phd quit rate

Why Do So Many Graduate Students Quit?

Universities themselves may be contributing to burnout.

With half of all doctoral students leaving graduate school without finishing , something significant and overwhelming must be happening for at least some of them during the process of obtaining that degree. Mental illness is often offered as the standard rationale to explain why some graduate students burn out . Some research has suggested a link between intelligence and conditions such as bipolar disorder, leading some observers to believe many graduate students struggle with mental-health problems that predispose them to burning out.

But such research is debatable , and surely not every student who drops out has a history of mental illness. So, what compels students to abandon their path to a Ph.D.? Could there be other underlying factors, perhaps environmental, that can cause an otherwise-mentally-healthy graduate student to become anxious, depressed, suicidal, or, in rare cases, violent?

Research suggests that the majority of students who enter doctoral programs possess the academic ability to complete their studies, but systemic issues at schools may lead to high attrition and mental distress among graduate students. In exploring what exacerbates mental-health issues among graduate students, it may be wise to shift the focus away from labeling graduate students “deficient” to investigate how institutions themselves may be causing attrition.

The culture of Ph.D. programs can make some students snap, according to Karen Kelsky, a former tenured professor and academic career coach. In fact, she said in an email, “it isn't usually a snap so much as a gradual disintegration.” Ph.D. programs are extremely lonely and based on a culture of critique rather than support in which professors and peers constantly look for weaknesses in the doctoral student’s arguments, she said.

During Kelsky’s 15 years as a tenured professor and advisor, she witnessed many students toil in solitude on their dissertations while sacrificing their outside interests. “You become overly fixated on what your professors think of you,” she said. “Paranoia is quite rampant in Ph.D. programs because Ph.D. students can get so isolated and so fixated on whether or not the people in authority [committee members] approve of what they're doing since they have total authority to grant the degree.”

Marcella Wilson , a computer-science professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), completed her undergraduate work at Washington Bible College, a small, historically black institution. The close-knit campus with doting professors, she said, did not prepare her for certain aspects of life as a computer-science doctoral student at UMBC. “[The graduate faculty] don’t have time to help you,” she said. “You get [the coursework] or you get out.”

After encountering a number of obstacles to on-time completion—including disagreements with faculty over shifting course-completion requirements, watching as a graduate faculty member warned other faculty not to advise her, and feeling that she was being ostracized—Wilson said she started to have panic attacks and feelings of paranoia. “I felt trapped when I was inside my car … I was becoming agoraphobic,” she recalled. “When I would get into the car, I had visions of myself opening up the door and rolling out into traffic and hurting myself.”

Janet Rutledge, the vice provost and graduate-school dean at UMBC, said Wilson’s recollections are reflective of a widespread problem at her university and graduate programs across the country: a lack of communication between faculty and students. “Very rarely is the faculty motive … malicious,” she said. Faculty members are often “very busy and they don’t communicate the full reason for some of the things that they do, so it is only natural that a student makes certain assumptions based on what they have been able to observe.”

In a brief titled “ Re-Envisioning the Ph.D ,” Jody Nyquist, the former dean of graduate studies at the University of Washington, asked doctoral students across eight disciplines about the flaws they perceived in the graduate-school process. An overwhelming number complained about a lack of quality mentoring and support from faculty. The study also noted that doctoral students believed mentoring needs to begin earlier, be more systematic, and be based on a multiple-mentor model.

Graduate programs that encourage a multiple-mentor model of advising are rare, but this type of support is precisely what helped Wilson complete her doctoral program, she said. After being informed of Wilson’s troublesome graduate experiences, Rutledge introduced her to PROMISE , a program that supports the academic development of graduate students at UMBC. “Once I began to believe I could graduate, I realized that it was not about [the professors],” Wilson said. “I have good relationships with them all now.”

Scott Kerlin, a former doctoral-committee member at the University of Washington and the author of Pursuit of the Ph.D.: “Survival of the Fittest,” suggested that students describe the doctoral process as more “political” than intellectual in nature. There are “lots of issues of power and powerlessness that pervade the graduate experience,” Kerlin said, which may induce extreme distress for students who feels powerless. Indeed, a common reaction to highly stressful situations is difficulty engaging in mutual problem-solving, which, according to Rutledge, makes it especially important for graduate-school administrators to mediate discord between faculty.

But that can be hard to achieve: Many students are convinced the doctoral experience sets them up to fail. “Dysfunctional graduate departments, toxic faculty, and the Navy Seal-like brutality of the Ph.D. process all contribute to the burnout experienced by the estimated 50-plus percent of Ph.D. students who fail to earn their doctorates,” wrote Jill Yesko, then a doctoral student in geography, in a 2014 op-ed for Inside Higher Ed .

And many students enter their doctoral programs assuming that they’re always expected to maintain the illusion of mental stability and confidence while interacting with faculty members, peers, or future employers—regardless of any issues that may arise. While colleges and universities are expanding mental-health services for students, many doctoral candidates feel they need to mask their weaknesses because asking for help would be detrimental to their professional reputations.

In 2011, the University of Texas at Austin’s sociology department conducted a study of graduate students at 26 major universities across the United States. The study, “Stress and Relief for American Graduate Students ,” found that 43 percent of all study participants reported experiencing more stress than they could handle, with Ph.D. students expressing the greatest amounts of stress. Of the students polled, more than half listed stress or burnout as a major concern, about a quarter cited feeling like an outsider, and nearly a third listed their relationships with professors. Only 6 percent of graduate students said they felt they could frequently turn to their mentors and advisors for assistance during stressful times .

“I live and work in a context in which I am encouraged to conceal my [depression], lest it somehow devalue or denigrate my intellectual efforts or the currency of my reputation … This is a toll that academia exacts from so many of us,” Jacqui Shine, a doctoral student at UC Berkeley wrote in a column on Chronicle Vitae .

Chester Goad, a graduate instructor at Tennessee Technological University and the director of its disability-services offices, said he’d never experienced an anxiety attack until he entered his doctoral program in educational leadership.

Goad thought he had been doing well managing his hectic schedule, which included being a father and husband, and maintaining a full-time job, often working on literature reviews or research that forced him to leave the university well after midnight. One day, he had a panic attack while en route to an examination with his peers. Feeling lightheaded and claustrophobic, he had to run away to catch his breath. When he regained composure, his first reaction was a feeling of shame. “As professionals you don’t want people to see you in that situation,” he said. “You want people to think you have got it all collected and together.”

Dion Metzger, an Atlanta-based psychiatrist who specializes in mental illness, argued that the graduate-student experience “produces unique stressors that may not necessarily be found in other career paths.” In pursuing an especially high level of education, she noted, many people may feel an especially high pressure to receive a return on their investment. Alienation from friends and family, an average of eight years spent developing and presenting research, and the cost, are just a few of the ways students feel they have invested.

