Should You Get a PhD? (@ShouldYouGetPhD) profile picture

Should You Get a PhD?

@ShouldYouGetPhD

from @tdhopper, sarcastically-ish

tdhopper.com/phd
Joined March 2014
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Replying to @ShouldYouGetPhD
I have a free ebook to help you think through the decision about whether or not to start a PhD program: shouldigetaphd.com/
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Arpit Gupta (@arpitrage) profile pictureArpit Gupta
@arpitrage15 Oct 2025
These results suggest that getting a PhD causally worsens mental health, or at least receiving psychiatric medicines. The reversal post PhD degree is particularly convincing. But the up trend among the control group is intriguing. The highly educated are in distress.
Image from Arpit Gupta (@arpitrage)
Image from Arpit Gupta (@arpitrage)
Image from Arpit Gupta (@arpitrage)
Image from Arpit Gupta (@arpitrage)
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Should You Get a PhD? retweeted
Neal Parikh (@npparikh) profile picture
Neal Parikh@npparikh17 Oct 2025
Just drop out. Dropping out of a PhD is not like dropping out of high school. You don’t have to finish it and in fact should not if it’s not working for you. Nobody cares. It’s hard and not for everyone.
Anwesh Bhattacharya (@anwesh_bh) profile pictureAnwesh Bhattacharya
@anwesh_bh17 Oct 2025
I think I will conclude that I regret starting a PhD. Doing research was a hobby and it was unwise to turn it into a career. It's a deeply personal endeavor that should be done for its own sake. The hobby is gone, and also my pace of career progression. Lose-lose situation.
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Erik Mohlin (@karlerikmohlin) profile picture
Erik Mohlin@karlerikmohlin19 Sep 2024
Pretty strong evidence of negative mental health effects of doing a PhD. Recent working paper by @EvaRanehill, @annahsandberg, Sanna Bergvall, and Clara Fernström. Paper link: swopec.hhs.se/lunewp/abs/lun…
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Joel Grus 🤠 (@joelgrus) profile picture
Joel Grus 🤠
@joelgrus12 Aug 2023
long ago when I went to math PhD school I asked the grad director what fraction of grad students finished their PhD he told me "about 1/3" like it was nbd and only a small fraction of the 1/3 got good academic jobs (the grad program was mostly a calculus TA arbitrage scheme)
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Steve McCormick (@Quasilocal) profile picture
Steve McCormick
@Quasilocal29 May 2023
PhD students upon being told that almost none of them will ever get a faculty position:
Image from Steve McCormick (@Quasilocal)
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the finite physicist (@FinitePhysicist) profile picture
the finite physicist@FinitePhysicist7 Dec 2022
As a PhD candidate at one of the world's top physics institutions, here is my daily routine:
Daily schedule: wake up, shower, breakfast until 8 am, then despair until midnight.

ALT Daily schedule: wake up, shower, breakfast until 8 am, then despair until midnight.

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I tried to tell you
nature (@Nature) profile picturenature
@Nature7 Nov 2022
‘I don’t want this kind of life’: graduate students question career options go.nature.com/3fJ9UH6
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"If you’re considering grad school, strongly consider something else. Anything else." @JaredOliphint jaredoliphint.substack.com/p…
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I don’t know who needs to hear this, but just because you’re smart and/or good at school doesn’t mean you HAVE to get your PhD and become a professor.
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Roy K (@roycoding) profile picture
Roy K@roycoding31 Jan 2022
And an excerpt from my book, Hiring Data Scientists and Machine Learning Engineers:
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news.ycombinator.com/item?id… teapawt.net/Nature/status/14758517…
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nature (@Nature) profile picturenature
@Nature28 Dec 2021
‘Hard’ skills from PhDs remain relevant beyond academia nature.com/articles/d41586-0…
Should You Get a PhD? retweeted
Michael J. Lynch (@reformedtexan) profile picture
Michael J. Lynch@reformedtexan22 Jul 2021
You don't need a PhD to smell and identify bullshit.
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Sultan of Sweats (@UncleRoss_) profile pictureSultan of Sweats@UncleRoss_13 Apr 2021
My Pops doing his dissertation for his PhD from Howard at 70 years old
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Should You Get a PhD? retweeted
Drew Conway (@drewconway) profile picture
Drew Conway@drewconway12 Jun 2021
You don’t say…
nature (@Nature) profile picturenature
@Nature12 Jun 2021
“We found a mismatch between the skills PhD holders acquired in training and the skills they need in their jobs.” go.nature.com/3w6pFL9
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Mbithe (@mbithenzomo) profile picture
Mbithe@mbithenzomo15 Apr 2021
Oh how's my PhD going? It's kicking my ass, thanks for asking.
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Tim Hopper (@tdhopper) profile picture
Tim Hopper
@tdhopper15 Oct 2020
If you like hot takes about Phds, can I recommend my free ebook "Should I get a Ph.D.?" shouldigetaphd.com/
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Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) profile pictureNate Silver
@NateSilver53815 Oct 2020
This is not a subtweet of anyone in particular and it's going to annoy some people since I have a lot of PhD followers/friends and also I'm a stubborn guy myself but...one thing I'm noticed is that once someone gets a PhD, it become 10x harder to convince them they're wrong.
Should You Get a PhD? retweeted
Prof. Feynman (@ProfFeynman) profile picture
Prof. Feynman
@ProfFeynman29 Mar 2020
Never confuse education with intelligence, you can have a PhD and still be an idiot. 🧠
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Karie Schultz (@kmschultz24) profile picture
Karie Schultz@kmschultz2419 Aug 2020
Every time I see a history job posted these days, I feel as surprised as if I'd just seen a unicorn. 😂
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