Was pleasantly surprised to see this thread.
It gives a lot of pleasure to find atleast some ppl with a similar dilemma .
I had this doubt when I completed my M.Sc in Physics from IITK, most of my froends were moving to US after they wrote GRE , n I was starting to prepare for CAT n enrolled myself in coaching Insti.
Had a lot of thoughts, discussions/Debates(with dad) regarding this.
A few things which I concluded:
1. Nowadays there r enough no. of brilliant, acad-oriented ppl even in corporate world.N I have a gut feel that atleast in certain sectors they r the ones who are cut out for moving to the TOP. e.g. Arun Maira is presently the chairman of BCG.
Also agreeing to what someone pointed out earlier, in true-blue MNCs its quite common to find Ph.Ds working in Cos. they often head R&D divisions but also others.
So Ph.D n MBA r not on opposite poles, nowadays.
2. Ph.D would probably give u lots of satisfaction, but NOT ENOUGH MONEY.
now one might say, that if 1 is not greedy it doesn't matter.
But, even in developed nations the Govts. r finding it difficult to encourage students to take up Doctoral programmes/research.This is the reason they fill up the seats by admitting students from develpoing countries(India being a favourite country). I know this bcoz I have n no. of friends who r doing Ph.D in Europe.
This last reason might seem trivial to many , spl to ppl who r working because they don't feel the the essence of money , now that their hands r full n there is a steady flow. BUT a few years down the line , when one turns out to be a true-blue researcher/academician , hemay regret seeing his formercolleagues/friends making 10 times(or even more) money n still getting increment, while his income stagnates.
Note: The income disparity in acad & corporate world is not limited to India but is a Global phenomenon.
Having said all these, I would like to add that even I myself aim to do Ph.D after working for a few years. Simply because I don't think I am the 'party-animal' , avaricious kind who's always into office politics. Somehow I feel it reduces my enjoyment of life. I look at life in a different perspective.
Read today's editorial article on TOI named : "Science is a Fun Story" by Brian Greene. It just bolstered my convictions about leading an ideal life.
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