But sometimes the emotional, social, and financial sacrifices doctoral students make during their studies are, at least initially, difficult to recuperate. In 2014, well over a third of doctorate recipients reported no firm employment upon graduation .

“The students place these expectations on themselves, but sometimes feel the pressure from loved ones who have supported them through their education,” said Metzger, the psychiatrist. “A simple question of ‘Have you found a job yet?’ can [create] instant panic-like symptoms for graduate students. There is a greater pressure to get a job that measures up to the hard work that was put in. Depending on the graduate school path chosen, that is easier said than done … This can be devastating.”

Who drops out of the Ph.D.?

Aside from the fact that doing a Ph.D. seems to put you at a greater risk of being anxious or depressed than other occupations, some students may also face the question: will I ever finish my thesis at all ? This post digs into research about doctoral attrition and completion, and what factors seem to make dropping out more likely. Do not give up!… unless you really want to.

Image by Siggy Nowak from Pixabay

About 10 years ago, when I left my job in the telecom industry to pursue an academic Ph.D., I started pursuing my other secret dream: being a psychologist. I enrolled in an online masters program on Psychology research. However, several months into the program, it was clear that this was not going to be a piece of cake. I was behind on the readings, some of the concepts in the courses were incomprehensible to me (not surprising, since my background was in Engineering), and I had some unpleasant online interactions with my peers when seeking help about these issues. My morale started to falter, and I started wondering: should I cut my losses and focus on my other main project (the doctoral degree that I had started in parallel)? Or was it better to drop out of the Ph.D. and pursue the shorter, maybe more manageable masters degree?

Dropping out of the PhD: the problem of attrition

If you ever faced this kind of thoughts, you are not alone. Not at all . In the research literature about students dropping out of doctoral programs (or “attrition”, as they call it), very often the ballpark of 40–60% attrition rate is mentioned 1 . Imagine you are in a classroom with your peer Ph.D. students. Look to the person on your left. Look to the person on your right. According to the statistics, only one or two of you will ever finish the Ph.D.

That’s a hard pill to swallow.

Of course, this is just a general approximation. The numbers vary quite a bit from university to university, and across the different disciplines: in one study, students in science and technology were 50% more likely to complete their Ph.D.’s than health sciences ones, and more than twice as likely compared to doctoral students in the humanities and social sciences 2 . This is probably due to many social, economic and cultural factors that are quite different in each discipline (rather than the inherent difficulty of the subject). Furthermore, even getting to these numbers is quite hard, since very often the researchers running these studies (and the doctoral programs themselves) don’t have a good way to know if a student has actually dropped out, or is just unusually quiet.

There is also the issue of when will you drop out. Several studies mention that dropping out of a Ph.D. is more probable in the first two years 1 , 2 . This is probably due to the students coming to the doctorate with a certain image or expectation of what doing research looks like, and academic research life not living up to those expectations – leading to disillusionment and dropout. To avoid this, in certain areas like biomedical research, students spend some time at the beginning of the doctorate rotating around different labs to get a better sense of what working in research looks like… only sometimes this also backfires, when labs start competing fiercely for the best students, so that some labs show a “friendly façade” during rotation, and a much harsher reality once the student incorporates to the lab for real 3 .

So, it is clear now: if about half of the doctoral students actually drop out of the Ph.D., probably many more have at least considered quitting. Indeed, I’d wager that you are quite lucky if you have not thought of abandoning the Ph.D. so far.

Factors for attrition

Now that we know this is a quite common problem, what are the factors related to greater chances of dropping out (or persisting until completion)? Looking into the research on this issue, I found five factors that appear quite often 4 :

• Kind of funding : Where you get the money from to do your Ph.D. is one of the most studied variables in relation to doctoral students dropping out. While the details vary from country to country and from one discipline to another (which determines what options are available to you), in general having no funding is associated with the highest rates of dropout (between 2.5 and six times more likely to drop out than the other options) 2 . Scholarships or research assistantships seem associated with lower dropouts 5 . While details differ across studies, it seems that the more your money source is aligned with your Ph.D., the better (e.g., if you have a scholarship that lets you freely choose your research topic, or your salary comes from a research project fully aligned with that topic). Conversely, if you are doing your Ph.D. part-time (because you took a completely unrelated job to pay your bills, or if you took a part-time lectureship at the university), you might be setting yourself up to have a harder time finishing your doctorate 6 .
• Marital status : Interestingly, married doctoral students (or those in a long-term relationship) are much less likely to drop out of a Ph.D. 5 . For example, in one study in Belgium, researchers found that married students were about four times less likely to drop out than unmarried ones 2 . As we saw when looking at depression and anxiety , it seems that this kind of close social (and, maybe, economic) support is very helpful to persist in the long journey of the doctorate.
• Career prospects . Quite logically, if you think that you will easily find a job once you have the doctorate under your belt, you will be more likely to persist until completion 5 . And vice-versa: once you stop believing that you have good career opportunities after finishing the Ph.D, dropping out seems much more likely 1 .
• Relationship with the supervisor . Rivers of ink have been poured trying to explain the influence of supervisors, and their relationship with students, in doctoral attrition. The issue appears in most qualitative accounts of doctoral student dropouts, but so far it has been quite difficult to quantify (e.g., well-advised students also drop out sometimes 3 ). Reviews of this area indicate that a positive student-supervisor relationship is associated with completing the Ph.D. 1 . But what makes a relationship positive? that’s harder to say… the advisors being “available”, having frequent interactions, having a sense of cooperation, understanding, and trust. Others also mention a non-hierarchical relationship, with clear expectations, or the advisor not being over-involved in their own research agenda 5 . Being an advisor myself, I find some of this advice wonderfully vague, but I will dig deeper into the topic of supervision styles, in a later post.
• Candidate “preparedness” is another factor that pops-up quite frequently, both in the sense of prior academic achievement (e.g., whether you passed your masters with very high grades), but also in terms of other personal characteristics of the doctoral student. For instance, in one study researchers found that students that passed the masters with very high distinction were two to eight times more likely to complete the Ph.D. than students that had their masters with lower grades 2 . However, not every review agrees that academic achievement is a critical factor in Ph.D. attrition 3 . Other reviews also mention students’ personal characteristics, such as their motivation to do the Ph.D. (if the motivation is high, and is about learning or personal improvement, chances of completion seem to be higher), students’ time on task, not having negative personal issues, etc. 5

OK, so far things seem logical. If we are alone, we are not academic over-achievers, or we have to get an unrelated job to make ends meet, we will generally have a harder time during the dissertation – and more chances of being faced with the dilemma of abandoning it.

