[srconstantin]

The bottom line: go to school.

I'm well aware of the drawbacks of academic science. I'm aware that some of the best progress happens outside of academia. It's not about that; it's about resources.

I've been doing some consulting for a company that's working on improving medical diagnosis (among other things.) I'm trying to build risk models for diseases based on genetic data. The problem is that this data isn't freely available. "Open" access data is usually only "open" in the sense that you can apply for access, and you usually have to be a biology professor to be considered. It's not like the tech world at all. We're used to open source. They're not.

If you want to do science, you need access to resources. You need a lab, or you need experimental data. It's really hard to do that outside of academia. Heck, it's hard to read journal articles outside of academia.

Going to school, for all its hassles, is essentially free access to resources. You don't have to be narrowly academia-minded to get an education -- I'm getting a math PhD, but I'm philosophically closer to the tech industry and I don't plan to work in academia. Grad school isn't a tribal identity, it's an opportunity to get what you value out of it.