Academia is Overrated

It’s been over a year since I graduated from the Engineering Science program at the University of Toronto and started working full-time as a Machine Learning Engineer. I’ve also been pursuing graduate studies part-time, conducting research, and having published several papers in academic journals.

Having thought about my own experiences, as well as talking to many people who are either in graduate studies, academia, or have completed advanced degrees, here are some of my thoughts about academia, and why I believe it’s overrated from an engineer’s perspective (not saying you shouldn’t pursue it yourself).

Many people believe academia is the holy grail, and as immigrants to North America, if you can make it as a tenured professor at a well-known university, you are set for generations to come. I was told by my Asian immigrant parents to study hard in university, do a master's and Ph.D., and then work my way up to a university professor.

However, just like any other profession in the world, not everyone is fit to be an academic, or perform research work in general. So what does it take?

First of all, it takes a special personality to make it in academia. In fact, the bar is much higher than working a regular job in the industry.

It takes someone who dives deep, has lots of great ideas, can think in multidisciplinary terms, is passionate about their research, is good at working independently, and deeply enjoys writing. It’s a lonely and gruelling grind from undergrad to Ph.D. to a professorship. Many graduate students struggle with mental health.

Furthermore, contrary to stereotypical media depictions, they should also be good with people, since knowing more people and playing politics in academia can get one further for publications, peer reviews, citations, funding, getting invited to conferences, being considered for academic positions, etc. When I was working with my thesis advisor in undergrad and grad school, I observed that he delegated most of the research work to his graduate students, while he was always meeting with other academics around the world. He is quite careful of his social status, and claims to have a lot of “friends” worldwide across his field in academia.

Secondly, if you value financial stability, it may not be in your best interest to pursue an academic career. In fact, graduate studies, in most cases, are not a good time-money investment.

Most academics never make it big or even sniff tenure. There are only so many universities around, and tenure-track positions are few and far between. With degree inflation and hoards of Ph.D. graduates hitting the market every year, these positions become highly competitive, much more competitive compared to industry roles. Less than 0.5% of Ph.D.’s make it to a professor. I see lots of Ph.D. graduates jumping from one postdoc to another while barely scraping by, with little prospect of making a professorship, let alone tenure.

Also, at least a decade of your life will be spent in school, grinding away research papers and just getting by from the minimal funding, stipends, or scholarships. Sure, some will do better financially than others, but in that time frame, you could have made hundreds of thousands (even millions) if you started working in the industry right after your undergrad. You could have even retired sooner.

Third, if you think academia is all about freedom and innovation, you’re in for disappointment.

Due to the “publish or perish” culture, the vast majority of “research” is merely iterations, improvements, or reviews of existing work. There is no freedom at all. Everyone wants to publish, and almost all the work is geared towards publication (and getting more citations) with little to no freedom to pursue what you want (unless you already have tenure of course). Your performance is determined solely by your publications and their citations, which is what gets you recognition and funding.

The truly cutting-edge stuff is rare nowadays, and you need to get to the very top (or the industry) to see it. An uncle of mine who is a well-known professor in the US told me that 95% of professors are just out there to “earn their bread” and get nothing meaningful done. In fact, the vast majority of your time as an academic is spent reading and writing, whether it’s a paper, a literature review, a grant/funding application, or a research proposal. Not much time is actually spent performing the research work.

Also, it doesn’t help that things move very slowly in academia. For instance, a research paper can take a year or longer from initial submission to publication in a scientific journal. True innovation doesn’t require going through all these hoops — you just need to build something unique.

If you want to experience true innovation, go work for the industry (preferably a growing startup or a research department/lab at a well-established company), or go to a truly elite institution like MIT or Stanford if you can make it.

Finally, academia, and school in general, is a very sheltered environment, which doesn’t let you experience the “real world”.

There is no work-life balance. There is always another experiment, paper, or application to write, unlike in a 9–5 job. Your supervisor is always hounding you to deliver. You miss out on a lot of life experiences and learning important life skills. For instance, you don’t get to experience corporate politics, which I believe is important for developing basic social skills and emotional intelligence. You also live in a sheltered environment where you don’t really see how the world works, whether it’s politics, economics, or business.