But… what is the right answer?

A contrarian view of Ph.D. dropout

Most of the research I’ve seen around this topic describes dropping out as a big problem, a waste of time and resources for everyone involved (students, supervisors, universities, society). And, don’t get me wrong, I totally see how it is a problem that should not be dismissed lightly. However, I cannot help but think that we are seeing only one side of the coin: that of the institutional success, and the student as a human resource . We could also be a bit more empathetic and look at students as a human beings , and their experience: what if dropping out is the better option for this particular student, as a person, at this point in time? In one paper, a doctoral student explains:

‘‘I discussed withdrawing with family and my significant other; they just wanted me to be happy and, given the treatment that I received [from my advisor] for months, it seemed like the clear choice’’ 3

The quote reads like a really well thought-out, meditated decision, after enduring a toxic situation – regardless of the resources “wasted”.

Plus, are they really wasted? We may be forgetting that, even if you do not have a paper calling you “Ph.D.”, it is quite probable that you learned a few useful things during this journey, however incomplete: you learned to read scientific papers, you learned how your kind of research is really made, you learned to write and to argue a bit better, and probably you also practiced your critical thinking (which seems in short supply these days). I wouldn’t call that a total waste.

So yes, you should consider carefully before starting a Ph.D. (or accepting to supervise one). But, if the decision was made in good faith, forget about the funding, forget about the time “wasted”… they are sunk costs 7 . Rather, ask yourself: am I (or is this person) going to be an effective, convinced, purposeful researcher, if I continue my doctoral training under these conditions and in this place? If the answer is no, then maybe quitting isn’t a such bad idea. Heck, there is even research that suggests that, if you are at the point where you could decide by tossing a coin, you would be better off making the change right away! 8

If you are facing this conundrum, evaluate your environment and your daily experience carefully, and talk about it with family and close friends. But the decision is only yours. Yet, I can give you a general rule of thumb, from what I’ve seen in the academic world so far: if you think you are not “smart enough”, or you have any other argument for why you will never succeed at this that smells even remotely of impostor syndrome , I’d say you can make it (believe me, I’ve seen some really un-smart people get doctorates). If, on the other hand, your lab environment is toxic, your economic or social situation is really bad, or you feel deeply unhappy every day you do research, maybe it is time for a re-evaluation.

You can do it, if you want to endure (or -gasp!- enjoy) the process.

Coming back to my own personal case, I did drop out of the Psychology masters, to focus on my Ph.D. And I don’t regret it one bit. Indeed, even after focusing my attention on the Ph.D., a researcher could have told me that my chances were still not terribly optimistic: I was single, I was completely self-funded, my masters grades were not exactly glowing, and I had no idea whether the doctorate would bring me incredible job opportunities.

Oddly enough, not only I managed to finish my Ph.D.; I actually consider that year one of the happiest, most fulfilling of my life.

Am I an outlier? Maybe yes. Was I extremely lucky? Probably so. However, in some of the latest readings I did for this post, I found an alternative, reasonable explanation. But this post has gotten quite long already. You can find out more about this other strand of doctoral education research, in the next post of the series on doctoral dropout .

Have you ever considered dropping out of your Ph.D.? can you think of other factors that made you stay (or abandon it)? Do you think there is a right moment to quit the doctorate? Let me know in the comments section below!

New to the blog? Read more about…

Common problems and challenges in doing the PhD, from mental health (e.g., depression or anxiety) or productivity challenges , to writing or dropping out of your PhD .

Mental health and wellbeing tips and advice : common mental health symptoms in the PhD , tips to avoid dropping out of the doctorate , the importance of sleep , holidays or advice from positive psychology to keep yourself motivated during the PhD.

PhD productivity tips and advice : from the classic Pomodoro technique , to avoiding to-do list overwhelm , dealing with multiple projects and priorities , staying productive and motivated , how I manage my daily tasks or how I do my weekly reviews .

PhD-specific tools , like the CQOCE diagram to conceptualize your PhD, the NABC method to structure your research presentations, or the process I use to write scientific papers or make big career decisions .

Supervision tips and advice , about giving feedback on student papers , or supporting a sense of progress in your doctoral students .

See, for example, Bair, C. R., & Haworth, J. G. (2004). Doctoral student attrition and persistence: A meta-synthesis of research. In Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (pp. 481–534). Springer. ↩︎

Wollast, R., Boudrenghien, G., Van der Linden, N., Galand, B., Roland, N., Devos, C., … Frenay, M. (2018). Who Are the Doctoral Students Who Drop Out? Factors Associated with the Rate of Doctoral Degree Completion in Universities. International Journal of Higher Education , 7 (4), 143–156. ↩︎

Maher, M. A., Wofford, A. M., Roksa, J., & Feldon, D. F. (2017). Exploring Early Exits: Doctoral Attrition in the Biomedical Sciences. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice . https://doi.org/10.1177/1521025117736871 ↩︎

Please be aware that most of this evidence is from correlational studies, so it is hard to know if these factors are the causes of the dropout, or (more probably) symptoms of a different underlying cause (or causes). ↩︎

Rigler Jr, K. L., Bowlin, L. K., Sweat, K., Watts, S., & Throne, R. (2017). Agency, Socialization, and Support: A Critical Review of Doctoral Student Attrition. Paper Presented at the 3rd International Conference on Doctoral Education . Presented at the University of Central Florida. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED580853.pdf ↩︎

Gardner, S. K., & Gopaul, B. (2012). The part-time doctoral student experience. International Journal of Doctoral Studies , 7 (12), 63–78. Retrieved from http://informingscience.com/ijds/Volume7/IJDSv7p063-078Gardner352.pdf ↩︎

Arkes, H. R., & Blumer, C. (1985). The psychology of sunk cost. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes , 35 (1), 124–140. ↩︎

Levitt, S. D. (2016). Heads or tails: The impact of a coin toss on major life decisions and subsequent happiness (Working Paper No. 22487). Retrieved from National Bureau of Economic Research website: https://www.nber.org/papers/w22487 ↩︎

Luis P. Prieto

Luis P. is a Ramón y Cajal research fellow at the University of Valladolid (Spain), investigating learning technologies, especially learning analytics. He is also an avid learner about doctoral education and supervision, and he's the main author at the A Happy PhD blog.

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How to Know When It's Time to Quit Your Ph.D. Program

Here are some pointers on when to stay in a Ph.D. program and when to drop out.

When to Quit Your Ph.D. Program

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Alumni of Ph.D. programs say one valid reason to exit a Ph.D. program is if having a Ph.D. is not necessary for you to achieve your professional aspirations.

