| Straw man. There's a gap a mile wide between Ph.D+family+work (which I described as a bad idea) and "Being able to devote every waking hour" The whole point of graduate school is to have time for intellectual exploration -- reading papers, talking to students, traveling, taking interesting classes, and so on. Grad school was a wonderful time for me, but I can't imagine doing the same while having a deadline to ship a system next week at work or whatnot. * Family+grad school is definitely okay, if you're independently wealthy or your spouse has a decent income. * Grad school+work might be okay if the two align, and your thesis touches on your work. But other than that, I wouldn't recommend it. * Grad school+work+family? That's a waste of your time. You'll get a slip of paper at the end, But yes, grad student slave labor mentality is a problem, and if you're grad student slave labor, you are wasting your time too, and working for a fraction of your market value where all you get at the end is a paper. A thesis advisor is an _advisor_, not a boss. I professors job is to _profess_, not to control. And grad school is _school_, which happens to give a stipend, not a job. If you're not using the time for intellectual explorations, you're doing it wrong. |