Pretty much anyone in academia will tell prospective students “don’t do a phd” or at least “you should only do a phd if narrow criteria are met.” This seems to be quite the opposite of a cult. My PhD is in the social sciences not the humanities (but I’m somewhat humanities adjacent), so my reactions to your points above are: 1. The vibe in my experience is always “doing a phd is pointless unless you want to go into academia; if that’s not your plan, you should do something else” and no one really disparages you for quitting. In fact, there’s generally a pro quitting vibe, and the average advisor will, if anything, push a student who is on the fence about quitting towards it rather than away from it. Advisors are perfectly happy when their students land roles in industry, and the emotion most adjacent to the one you’re describing comes from jealousy. I will admit (and I think most others will) to a jealousy towards the earnings of people I knew who weren’t remotely smart enough to hack it in academia, dropped out to do whatever the hell UX research is for tech companies, and now make 5 times what I do under better working conditions. 2. I’m sure I don’t socialize more with other academics than the average person socializes with people from their industry. In grad school, nearly all of my friends were fellow grad students, yes, but that was just proximity and ease of forming the connections rather than any discouragement. We all thought the people who managed to make outside friends were cooler than us. And, the moving around thing breaks up the cultishness if anything plus once you get a TT job, you don’t move any more. 3. You pay a lot in opportunity cost, but I don’t know anyone who took on substantial debt during their grad school years. 4. Compared to what? You probably moved away physically to do it, but it pulls you away from family less, I think, than going off and becoming a corporate lawyer in a far away city. 5. Is that true of cults? Yes, it’s very true of PhD programs and everyone is super aware of it. 6. More so than anyone else’s boss? And the massive power of the advisor is really found in the lab sciences much more than the humanities/social sciences. It also depends on the exact dynamic. Universities have stronger than average protections around things like sexual harassment. 7. Sure, true. But, in my experience, they’re also a cynicism/self-consciousness around that you don’t find among, say, MDs or cops.
Pretty much anyone in academia will tell prospective students “don’t do a phd” or at least “you should only do a phd if narrow criteria are met.” This seems to be quite the opposite of a cult. My PhD is in the social sciences not the humanities (but I’m somewhat humanities adjacent), so my reactions to your points above are:
1. The vibe in my experience is always “doing a phd is pointless unless you want to go into academia; if that’s not your plan, you should do something else” and no one really disparages you for quitting. In fact, there’s generally a pro quitting vibe, and the average advisor will, if anything, push a student who is on the fence about quitting towards it rather than away from it. Advisors are perfectly happy when their students land roles in industry, and the emotion most adjacent to the one you’re describing comes from jealousy. I will admit (and I think most others will) to a jealousy towards the earnings of people I knew who weren’t remotely smart enough to hack it in academia, dropped out to do whatever the hell UX research is for tech companies, and now make 5 times what I do under better working conditions.
2. I’m sure I don’t socialize more with other academics than the average person socializes with people from their industry. In grad school, nearly all of my friends were fellow grad students, yes, but that was just proximity and ease of forming the connections rather than any discouragement. We all thought the people who managed to make outside friends were cooler than us. And, the moving around thing breaks up the cultishness if anything plus once you get a TT job, you don’t move any more.
3. You pay a lot in opportunity cost, but I don’t know anyone who took on substantial debt during their grad school years.
4. Compared to what? You probably moved away physically to do it, but it pulls you away from family less, I think, than going off and becoming a corporate lawyer in a far away city.
5. Is that true of cults? Yes, it’s very true of PhD programs and everyone is super aware of it.
6. More so than anyone else’s boss? And the massive power of the advisor is really found in the lab sciences much more than the humanities/social sciences. It also depends on the exact dynamic. Universities have stronger than average protections around things like sexual harassment.
7. Sure, true. But, in my experience, they’re also a cynicism/self-consciousness around that you don’t find among, say, MDs or cops.
My undergrad professors heavily encouraged me to reapply to grad school (in biology) because I was so special and good.