Earning a doctorate of any sort is difficult. After years of study, candidates must pass a qualification exam, write a lengthy dissertation or complete a capstone project, and defend their research and conclusions in front of a panel.

And unlike most other degree programs, research doctorates - commonly known as Doctor of Philosophy, or Ph.D., degrees - frequently do not have precise parameters on how long they take to finish.

Uncertainty surrounding when graduation day will arrive is one of the challenging aspects of these programs, and Ph.D. students often struggle to plan for the future when they don't have an end date in mind, says Adam Ruben, who has a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.

"It's so indeterminate, how long it will last," says Ruben, who wrote a satirical book called "Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School."

"People ask you how long it will be until you graduate, and most of the time you tell them you have no idea," he adds. "It's not really until that last six-month stretch or so, when you have a thesis defense date scheduled, and you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, that you know how long it is going to be."

Students who have started to regret their decision to enter a Ph.D. program should carefully evaluate whether it makes sense to stay in graduate school, experts say.

"Sometimes, openly considering quitting as a real option can help you to reconnect with why you started the PhD in the first place, and why you would like to stay," Katherine Firth, an academic adviser at the University of Melbourne in Australia, who has a Ph.D. and supervises Ph.D. students, wrote in an email.

Noncompletion and Academic Delays

Many people who enroll in Ph.D. programs leave those programs without Ph.D. degrees or take longer than eight years to finish their studies.

Ph.D. completion statistics from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences reveal that only 42% of humanities Ph.D. students in the U.S. who began pursuing their degrees sometime between 1996 and 2006 had doctorates eight years later.

Research on Ph.D. program attrition indicates that conflict between Ph.D. students and their academic advisers increases the odds that students will leave grad school. Frustration that arises while coming up with ideas for a dissertation or capstone, completing that project and defending it can be a major source of stress for Ph.D. students, many of whom leave their programs after completing doctoral coursework but before finalizing and successfully defending their work, research shows.

Additionally, Ph.D. students often express a need for additional funding, mental health services and professional mentoring.

Ph.D. program alumni often say they were mistreated by faculty during graduate school. A global survey of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers at academic science institutions, published in May 2021, revealed that 84% of current and former science Ph.D. students and postdocs felt that an academic supervisor had treated them abusively.

"Cases where people are facing harassment, bullying or exclusion for example, might mean a person decides the only safe option is to quit, but a better academic culture would let them stay and complete," says Firth.

Reasons to Leave a Ph.D. Program

When a ph.d. won't help you get where you want to go.

Lt. Col. Robert Solano, a U.S. Army aviator and commander for the federal Defense Contract Management Agency, exited a distance learning, predominantly online Ph.D. program in aviation science several years ago. He realized he could advance in the military and thrive as an entrepreneur and investor without a doctorate.

"You don't need Ph.D. behind your name to show the world your self-worth and the value that you bring," he adds. "I wish I'd understood that sooner in the process."

Solano, who was a part-time Ph.D. student with a full-time military career and military scholarships, had acquired around $15,000 of debt to finance his Ph.D. studies, he says.

"One of my biggest deciding factors was that I felt like the dissertation process didn't allow me to be creative and pursue research that was going to be really meaningful and impactful in my career and my life," Solano says, adding that he submitted three dissertation research proposals that were rejected. "I could not imagine doing that for the next two to four years of my life, struggling with a dissertation board, and I think that was really the biggest factor for me."

When Your Well-Being Is at Risk

Experts say it's worth considering pausing or ending your studies if they are significantly interfering with other important aspects of your life, such as your family, health and relationships.

For Solano, the volume of Ph.D. reading and writing assignments he had to complete often felt overwhelming when combined with his professional duties. "I was declining in happiness and declining in health," he says.

Solano also worried that time spent on doctoral studies would take away from time with the woman who later became his wife, he says.

"If I could have done one thing differently, it would have been paying closer attention to that and not sacrificing those two things - my happiness and health," he says.

When You Find Another Way

Sometimes Ph.D. students receive job offers for their dream positions during their Ph.D. studies. In those cases, "they might choose to leave because they have already achieved their goals," Firth says.

Another valid reason to leave a Ph.D. program, she says, is if a student discovers that the actual experience of obtaining a Ph.D. "is not what they signed up for, and it doesn’t suit them after all."

What to Do if You're Considering Quitting

Ask for advice from someone other than your thesis adviser.

Certain problems with Ph.D. programs, such as disagreements and misunderstandings with advisers, may be addressed by seeking help from various faculty members or administrators at your grad school and outside experts who aren't on your thesis committee, experts say.

"There are other folks that (students) can go to for help and perspective, on and off campus," says Jennifer Polk, a Ph.D. recipient who provides career consulting to Ph.D. students and alumni via her consulting firm, "From Ph.D. to Life."

Ph.D. students often feel disempowered and isolated, Polk says, but "if the decision is whether to quit or not, that actually gives you power."

"If you're willing to walk away, you have power, so you can go and talk to other professors," she adds. "You can go and talk to the chair of the department. ... You can escalate to the graduate dean. There might be other offices you can go to before you burn it all down."

Firth notes that sometimes changes to a Ph.D. program – such as a switch from one adviser to another or a change to a thesis committee – can address a Ph.D. student's concerns and negate the desire to quit. Transitioning to part-time study or taking a leave of absence could make sense, and so could shifting between locations if a university has multiple campuses, she adds.

"Sometimes people think they have to quit, but they could seek out other adjustments," Firth wrote. It's also important for Ph.D. students in distress to evaluate whether their "current problems might go away with time or are here to stay," she says.

Consider Whether You Are Being Too Self-Critical

It is common for Ph.D. students to have a crisis of confidence in the middle of their studies, but Ruben cautions that doubts about personal competence may simply be impostor syndrome in disguise.

Though skepticism is frequently beneficial when conducting academic research, it can become destructive if it compromises someone's faith in themselves, he says.

"The problem is if you apply that skepticism to your own abilities and you apply it too harshly and say, 'I'm no good. I'm the worst person here. I don't deserve to be here,'" Ruben says. "You're going to feel terrible and you may also make some decisions that you wouldn't necessarily have made if you had a better sense of your own abilities and interests."

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Thinking about quitting your PhD? Maybe that’s the right decision

Sometimes not completing a PhD is the rational choice, and having open conversations around it helps stop people feeling isolated and uncertain, says Katherine Firth

Katherine Firth

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We know that 30 to 50 per cent of PhD candidates don’t complete globally. Countries such as the UK and Australia, where about a quarter of students don’t finish their PhD, actually congratulate themselves on their efficient completions. While my day job involves trying to help more people finish on time, I also know that choosing to stop can sometimes be the right decision.

