I am in the fourth year of a graduate degree program. I have had to work incredibly hard over the past 3 years. I have hardly had a night or weekend off during these past 3 years. Right now I think it would be terrific to just have a regular 9-5 job, even 8-5 job, and to have nights off and 4 weekends off a month! That would be totally incredible to me. If I had known what I now know, I would never have entered this program in the first place. Right now I am at the most stressful time of the program so far. It didn't get easier with the years. I am interested in economics and if I could have entered or be doing a Ph.D. program in economics right now I think that it would be amazing! Economics is such an interesting subject.
In a couple years once I have my degree am I going to look back and say, it was difficult, but it was worth it? I don't know. I really don't know. My education is certainly going to create opportunities that I wouldn't have had if I didn't do it, but there are many more easier ways I could have gone, easier not because I would have been working fewer hours (although I would have) or because the material is less intellectually demanding, but easier because I would have been able to study something I was truly interested in and really get to use the talents that I possess. I'm tired of getting out at 6-7pm and having a couple hours to work on career related stuff before going to bed and waking up sleep deprived to put in a bunch more hours.
I disagree with everyone in this thread who has said that education is never wasted and that you should continue to do your PhD just for the sake of doing it, and that even if you don't do it its only a year to get your master's. Life is precious and a year is too long to waste on something you're not interested in. On the other hand, maybe my appreciation of time is distorted because I have so little free time right now and for the past several years.
I think the problem in your situation is not whether to get your PhD or not. The real issue is for you to decide what you want to achieve. You have to come up with something specific and exciting and something you are interested in, because your description of going back to Calgary and getting a job doesn't really sound like its particularly motivating to you. Until you figure out what you want to do, and I would spend a good amount of time figuring that out, I would continue the PhD program, and then when you clearly realize what it is you will set out to accomplish, you can quit the program and know that you have something even better in its place.  |