Possibly returning to Education

quetsi

I am a graduate with more than five years experience in a professional field and am giving serious consideration to the thought of returning to education.
I have a relatively small mortgage in today s terms, in my late twenties and thinking of heading back for two to three years to pursue a PHD.
I reckon it might give me better opportunities at the end, but at the same time this would be a very, very big decision to make for a number of reasons.
Firstly, the idea of going from being a full-time employee back to a student wouldn’t be easy to handle, most of my friends are starting to do the marriage/kids thing and while I am not at that stage yet, I do feel I should be earning more than I will be if I pursue the PHD.
The other side of that is my current role, and many other positions in my industry are going nowhere, and I’d like to think this could lead to something better in a few years time.
While the post may look a bit vague, to those of you who jumped out of the rat race for a time, how did you find it?!
What I am working at right now isn’t working out and also from a tax point of view I reckon I’d be getting absolutely hammered while working in a job which doesn’t quite fulfill me.
On an aside, will we see more people heading back to education and packing in jobs, with the increased/taxes and levies a contributory factor?

tribulus

I've never heard of a PhD being completed in two years and three years only in very rare cases.

Bear in mind that you usually receive funding for a PhD so you would have some income even if it's less than your job. With some PhDs you can also supplement that by teaching undergrad tutorials or practical classes.

I can't really answer your question as I only graduated last year! However if I don't get kept on in my current place I'll most likely be going back to do a Masters.

Suaimhneach

Its a very tough choice. I was in a similar role a while ago when I was considering pursuing a masters, but I really want to do it full time instead of part time. I thought it'd be better to save and take one year full time out. However, the position I'm in now or one bettter might not be available when I'm finished my Masters, or the market might be more competitive... I think it'd be of more value to me to stay in my current position and either do a masters after more experience or do one part time.

I know thats not the same as your experience but that's the way I ended up looking at it. Another good place to ask this question would be the Postgraduate Forum where people currently undertaking a PhD might have already made a similar decision. I can move this thread there if you like but it is relevant to this forum too I think.

Maybe discuss this with your peers in the industry and see what they think?

quetsi

Thanks for that, posted in Postgrad forum..

Suaimhneach

It's generally frowned upon to repeat the exact same thread in a different forum, but I guess you'll have a different discussion there to here.
G'luck.