Funny enough, I came across a lot of people in academia who don’t have many life experiences or skills. For instance, there are people I know who are well into their 30s who have never worked outside of a university campus at all, do not know how to socialize, or drive, don’t know how to perform simple repairs, have traveled very little, or haven’t had much dating experience.

Life as an academic is very boring and secluded according to most people. However, some people seem to thrive in this type of environment. It all depends on your personality type and interests though. At the end of the day, I still believe that having a wide range of life experiences is valuable for personal and professional development, and enable one to become the best version of themselves.

If you really want to pursue academia, think about this. You pursue academia because you are truly passionate about learning and expanding the knowledge in a subject area. Doing it for any other reason is not worth it.

Be realistic to yourself as to whether or not it’s worth devoting years to decades of your life to this, and miss out on earning potential and other life experiences.

Do you really have what it takes to succeed in academia/research, or are you just doing it because your immigrant parents told you to do so, or rather, you don’t like the real world and just want to stay in school forever?

Also, if you’re thinking about graduate studies in general, there are only two reasons why it is reasonable to invest your time into it.

1. Your desired career path requires an advanced degree (e.g. research scientist, data scientist, doctor/physician). However, if you are pursuing an aforementioned career path solely for the sake of financial security and social status (like many who want to become doctors and professors), there are lots of other career options that will get you there without the hassle of a graduate degree (e.g. software engineer, investment banker, accountant, skilled trades, etc.). Be honest with yourself.
2. You are truly passionate about a subject that you want to research, and want to dedicate your life to it. That means you are enthusiastic about writing and you’re willing to spend lots of time reading and writing, as well as dealing with the interpersonal politics involved. Most research work is very dull and repetitive, and you are ready to deal with the grunt work.

Many people go to college, university, and grad school to “figure things out”. For these people, it’s like buying more time to figure out what they want to do in life. Others stay in school as long as they can since they don’t know what else to do, or are afraid to step into the real world.

My advice is, always go into school with a clear goal in mind. If you don’t have a goal, stop and start thinking about your future.

Higher education, at least in North America, is a very expensive way of figuring things out. You invest years of your youth and go tens of thousands in debt just to realize that you either don’t like something, or you don’t have what it takes to succeed there, and come out in an equal or worse situation.

If you are somewhat interested in grad school, research, or academia, but are unsure of what to do, here are some tips:

• Try your hands in research first. Work with a professor or a lab and try publishing a few papers in undergrad. You don’t know if you enjoy research or academic work until you try.
• Work for a few years first in the industry in various roles and companies after undergrad. You get to see what you like and don’t like while making some money and experiencing life. Once you have tried that and realized that full-time work in the industry is not for you, you can always go back to school with a renewed focus.
• Even if you’re currently in grad school, take some time in the summer or use a gap year to intern/work in the industry. It helps you gain new perspectives and experiences. Also, it helps you build industry connections that might be helpful later in your academic or professional career. Lots of well-known academics have industry partners (e.g. Geoffrey Hinton also works with Google).
• If you are really ambitious, you can try to work while doing your graduate studies as I am currently doing. It is common for career-switchers and those who have financial pressure. But beware, you may miss out on the full graduate school experience as you also need to work. Also, not all employers will allow this, so you may have to be discreet about it.

Finally, I believe academia is currently set up like a pyramid scheme.

Hoards of ambitious graduate students enter universities every year and fight for that less than 1% opportunity to become a tenured professor. Professors themselves use these students to carry out their research work for slavery wages and further their own success. Universities also make money out of selling this “dream” of becoming an academic. They only advertise the success stories. Just like any other highly-regarded career, the vast majority never make it, and are left poor, bitter, and broken.

Like many other industries, academia has lost its original purpose to capitalism. It is no longer about the pursuit of knowledge. There are simply too many hoops to jump through and too many games to play in order to fight for the crumbs. Everything is about immediate success and quick money/recognition. Many come in with a lot of passion and have all their passions killed in this meaningless rat race. Also, the reward doesn’t match the effort in most cases. Unless your family is well off, you’re going to be struggling financially for many years as an academic.

I recently had an offer to do a Ph.D. under a highly-regarded professor in his field at a well-known research university. However, after carefully thinking about this, I turned down the offer and decided to focus on my work in the industry. I am not passionate and foolish enough to sink the rest of my life into this lost cause, despite what my parents have told me. I also feel a lot happier out of school compared to when I was in university.