People stop their PhD for a variety of reasons, including to pursue job opportunities, to focus on external life priorities or simply because they lose interest. Over the past two years, there have been even more disruptions than usual: researchers haven’t been able to travel or do fieldwork; they have had to give up in-person conferences and avoid busy labs and libraries; they got sick or the pandemic exacerbated existing health conditions; or their priorities changed.

Supervisors, candidates and universities need to be more open to having conversations about quitting. Why do candidates choose to quit, how many people do so and what happens to them afterwards? It’s almost impossible to get detailed, accurate data about completion rates. People who quit leave the university and, therefore, we often don’t see what they do next. If we don’t talk openly about stopping, people who are considering it feel isolated and uncertain. But it isn’t rare, and supervisors are in a privileged position to recognise the signs early – and then, as appropriate, support their candidates as they successfully navigate away from the PhD.    

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Academics don’t always like to acknowledge it, but your health, family, career and community are more important than any scholarly accolade. People generally think about quitting for reasons including family responsibilities, mental health or their financial situation. Or they choose to leave because other opportunities come up. These can be rational, practical choices with sensible long-term outcomes.

After all, graduating with a doctorate is not the only pathway towards contributing to knowledge, discovering new information or being recognised as an expert. That incomplete doctorate might be suitable for a patent or to spin out into an industry application. Perhaps it makes sense to publish your findings in an academic article – or a public-facing book. Similarly, the skills that candidates have already developed in pursuing their research might be an asset in their job beyond academia.

It’s important for candidates to know that not finishing a PhD doesn’t make you a failure, and it doesn’t mean you’ll never have the opportunity to do a research degree in the future. Sometimes, now is not the right time or you’re not in the right field. You wouldn’t be the first person to return to academia after a decade in industry, or when your circumstances changed, or when your research project was safe to pursue again. The past two years have been particularly challenging for researchers who had to totally change their planned research projects. When it is just not possible to pursue the PhD you signed up for, it can be a valid decision to do something else instead.

However, I wouldn’t want to suggest that the only two options are gritting your teeth or leaving. Universities increasingly have opportunities for flexibility or support, which candidates should explore. Some adjustments are quite common if you ask around. It’s often possible to press pause on your candidature, take a leave of absence or change to part-time study. Work with the equity team or researcher development team to improve accessibility or get support. It might also be helpful to negotiate changes in the supervision team – realigning it to better support your methods, specialisation or preferences.

There are more drastic options, too. It’s possible to convert your PhD to a master’s by research. Candidates might even explore taking their project to another faculty, another university or another country where it fits better. Leaving your current situation might mean losing out on your funding or burning bridges or hurting feelings. It tends to require a lot of extra time, effort and work. It’s an extreme option, but if you’re already thinking about leaving, you are already considering radical action.

I recently wrote a book with Liam Connell and Peta Freestone, Your PhD Survival Guide , based on Thesis Boot Camp , our award-winning programme for helping get people over the thesis finish line. In our experience working with thousands of doctoral candidates around the world, having non-judgemental conversations about quitting frees people from having to pretend that everything is fine.

Supervisors, peers and mentors can also help identify what changes are possible to make or support candidates to weigh up their options and make a considered decision about whether to carry on or put down the doctorate, for now or for good, and pursue other priorities. PhD researchers are smart, resilient, persistent problem-solvers, and they contribute in so many ways to our world, whether or not they gain the title “doctor”.

Katherine Firth is lecturer in research education and development at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, and a founding member of the Thesis Boot Camp team. Her most recent book on doctoral success is Your PhD Survival Guide: Planning, Writing and Succeeding in your Final Year with Liam Connell and Peta Freestone.

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Three questions to ask yourself before quitting your PhD

It’s normal for PhD candidates to consider abandoning their studies. Here’s how to take emotions out of the decision.

Gemma Conroy

Credit: Jacobs Stock Photography/Getty

28 July 2020

Jacobs Stock Photography/Getty

Amid lab shutdowns and cancelled fieldwork, many PhD students are facing tough choices regarding the future of their research career.

Roughly 45% of PhD students expect to disengage with their studies within the next six months due to financial hardship related to the pandemic, according to a new survey of 1,020 doctoral candidates in Australia.

While walking away without a doctorate will be the right choice for some – and perhaps the only choice for those with inadequate financial support - it’s important to ask the right questions before making a decision.

“Students need to separate the fake and real reasons for leaving,” says Shane Huntington, deputy director of strategy and partnerships at the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences in Australia.

“Some of the most common reasons students quit have nothing to do with their ability to do a PhD.”

Below are three questions that can help a candidate decide whether to quit or continue with their doctoral studies.

1. Are your problems solvable?

Kate Kenfield

Shane Huntington

A disengaged supervisor, toxic lab culture, or a string of failed experiments might feel like reason enough to quit your PhD, but these are not insurmountable problems.

Huntington suggests switching labs if poor supervision or an overly competitive environment are causing you distress.

“I try to get students to determine whether their reasons for wanting to quit are really about them, and not just due to systemic problems. My advice is to map out what the problems are and explore how they can be solved.”

Struggling with specific tasks, such as writing, isn’t a sign to start drafting a withdrawal letter, says Inger Mewburn, director of research training at the Australian National University in Canberra.

“This is a fixable problem,” says Mewburn, who edits a popular blog called The Thesis Whisperer .

“But if you just aren’t enjoying what you’re doing each day, then those feelings need to be critically examined.”

2. Have you talked to someone about it?

It can be difficult for students to admit that they’re struggling, but reaching out to supervisors and other lab members can offer some much-needed perspective, says Frey Fyfe.

“There is a lot of pressure to only convey the positive,” says Fyfe, who quit their PhD in volcanology at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom in 2018, and has not returned to academia.

“I wish I had spoken to someone in my research group, as pretty much every PhD student wants to quit at some point.”

Huntington recalls that a quick chat with his PhD supervisor saved him from quitting his own PhD in physics in the late 1990s. The discussion led to weekly meetings where other lab members could help him find solutions to his experimental problems.

“My supervisor told me that most students want to quit at least three times, which sort of gave me permission to feel the way I did,” says Huntington.

He says the weekly meeting helped him feel supported. “We were able to work through the low points.”

Fyfe says that viewing a supervisor as a fellow collaborator, rather than someone to win approval from, can make it easier to communicate more openly.

“It’s not a one-way street,” says Fyfe. “You need to be able to communicate what’s going right and what isn’t.”

3. Does your PhD fit with your long-term goals?

Inger Mewburn

Embarking on a PhD is a major career milestone for many students, but it’s important to consider how it will further your aspirations in the long-run, says Mewburn.

For example, if a candidate wants to end up in a research-focussed job that doesn’t involve teaching, gaining experience from an industry placement could be a more strategic investment than spending years on a PhD.

