary. Plus, there’s the honor of being called “Dr.”—which is cool to some people? I guess tt can be seen as very prestigious, especially if you come from an Asian background (like me) where a high emphasis is placed on education and advanced degrees.

Still, when someone casually asks you, “Why are you pursuing a PhD?” you’re not going to give them this whole cost-benefit analysis. Some people (or maybe it’s just my not-so-nice friends from undergrad) don’t really care and will keep saying you suck. It’s ok though, I’m sure they didn’t mean it, isn’t everyone just trying their best to get through life, right? Perhaps my undergrad struggles are a story for another day. Check out my “Quotes of Wisdom” blog post in the meantime.

So, how would I personally answer this question? After way too much overthinking, I’ve realized it’s simple:

I want to.

I thought it’d be fun. That’s it. I think machine learning and transportation are really cool, and luckily my advisor thinks the same. A PhD is a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore these subjects deeply. Why not take it? As Andrej Karpathy said in his “Survival Guide to a PhD” blog post, once you finish a PhD, you can still spend the next 50 years of your life doing whatever tf in industry. There’s no need to rush - “opt for more variance in your experiences.”

That’s it, really. I’m Andrew Bae. What do I do? I just do me, whatever tf I want to do in life. I’m just a chill guy who lowkey doesn’t give a f 🤷‍♀️