Should You Do a PhD? The 4 Pros and 7 Cons You Need to Know

In this video I outline 7 pros and 4 cons for you to consider when making the life decision of whether you should do a PhD! My idea for this video was to give reasons that are strong enough to decide between doing PhD versus doing something else. For example, an advantage of a PhD is you learn to develop projects independently, but I feel you can also gain that skill other places (e.g. starting your own company), so I tried to pick things which are really unique / characteristic / intrinsic to a PhD. However, depending on your experience you might feel like I've missed some important pros or cons, so let me know in the comments if I have! It's good to note that these pros/cons will vary A LOT between different people, and also for different geographies (e.g. US versus Europe). 00:00 Intro 00:29 PhD 101 01:37 Con 1: Stress 02:18 Con 2: Social Isolation 02:54 Con 3: Poor Management 03:48 Con 4: Long Hours 04:07 Con 5: Compensation 04:43 Con 6: Exit Opportunities 05:46 Con 7: Immediate Impact 06:51 Pro 1: Research Career 07:59 Pro 2: Social Mobility 09:21 Pro 3: Pursuing a Passion 09:59 Pro 4: International Experience 10:41 Making a Decision