It’s also important for candidates to make a realistic assessment of the job prospects in their field, particularly in the wake of pandemic-related hiring freezes and job losses .

“You’ve got to explore your options,” says Mewburn. “Is there even going to be a job in your field when you finish your PhD?”

A common mistake students make when deciding whether to quit or continue is focussing on the sacrifices they have made, instead of considering where they want to head next.

“People often think of the past, rather than the future. There’s a lot of guilt about what they’re giving up [if they quit],” says Huntington. “But it’s a myth, because you are not giving up on all the hard work, you’re just taking it in a different direction.”

Whether choosing to quit or stay, it ultimately comes down to feeling confident about your underlying reasons, says Huntington.

“Students should have some power over their destiny. Make the right decision on the right basis, and feel good about the choice you’ve made.”

‘You have to suffer for your PhD’: poor mental health among doctoral researchers – new research

Lecturer in Social Sciences, University of Westminster

Disclosure statement

Cassie Hazell has received funding from the Office for Students.

University of Westminster provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.

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PhD students are the future of research, innovation and teaching at universities and beyond – but this future is at risk. There are already indications from previous research that there is a mental health crisis brewing among PhD researchers.

My colleagues and I studied the mental health of PhD researchers in the UK and discovered that, compared with working professionals, PhD students were more likely to meet the criteria for clinical levels of depression and anxiety. They were also more likely to have significantly more severe symptoms than the working-professional control group.

We surveyed 3,352 PhD students, as well as 1,256 working professionals who served as a matched comparison group . We used the questionnaires used by NHS mental health services to assess several mental health symptoms.

More than 40% of PhD students met the criteria for moderate to severe depression or anxiety. In contrast, 32% of working professionals met these criteria for depression, and 26% for anxiety.

The groups reported an equally high risk of suicide. Between 33% and 35% of both PhD students and working professionals met the criteria for “suicide risk”. The figures for suicide risk might be so high because of the high rates of depression found in our sample.

We also asked PhD students what they thought about their own and their peers’ mental health. More than 40% of PhD students believed that experiencing a mental health problem during your PhD is the norm. A similar number (41%) told us that most of their PhD colleagues had mental health problems.

Just over a third of PhD students had considered ending their studies altogether for mental health reasons.

There is clearly a high prevalence of mental health problems among PhD students, beyond those rates seen in the general public. Our results indicate a problem with the current system of PhD study – or perhaps with academic more widely. Academia notoriously encourages a culture of overwork and under-appreciation.

This mindset is present among PhD students. In our focus groups and surveys for other research , PhD students reported wearing their suffering as a badge of honour and a marker that they are working hard enough rather than too much. One student told us :

“There is a common belief … you have to suffer for the sake of your PhD, if you aren’t anxious or suffering from impostor syndrome, then you aren’t doing it "properly”.

We explored the potential risk factors that could lead to poor mental health among PhD students and the things that could protect their mental health.

Financial insecurity was one risk factor. Not all researchers receive funding to cover their course and personal expenses, and once their PhD is complete, there is no guarantee of a job. The number of people studying for a PhD is increasing without an equivalent increase in postdoctoral positions .

Another risk factor was conflict in their relationship with their academic supervisor . An analogy offered by one of our PhD student collaborators likened the academic supervisor to a “sword” that you can use to defeat the “PhD monster”. If your weapon is ineffective, then it makes tackling the monster a difficult – if not impossible – task. Supervisor difficulties can take many forms. These can include a supervisor being inaccessible, overly critical or lacking expertise.

A lack of interests or relationships outside PhD study, or the presence of stressors in students’ personal lives were also risk factors.

We have also found an association between poor mental health and high levels of perfectionism, impostor syndrome (feeling like you don’t belong or deserve to be studying for your PhD) and the sense of being isolated .

Better conversations

Doctoral research is not all doom and gloom. There are many students who find studying for a PhD to be both enjoyable and fulfilling , and there are many examples of cooperative and nurturing research environments across academia.

Studying for a PhD is an opportunity for researchers to spend several years learning and exploring a topic they are passionate about. It is a training programme intended to equip students with the skills and expertise to further the world’s knowledge. These examples of good practice provide opportunities for us to learn about what works well and disseminate them more widely.

The wellbeing and mental health of PhD students is a subject that we must continue to talk about and reflect on. However, these conversations need to happen in a way that considers the evidence, offers balance, and avoids perpetuating unhelpful myths.

Indeed, in our own study, we found that the percentage of PhD students who believed their peers had mental health problems and that poor mental health was the norm, exceeded the rates of students who actually met diagnostic criteria for a common mental health problem . That is, PhD students may be overestimating the already high number of their peers who experienced mental health problems.

We therefore need to be careful about the messages we put out on this topic, as we may inadvertently make the situation worse. If messages are too negative, we may add to the myth that all PhD students experience mental health problems and help maintain the toxicity of academic culture.

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Factors Affecting PhD Student Success

Sonia n. young.

1 Department of Physical Therapy, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY, USA

WILLIAM R. VANWYE

2 Doctor of Physical Therapy Program, Gannon University, Ruskin, FL, USA

MARK A. SCHAFER

3 School of Kinesiology, Recreation & Sport, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY, USA

TROY A. ROBERTSON

4 School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY, USA

5 Educational Leadership Doctoral Program, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY, USA

ASHLEY VINCENT POORE

Attrition rates for Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programs in the United States across the fields of engineering, life sciences, social sciences, mathematics and physical sciences, and humanities range from 36 – 51%. A qualitative literature review indicates certain factors may impact the PhD student’s success in completing the program and degree. The factors focused on in this review include the student-advisor relationship, mentorship, and the dissertation process. Although kinesiology doctoral programs are evaluated and ranked by the National Academy of Kinesiology, little information is available exploring kinesiology PhD student success. General information on PhD student success may, therefore, be valuable to kinesiology PhD students and programs.

INTRODUCTION

Results from 2006 ( 31 ), 2007 ( 30 ), 2011 ( 28 ), and 2015 ( 33 ) provide evidence that the National Academy of Kinesiology (formerly the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education) evaluates and ranks kinesiology doctoral programs in the United States (U.S.) every five years. However, ranking information and data regarding the attrition rate of kinesiology PhD students and factors that may impact student attainment of the degree is not included. Although not specific to kinesiology, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) attrition data is available through The Council of Graduate Schools who performed a quantitative analysis of 30 institutions and nearly 50,000 students across five fields (i.e., engineering, life sciences, social sciences, mathematics and physical sciences, and humanities; 6). The 10-year PhD completion rate was 64%, 63%, 56%, 55%, and 49% for engineering, life sciences, social sciences, mathematics and physical sciences, and humanities, respectively ( 6 ). This relates to the field of kinesiology as it is classified as a life science by the Council of Graduate Schools ( 7 ).

