Don't Go to Graduate School if You're Already Depressed

Such were the words of my Spanish professor, words of wisdom passed unto her by her professor before her. After watching the video "Naturally Obsessed" I can see, in a way, what she meant. The way the video portrayed getting your PhD made it seem like there is a lot to be sacrificed. Happiness, relationships, certainty...

We watched as one man, Rob, thought he made an incredible discovery, then discovered his data wasn't what they needed. We watched as a man named Kil told us he and his fiancé were forced to call off their engagement because he didn't have a real job and didn't know if he ever would. We watched as a woman named Gabe quit because she was tired of being completely independent all the time.

Our class sat around and discussed the documentary afterward, but I sat in silence, trying to take it all in, not sure what to say.

A PhD would be nice. But there are so many other things I want to do with my life as well, and I have other people who are important to me that I need to consider. My boyfriend and I have already made sacrifices in our relationship for the sake of education and opportunities. Last January I went to the Galapagos Islands as a conservation volunteer. This January he went to France to work on a documentary. This summer I'm applying to do research and that may take me to Iowa City depending on where I get in. The following spring semester I'm going to Spain. And if we're still together after undergrad, we may be postponing any further steps in our relationship for another two years while I go to get my Masters in Genetic Counseling. The struggles Kil had with his fiancé really freaked me out a bit. Then we saw Rob with his wife, and my own mentor told us she had her first kid in graduate school. So there are successful relationships, but there are still other issues I have with going straight into earning a PhD.

Then I watched Gabe talk about how difficult it was not to know how long you were going to be working towards your PhD, or if you were ever going to find the answer to your question. And that doesn't appeal to me either. I like to have set goals in a situation, knowing when I can expect to finish, having benchmarks and a tangible end to all my work. Doing research doesn't work that way. You never know how long you'll be there, or if your problem is even solvable. It's certainly fun for awhile, and I'm having a good time in my class. But I know that when I graduate with my undergrad degree, the research I will be doing here will be finished.

Research will still be a component as I work for my Masters. Like I stated in a previous post, there is a research career branch in genetic counseling. There is a research component in the curriculum, so the experience I'm getting now will certainly not be going to waste. It's a matter of heading straight down the research path or settling down in a clinical setting.

I'm certainly not ruling out going on to get my PhD at any time in my life. With my current life goals, it just doesn't fit into my young adulthood. I want to earn my Masters, get the job I want, get married, travel, have kids. From the research I've done on my career, a PhD doesn't increase much of the earning potential of a genetic counselor, so I don't even think it would be worth it financially until I was looking for another challenge in my life.