I am in a little dilemma. Hope your experience and some information from you will help me make proper decision. So, if you can, please provide information you have.

I am trying to do a cost-benefit analysis on whether or not to pursue PhD. With Masters degree in Computer Science, I can work for an industry and can earn at least around 80K a year. If I decide to puruse PhD, even with full scholarships and stipends, it will take 4 years, but it will cost me 80k X 4 yrs = 320K since I will not be working. I am not sure about salary for entry level professor (assistant professor, I believe). Let's say it is 100K for computer science... Then to offset my 320K, it will take additional 16 years to make up for the difference. What's your suggestion ? Do you know what entry level computer science professors are paid in United States ?

Your

I think you should ask this question to some professors in computer science or engineering.  As far as I know it is not just the salary the professors get, but they also get (if you try hard) funding from different industries/companies for several research.  You can pay yourself, under the watchful eyes of donors, dept head, and graduate school, from those research funds.  You will be trickling few dollars, so called research assistanceship,  to your grad students to help you on your research projects (and they get MS/Phd from you for that!), but you will be paying yourself good amount of money from the research fund.  If you get $100k as salary, quite possibly you can get another big amount from your research fund.  Not to mention, you can work as "consultant" to the industry in your spare time.   Again, this is just my thought.  You can verify this with professors!  I have seen several talented engineering students with MS degree employed in industry just to come back to school few years later for a PhD and then ended up being professors in universities.  So there must be reason why these smart people preferred academic area when they were already doing great in industry!

Becoming a Professor in the US is not that easy. So if you think that the only way you can earn enough is by becoming a Professor then don't do a PhD.

I would even go as far as to say that if you are doing it for the money, you won't survive PhD. You truly need to like what you are doing and you should have that "inquisitiveness" otherwise you will feel like you are stuck in a rut.

I think average salary for an Assistant Professor is 60-70K, Associate is 80-90 and then if you become a full professor you get over 100K depending on the type of University.

Double post

Becoming a Professor in the US is not that easy. So if you think that the only way you can earn enough is by becoming a Professor then don't do a PhD.

I would even go as far as to say that if you are doing it for the money, you won't survive PhD. You truly need to like what you are doing and you should have that "inquisitiveness" otherwise you will feel like you are stuck in a rut.

I think average salary for an Assistant Professor is 60-70K, Associate is 80-90 and then if you become a full professor you get over 100K depending on the type of University.

You need to decide what you want to do, first. You will make money, regardless of what you do. If cost is the only factor than I would suggest you to stay from further studies. If you really want to do cost analysis do it over 10 years, 15 years and 20 years. You will make more money as a full time professor than working in the industry.
If you like teaching than only go for PHD.  
Everything depends on what you want to do. If you are not sure take some time off and think about it, talk with your professors and professionals in the industry before going either way.
Good luck.

Blahblahblah, I don't support your statment " if you are doing it for the money, you won't survive PhD". Surviving PhD is not a big deal if you are good at research/statistics and have good skills to write thesis. Every person is a social being and people always tend to seek power, prestige and privilege. Money is one of the key factor in eveybody's life. I don't think you have heard anybody saying "Ok... this much money is enough for me now..." It's attribute of a human being. Without this, success in your life stops.

Now, to the main point.,

Here's what it looks like for my kind of job in Denver, CO:

Salary for Computer related job ---75th percentile--> 84K

Salary for Asst. Professor Computer Science--75th percentile --->99K

It looks like 15K difference per year. Now, if I work for 4 years instead of pursuing PhD, I will be earning 84K X 4 = 336K in 4 years. To make up that amount, I will need to work 22.4 years after taking Asst.Professor job.

Do you think it is worth ? What'd you do ? Would you go for PhD in this case ?

In term of money, definately it is better to go for job rather than doing Ph.D. If you are looking for the R/D (Research and development) , policy making, type of job it is better to do Ph.D.

  But it is true Ph.D. is not a job oriented degree but you can attract the people by doing high level research. They will hire you if you have a good research.

If you want to do Ph.D. in high profile university like, MIT, Caltech, Burkely, Standford, Harvard, the story is different. You can't compare their Ph.D. degree with Masters.

 

In term of money, definately it is better to go for job rather than doing Ph.D. If you are looking for the R/D (Research and development) , policy making, type of job it is better to do Ph.D.

  But it is true Ph.D. is not a job oriented degree but you can attract the people by doing high level research. They will hire you if you have a good research.

If you want to do Ph.D. in high profile university like, MIT, Caltech, Burkely, Standford, Harvard, the story is different. You can't compare their Ph.D. degree with Masters.

 

i dont think that every thing should be valued in terms of money ,

if that was the case, why didnot u guys started working since u guys were able to?

there was no need to earn a masters?

Ph.D does have its weightage, and the contribution and the status u enjoy as a professor or a researcher should also be valued properly.

but the call is yours, but dont jump in unless u do have the determination and confidence that is required to complete the doctorate degree.

i m planning to join it after a year, no matter what the opportunity cost is.

its a degree worth earning and places u above the crowd.

grt thoughts chyantu,  "Hardik" Congrats!!! BTW, wots ur major? Electrical/Economics/Compu Sci or Philosophy? Like to know more from your specialisation.....