Across the country, kinesiology programs typically do not have a standardized core curriculum and the outcomes of each program are established by the teaching and research expertise of the faculty. However, common courses such as research design and statistics are included in kinesiology PhD curriculums ( 26 ). Each program varies in the courses offered and amount and type of mentoring and advising of PhD students dependent on program faculty. Confusion also exists in the definition of the terms advising and mentoring in regard to PhD students. In a study by Titus and Ballou in 2013, 3,534 researchers, who had received a National Institute of Health (NIH) grant and had at least one PhD student, completed a survey to determine views of the role of advising and mentoring in PhD students ( 32 ). The participants were asked to rate and classify 19 activities as advisor only, mentor only, both, or neither ( 32 ). The activities of chairing a student’s dissertation committee and providing financial support were identified as the highest “advisor only” activities while teaching life or social skills and preparing contracts or grant proposals rated highest in “mentor only” activities ( 32 ). However, results indicated that most faculty members view their roles as mentor and advisor almost synonymously ( 32 ). As these terms can be used interchangeably, the authors will use the term mentoring or mentorship to encompass all advising and mentoring activities with PhD students. Titus and Ballou ( 32 ) also found that, while the majority of faculty supervising PhD students had training in human or animal subjects’ protection (89.6%) and responsible conduct of research (72.3%), relatively few had formal training on how to mentor (27.7%) or advise (25.4%) PhD students. Much of the mentorship therefore is dictated by the faculty’s personal doctoral experience and not typically from any formal training. Based on the amount of experience and training a mentor possesses, as well as the level of involvement in the PhD student experience, students may have vastly different experiences and outcomes such as completion of the program ( 8 ) and opportunities for professional development ( 20 ).

While little data is available on PhD student attrition in the area of kinesiology, research has indicated that multiple reasons contribute to PhD students in general not completing their programs ( 9 , 14 , 16 ). One of those reasons is navigating the dissertation process and following through to completion. In regard to the dissertation, it is typically up to the student to be intrinsically motivated and resourceful to manage the process and ensure the dissertation process persists until completion ( 9 ). Involvement of the faculty mentor in the dissertation process varies and may be dependent on the motivation and capabilities of the student. Faculty mentoring can play a monumental role in ensuring that doctorial students are successful throughout the coursework, dissertation process, and professional development. Russell advocates for kinesiology PhD programs to focus on developing professional stewardship in students ( 25 ). Stewardship includes teaching students how to: interact as a professional, become involved in and promote the profession, maintain ethical standards, and become autonomous researchers ( 13 , 24 , 25 ). Understanding reasons for attrition in PhD students can lead to a plan to mitigate barriers.

Overall, there has been limited research examining kinesiology PhD student success ( 20 , 25 ). Therefore, examining the existing evidence regarding PhD student success would be of benefit for kinesiology students and faculty alike by examining how to ensure successful completion of the program and determine any potential barriers. A qualitative literature review was performed by four of the authors with one additional author providing first-hand insight into the field of PhD level kinesiology programs. One author performed a search on PubMed using terms such as “kinesiology doctoral student success” and “kinesiology doctoral student” which garnered only one pertinent article. Three authors also performed an expanded electronic search on general PhD or doctoral student success, persistence, advising/mentoring, and attrition. The articles were selected if they related to kinesiology or general PhD success. The articles were then read and analyzed resulting in three recurring themes. For this review, PhD success was interpreted to mean successful completion of the degree and dissertation process. Attrition, in this review, is interpreted to mean students who did not complete the degree and or dissertation process and included those who dropped out during the program/coursework or those who finished the program/coursework but not the dissertation. In this review, the authors will discuss the following commonly cited issues affecting PhD student success: the student-advisor relationship, mentorship, and the dissertation process ( Table 1 ). In addition, the authors will provide practical recommendations to address these issues to aid in success. By addressing the potential factors that may impact student success of completing the dissertation and program, administration, faculty, and students can have conversations that may lead to a better understanding of the process and address potential issues.

Summary of potential factors influencing PhD student success.

POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO PHD STUDENT SUCCESS

Student-advisor relationship.

A critical factor in PhD student success (i.e., attaining the degree) is the student-advisor relationship ( 11 ). In a qualitative study by Knox et al., 19 psychology faculty members were interviewed about their student-advisor relationship with PhD students ( 18 ). Results indicated that it is not uncommon for doctoral advisors to adopt a mentoring style based on their own experience as a PhD student ( 18 ). Furthermore, they found a lack of training or preparation by the instructional institution leaves the task of acquiring mentoring skills to the practicing faculty member ( 18 ). This is in agreement with Golde and Dore who found that there appears to be a lack of emphasis programmatically on doctoral advising and mentoring ( 10 ).

An investigation by Mansson and Myers the authors found that advisors and advisees have similar ideas of what make a successful relationship ( 19 ). In this study, 636 doctoral and 141 faculty advisors from around the United States were surveyed about the mentoring relationship by using the Mentoring and Communication Support Scale, the Academic Mentoring Behavior Scale, and the Advisee Relational Maintenance Scale ( 19 ). This study found that advisees can positively influence the advisor-advisee relationship with 6 behaviors: showing appreciation, completing assignments in a timely manner, being courteous, protecting the reputation of the advisor, using humor in interactions with the advisor, and consulting the advisor about their individual goals ( 19 ). This was also supported by a qualitative study by Mazerolle et al. in 2015 in which 28 students completing a PhD in varied programs, including kinesiology and exercise science, were interviewed to determine their perception of mentoring from their advisors ( 20 ). The study found that most PhD students had positive relationships with their advisors with students founded on trust and communication ( 20 ). The students in this study further identified themes that must exist in a healthy mentoring relationship: encouraging independence and collaboration in a supportive environment, reciprocal relationship, and providing chances for professional development ( 20 ).

In the interest of improving PhD student success, some studies suggested that university and program-specific officials should evaluate how they can best provide structured and consistent mentorship, including training/mentoring for advisors ( 14 , 18 ). These mentorship strategies must be structured to consider that each student begins a program with different skill sets, levels of intrinsic motivation, and resilience. Harding-DeKam et al. postulated that initial steps for advisors, when the student initiates the program, included asking students what they intend to accomplish during the doctoral program and what area(s) they foresee needing the most support ( 15 ). The authors further suggest that advisors should schedule purposeful meetings to foster a relationship of open communication and trust, as well as using this time to provide explicit expectations ( 15 ). In a study of graduate students from library and information science, public affairs, higher education, and a variety of doctoral programs in the humanities and social sciences by Grady et al., the authors devised additional goals of regular meetings including: 1) timeline planning for degree completion and 2) possible funding available during and throughout their coursework ( 14 ). Some evidence offered advice on how to foster an improved relationship between the advisor and the PhD student but did not offer data that indicated whether or not the positive relationship impacted success.

