The 7 important pros and cons of doing a STEM PhD

You are a stem student and you maybe think to extend your studies. You find that stem is for you and feel comfortable on it. Pursuing your studies in this field seems to be personally important. Above all, you would think that doing a STEM Ph.D. will have a lot of benefits in your life. But you have a little fear and hesitations. So you want to know before stepping into, what are the important pros and cons of doing a STEM Ph.D. So I will list you in this article The 7 important pros and cons of doing a STEM PhD.

We’re going to dive deeper and understand deeply the pros and cons of having a STEM Ph.D. So we can help you to make the right decision and beat your inner doubts about the STEM Ph.D. field. So keep reading…

7 important pros of a STEM PhD

Having a stem degree is allowing you to have a wonderful career. It is full of options and opportunities. Going in-depth to have Ph.D., hugely will improve and change student careers. So in this paragraph, we will list 7 pros of a STEM Ph.D.

collaboration with advisors

in stem classes especially stem Ph.D. You need a strong collaboration with your advisors. It is a deep scientific field that requires a lot of research and intense work.

The role of a stem Ph.D. advisor is to guide and inspire you to reach your full potential goals. By giving you guidance and following you with your own research topic. Stem Ph.D. advisors tend to be more accessible for questions and feedback to ensure your career improvement.

The most significant thing that we can mention for good stem Ph.D. advisors. Is to ensure the ability to understand the core of theories and technical skills. In conclusion, what you will apply in your future research or doctoral them.

integration with other faculty

The stem sector knows deeply the importance of collaboration and integration. In complex scientific themes, it is primordial and indispensable to know the aspect of collaboration.

The integration and collaboration with faculties resume in so many areas, like in research and knowledge sharing. You can have informational resources for other faculties, helping you to speed up your research work and complete your theme within your deadline.

The double benefits of labs and workshops. That is to say, Taking the advantage of working in other universities’ labs outside.

Have and additional access and liberty to experiences and knowledge. Also building new relationships with new colleges who might have the same topic as you do.

Lots of private funding for applied research in particular

Having PhDs in the stem field is an extremely rewarding journey. It relates to many personal or professional respectful careers. But stem Ph.D. students have an advantage especially US stem students, accessing to private funds services, which is a good point to report.

They have access to private funding to complete their degree from different sources, that don’t have any relation with governmental institutes. So a lot of people know that funding Ph. D.s could be hardest than other degrees what makes this funding a problem to solve before beginning.

Doing research, teaching assistantship, or being a teacher for some department. They are some kinds of universities programs helping Ph.D. students to fund their doctorate. Also, they can work like other students in some normal side jobs…

independence

When you begin PhDs studies. The apprenticeship process Is fully independent. That is to say, you became a fully independent researcher. Once the Ph.D. advisor sets up your program. Greenlight is ON. You have the freedom in the behavior of the way you want to work.

If you love the independence and stem domain. It will allow you to do personal research as you want and where you want. It is also a good opportunity to increase your self-esteem and eventually solve problems on your own.

you dive deeper in specific topic

Stem Ph.D. studies offer you a good opportunity to improve your skills. You dive into a specific and scientific topic with his challenges. You learn to begin from scratch, till the end of the process.

Solving mathematical physics equations are part of stem research. You become like a persistent investigator, which teaches you patience and logical thinking. You learn to follow the trace of information by studying hypotheses or even testing them. It gives you the spirit of a warrior mentality.

Sometimes you try to explore the unknown by pushing yourself a little bit without being afraid to fail. It is always a lecture from it.

salary

Stem Ph.D. degrees give you a good financial state, they tend to pay more highest salaries for electrical and engineering degrees and also for different branches.

the average stem Ph.D. salary could exceed $100,000 and for some branches, they could reach up to $200 000 per year like radiologists. It is a domain that treats disease and injury by using nuclear medicine technology.

The Ph.D. stem holder could have a salary increased by $15 000 a year, which brings an additional income difference from non-stem PhD holders.

academic career

The Ph.D. stem field offers a powerful academic route. It essentially builds powerful academic jobs. which increases the number of stem doctorates significantly.

As a future doctoral candidate. You might have an interest in an academic career by looking to be in the education field. Therefore doors are open for you with a variety of academic jobs to choose from, with confidence.

You could apply for academic jobs like a professor, instructor, or be a scientist, and so on… It is a good opportunity to grasp.

7 important cons of a STEM PhD

The STEM field is like any other field. It has pros and cons. We’ve seen together, the powerful points of the stem area. But we ignored the other dark sides of the sTEM Ph.D. field. We will explore know, the seven cons of a STEM Ph.D. career.

High cost

Stem Ph.D. and like other Ph.Ds. Are so expensive to afford. The average paid could exceed $30 000 per year and that depends on the time you will spend on the process. If you are lucky and you work harder at least, it will take 4 years to finish the run. That would be costing you around $120 000 dollars. But in some cases, it could be extremely expensive for some people. They could spend 7 years without holding their degree. So it is so costly.

Lonliness

During the process, you feel lonely without support. You will be stuck, so many times. Because you working alone without help in your projects or tasks you have.
This is could cause you a lack of motivation or even a lack of confidence. Counting on your abilities and the scientific background you have is the only solution. It requires mental toughness to go through these hard times.

Long duration

The road is long and full of challenges. With crossing a lot of steps and breaking a lot of challenges during this long time. You could spend 4 or 5 years o even 8 years depending on your learning process.

What makes Ph.D. students last a long, is two things. The first one, is they are not dedicated to finishing their program. So they fail many times to complete in the right time. Or ones who work and study at the same time. They prepare their doctorate on their side hustle. Thus the process is time costly and could be exhausting for people who are not patient.

heavy projects

Stem Ph.D. student has complex and high-standard projects. That is considered a big challenge for them. They always deal with deadlines and large-scale projects.

As individual workers. It put them under stress and panic. This can cause a mental disorder and burnout If students don’t know how to release and go out of stress. So Ph.D. students have to respect the life balance between work and comfort.

Work/life balance

As we said of Ph.D. stem pros, independence is one of the great things in this area. It allows the candidate to be liberated from any outside control. Therefore some others don’t know how to take advantage of it and have a balance in their life. They work extremely hard trying to finish the program in 2 or 3 years. This could lead them to some type of psychological troubles and familiars debate…

having a bad supervisor

The worst thing that nobody would want to face, especially for Ph.D. stem students is having a bad supervisor. It could be hell. So could reflect in a lot of problems like absence or bad attitude. The worse thing is you may have someone who disrespects you and totally does not support you which makes you hate the field. For the worse case leaving and giving up.

The only way to hate your passion is by having bad and toxic people around you.it creates confusion.

procrastination

Is one of the ignored problems that most Ph.D. stem students don’t talk about. When you own your time you are free, nobody will tell you when to go or where to go. But you have an obligation and goals to reach out.
Procrastination could be a destroying factor that could paralyze your advancement in your stem research. It will slow you down towards your future goal. Structuring your life and respecting your schedule must be your life priorities.

conclusion

Knowing the 7 The important pros and cons of doing a STEM PhD could help you a lot in your decision. It depends on you and your circumstances. The question remains of being ready to sacrifice for your dream or not.