Science
20 Sep 2020

Do You Want A PhD? I Don’t.

Hi! My name is Sharana, and I don’t want a PhD.

I don’t want to go back to school. I’ve earned 3 degrees already, and I’m happy with those.

Don’t get me wrong, I get sooo excited when I see women sharing their PhD experiences on Instagram, just killing it in STEM fields and inspiring people…

๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฌ๐ง’๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ž.

Honestly, I’ve never wanted a PhD. When I was younger and thought about going to college and the degrees I’d earn, I always stopped at Master’s.

“But don’t you want to be DOCTOR Sharana?” Nope. I’m good ๐Ÿ™…๐Ÿพโ€โ™€๏ธ

I definitely feel some ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ imposter syndrome when I share about science stuff… like who do I think I am talking about toxicology when there’s ACTUAL EXPERTS out here?!

“You don’t have a PhD in toxicology, only a Master’s, so go sit down” is what I’ve been telling myself for a while now…

๐Ÿ”นDoes it make me less of a scientist for not having those 3 letters after my name?

๐Ÿ”นDoes it mean I’m not as determined or focused as other people?

๐Ÿ”นDoes it mean I’m settling for “just ok” instead of going for “great”?

…. Maybe?!? Idk, I’m still kinda struggling with this so I don’t have all the answers.

What I DO know is that I’ve learned so much to get to where I’m at today, and I’m realizing that ๐ˆ’๐ฆ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ก๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ˆ’๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ, ๐๐ก๐ƒ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐Ÿ˜Œ

I opened up and shared this on social media as a way to start a conversation and see if anyone else could relate. You gave me sooo many good responses – thank you! They helped me feel better about my decision to not go back to school.

If you’re feeling unsure about whether or not you want to go back to school, here’s some of the responses that really stood out to me:

Responses From Instagram

  • โ€œHell no you donโ€™t need [a PhD]! Iโ€™m a firm believer that a degree is impressive but networking is what opens the most doors. And you are crushing it on both!โ€ - @michelleteresa_
  • โ€œDef not a quitter and smart for doing whatโ€™s best for you and YES youโ€™re still an expert and here for whatever science you want to shareโ€ - @phuturedoctors
  • โ€œOmg no you definitely donโ€™t need a PhD to be an expert and youโ€™re definitely qualified to be a science communicator on IG โ€“ Iโ€™m taking a class [right now] where Iโ€™m learning that degrees are just a way for society to decide who is knowledgeable, which devalues those who are super super knowledgeable but donโ€™t have any degrees (like for example community elders or those [with] atypical routes to knowledge) Iโ€™m learning to value all types of knowledge and unlearn typical definitions of who is knowledgeable vs not. Idk if that helps you at all! Hope it does!โ€ - @madisonseto.designanpapery

Responses from Facebook

  • Iโ€™m going to quote my boss/advisor on this one, โ€œThe only people that have these crazy high standards for what is and is not a scientist are ourselves. We all suffer from imposter syndrome and it can be difficult to not compare your abilities or degree status to those of others. But what is it that you do? You do science. Itโ€™s your whole job. You generate experiments, conduct lab work, read scientific literature, collect data, publish research. If you arenโ€™t a scientist who the fuck is?โ€ You are 1000000% a scientist and an inspiring one at that!

So how do you feel? Do you want to go for a PhD, or are you happy without one? Is a PhD necessary for the type of work that you want to do, or will it help you earn a higher salary immediately? Will jobs still be looking for work experience even though you’ve got that degree? Those are some questions you can start to look into if you’re not sure which direction to go in. Hope this post helps you in your journey!