[tumanian]

My best anecdote of thinking about going to PhD, was when I went to a prof I knew( not my adviser, somebody who I took class from), and asked if I should go for a PhD. The conversation went

  -Hey Dr.X, I wanted to ask your honest opinion if I should go for a phd?
  -No.
  -Why?
  -If you were going to go for a PhD, you'd not be asking me. In fact, you wont be asking anyone.

After that conversation I went for my summer internship at Microsoft Research, where the creme de creme of computer science congregates, and yes, he was right - the best scientists cannot even imagine having a job and not doing research.