It all depends, but PhD is the highest level of education. That meaning, you enroll for your quest for the highest degree and not necessarily largest lump sum.

I guess it classifies as one of the "scope insensitivity" example. Anyone into behavioral economics can put light on this, or correct me.

Scope insensitivity is the inability of a person, or voting block, or nation, to understand simple quantitative proportions, which if understood, would cast a policy issue in an entirely different light. Simply put, because of scope insensitivity, the logical conclusions one might rationally find obvious are eclipsed by emotional arguments.  Absent the ability to recognize basic quantitative realities, the proper scope of the relevant variables that affect a policy issue are incomprehensible, and policy becomes a puppet of whoever has the most money and the most compelling emotional appeal.

Post-Docs or further , please dont argue :P

HOW About going for Phd  Degree in biological science????? Like bioinformatics or biomedical science???

In these hard times, the only people who can sit back and relax as the world crumbles around them are (tenured) professors. To be one, you need a PhD:)

Seriously, I think PhD is a great asset if you are a research minded man. Also, if you don't have PhD, I think sometimes it comes back to haunt you after you become successful in your profession.I met two Nepali in the past: one was working with a UN agency and he always regretted not having PhD because it was hampering his promotion (shuruma 80K offer dekhera aaihale, but now I am having problem as others are leapfrogging me in my career, he would say). Another Nepali was old, 50 years or so, and told me he wanted to have a quick phd, because in his organization, it was a must to have PhD to be the director of his branch. He thought he was well qualified to be the director, had a lot of experience, but they always asked PhD for that position. He was telling that to a 25 years old man, and I thought it was quite funny.

Another thing is it matters where you get PhD from. In PhD, most celebrated institutions are Harvard (not for engineering, though),MIT, Berkeley and Stanford. Though it depends on the major you are interested in. These four seems to be great in all majors they offer, and that's why they also have strength in interdisciplinary subjects. But if you are planning to get PhD from some bad institute, then you should think carefully before what you do. Do the good cost benefit analysis.Also, it is not easy to get into PhD programs in top schools, the competition is so intense that you probably don't see many Nepali there, unless they have undergraduate degree from some top private schools in the USA, or unless they have fullbright award that foots their bill.

Research is life science requires highest educational attainment and yet the pay is lowest in terms of PhD graduates. So if you are in it for the money, go into Bioinformatics or get a very specialized Masters Degree eg. in Biotech, Food Science, Genetic Counselling and things like that. If you are US citizen, a joint degree: PhD in Molecular Biology and JD and go into Patent Law.

@ Good job: I don't think surviving PhD is very easy. If you are doing PhD at a relatively good place, you have a lot of hard work. There are courses in the first years and you basically live in the research lab. You have to maintain good relationship with your supervisor and you have no life. The drop out rate for a PhD is the highest so it may look easy on the surface but it is quite hard. Are you a PhD student?

I am of the opinion that you do PhD for the love of the subject.  If you want to do doctorate in Comp. Sci., you should do it because you are truely interested in exploring and transcending the boundaries of that subject matter. 

But sure you can make tons of money after getting PhD.  Being a professor after PhD is not your only option.  With the new tools and experience you have garnered during your tenure as hardworking doctoral student, you will fetch much higher salary level.  Unless your research work is extremely esoteric, you could bring to market what you have been doing in the academics.  Your starting salary could approximate $150K in certain parts of the country.

But more than money, I would say it is the personal satisfaction one gets from achieving the highest academic degree in your chosen field.

Interesting topic- I just wrapped up my PhD and started a job.

MC, I agree with the most- if you are doing cost-benefit analysis then starting to work now is definitely better- at least for a certain time frame. However, it may not be beneficial in long run. Its you who need to decide what's your goal? Also depends on your field.

If you ask me why I did it- I am in public health sector- Master degree can earn mid level status but not the top in this field. I wanted my formal education not to be a barrier in future career. With my current degree my doors are open for the highest level of job in the field that may not pay me the best but may give me the most satisfaction.

Of course, if I had chosen to work after master, my economic status would not have been in the level where it is now :(. However, now I feel it was a right decision.

Good luck.

Dharan

No, I am not a PhD student. I was just doing analysis. I don't think it is good idea to do PhD unless you can make up the opportunity cost within 10 yrs.

phd requires a lot of perseverance and hard work. its hard to be a poor graduate student for long.

blahblah.. is very thoughtful in pointing out the high dropout rate of PhD students.

you should go for phd if you really want to concentrate yourself in research [ either in academia or industry or to be a professor ] and if you really want it. again you should not value everything with money.

for phd it really does not matter which uni you are from. its is not like bachelors and/or masters "where brand name matters". phd's are recognized by their publications and work they have done individually. hence, you can make name for yourself if you are able to dedicate yourself into a fruitful research.

anyway its just my blabber of tuesday night.


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once again as always
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