2) 80,000 hours pointed out in one blog post (I forget which one) that grad or professional schooling can be more time/effort/work than it’s worth. This would be especially true if I’m saddled with debt and cannot find employment with high renumeration.
Don’t get a PhD unless you’re fully funded, not only for the obvious financial reason, but also because if the department isn’t willing to fund you, then it’s a sign that they aren’t that interested you as a student and they’re less likely to devote resources to you to further your professional development. Not only that, but professors want to work with the best students in their department and the best students are, invariably, the ones with full funding.
None of this applies to terminal master’s programs—as far as I know getting funding in a master’s program is pretty rare. This is typically the case in both statistics and econ.
I’d like to emphasize this. I’ve heard the same from many in my computer science department: if you aren’t accepted with funding, then the department doesn’t really want you. Now, this is only really true in those fields that have access to frequent grants, but these are essentially the fields you listed minus philosophy.
Don’t get a PhD unless you’re fully funded, not only for the obvious financial reason, but also because if the department isn’t willing to fund you, then it’s a sign that they aren’t that interested you as a student and they’re less likely to devote resources to you to further your professional development. Not only that, but professors want to work with the best students in their department and the best students are, invariably, the ones with full funding.
None of this applies to terminal master’s programs—as far as I know getting funding in a master’s program is pretty rare. This is typically the case in both statistics and econ.
I’d like to emphasize this. I’ve heard the same from many in my computer science department: if you aren’t accepted with funding, then the department doesn’t really want you. Now, this is only really true in those fields that have access to frequent grants, but these are essentially the fields you listed minus philosophy.