While the evidence demonstrates that a healthy mentoring relationship is beneficial for the PhD student, there is conflicting evidence that this relationship has a direct impact on attrition. Golde et al. performed a qualitative analysis of 58 individuals from the humanities (English and history) and the science (biology and geology) who did not complete a doctoral program at a major American research institution to determine reasons for attrition ( 11 ). Major themes indicated that students feeling they were a mismatch and in isolation emerged ( 11 ). One of the areas of mismatch was in the student-advisor relationship and was cited as a reason for attrition ( 11 ). This is contrast to a qualitative study by Devos et al. who interviewed 21 former PhD students in Belgium (8 completing and 13 who did not) from science and technology, social sciences, and health sciences disciplines) to explore the students’ experiences that led to completion or attrition of the degree ( 8 ). The results indicated that while the supervisor support had a large impact, the quality of the relationship did not necessarily predict the success of the student in completing ( 8 ).

In summary, the student-advisor relationship can have both positive and negative influences ( Table 1 ). Recommendations to foster a positive student-advisor relationship include establishing mutual trust and clear communication early in the program including setting expectations, goals, and deadlines. The advisor should be supportive but also provide opportunities for development and encourage independence. The student should be proactive in the process of developing and maintaining a collaborative relationship rather than relying solely on the advisor to perform these tasks. Finally, administrators can also assist by providing an emphasis on advising tasks.

Mentorship plays a significant role in developing PhD students into professionals ( 9 ). Therefore, the advisor can also serve as a mentor to help the transition from student to professional ( 14 ). A study by Golde and Dore contends mentors are pivotal, not only for the PhD student’s education, but also for the development of the student’s desired career path ( 12 ). This includes exposing students to teaching, research, and service, but also includes helping students navigate professional subtleties, such as office politics ( 25 ).

An investigation of graduate student stress and strain found great value when mentors advised students transitioning into their new position being that there are many new added responsibilities beyond the pedagogical aspects of degree attainment ( 14 ). This is essential for PhD students, who often have many added responsibilities and subsequent stressors beyond the pedagogical aspects of the degree. For example, graduate students are often required to take on novel tasks beyond their studies (e.g., research, teach and/or oversee undergraduates), without the status, resources, or experience of a professional ( 14 ). Added responsibilities without support can lead to role conflict and overload, possibly affecting mental health and student success ( 14 ). A study that looked at the mental health of 146 graduate students in Brazil, who had been seen at a university mental health clinic, found that depression and anxiety were the main diagnoses reported (44%) and caused 4.5% of the students to be suspended from their programs ( 22 ). As mental health disorders are present in the graduate student population, advisors should be aware of this and may advise students on mental health resources.

It is also important to consider the advisor’s professional background and experience. A study by Carpenter et al. surveyed 21 doctoral faculty members of varying academic ranks in the field of communication, from a representative 14 universities, and revealed four main areas of support mentors provide: career, psychosocial, research, and intellectual ( 4 ). Of particular interest were the factors contributing to how this advisement was delivered ( 4 ). For example, lower ranking faculty provided mentorship that was more psychosocially-based ( 4 ). The authors speculated that as newer faculty tend to relate easier to students as they are not as far removed from their own graduate studies experience ( 4 ). On the other hand, the authors found that higher-ranking professors tend to provide more career and intellectual mentorship than their lower-ranking colleagues ( 4 ). However, tenured professors were less likely to collaborate on research compared to assistant professors ( 4 ). The authors of the study speculate that assistant professors are more inclined to collaborate with graduate students on research projects being that they are working towards tenure and promotion ( 4 ). Effective mentorship of the PhD student provides an avenue of development of professional behaviors and understanding of professional roles. This supportive environment may contribute to successful completion of a degree ( 4 ). Quality advising indicators of “number of doctoral advisees, faculty with at least one doctoral advisee, doctoral advisees who graduate, faculty with at least one doctoral advisee graduated, graduates who found employment within the field” were once used by the National Academy of Kinesiology in the five-year reports to rank and evaluate doctoral programs in kinesiology ( 33 ). Specific data related to these indicators for each school was not published, however. Additionally, in the latest report in 2015, the faculty indicators of total number and number of advisees that graduated were removed and employment was moved to a student indicator ( 33 ). The removal of these indicators, as well as the lack of specific data other than rank of the program, makes it difficult to gauge quality of mentorship as it relates to successful completion of a degree in kinesiology PhD programs.

Mentorship can also have a potential positive and negative influence on PhD student success ( Table 1 ). Recommendations for effective mentorship include providing students with exposure to and guidance in research, teaching, service and office politics. Additionally, the mentor should model professional behaviors and provide advice on mental health resources if needed.

Dissertation Process

The dissertation process may impact a PhD student’s success in completing the degree. Ali and Kohun divide the PhD program into four stages: Stage 1 – Preadmission to Enrollment, Stage II – First Year through Candidacy, Stage III- Second Year to Candidacy, and Stage IV – Dissertation Stage ( 1 ). Throughout theses stages, the student must build a committee and find a chair, formulate a research proposal, manage scheduling and time deadlines, and complete the dissertation. This process is often performed in relative isolation which can impact completion ( 1 ). A researcher interviewed 58 individuals from 4 departments in one university in the fields of history, biology, geology, and English who did not complete a PhD program and found isolation to be a major theme of the reason for attrition ( 11 ). Alternative dissertation models such as use of the cohort model and a lock-step process ( 11 ), the companion dissertation ( 21 , 23 ), and the supervision across disciplines model ( 5 ) have been proposed to mitigate the feelings of isolation.

Building a committee and finding a chair can complicate the dissertation process ( 15 , 27 ). Difficulties can arise from not knowing the pertinent questions to ask, nor understanding one’s options when selecting a chair and committee members. Spaulding and Rockinson-Szapkiw advise to carefully select a chair and committee that work well together and with you ( 27 ). Beatty found that lack of effective communication with the committee and chair can also be a concern ( 3 ). This ineffective communication can lead to the supervisor being unaware of the amount and type of feedback that the student needs or lead to ambiguity about authorship and writing responsibilities ( 3 ). Another challenge noted by Beatty and Harding-DeKam et al. is selecting a topic that is unique, interesting, and relevant ( 3 , 15 ). Beatty further reports that PhD students should consider the focus of the topic area, whether the research is feasible and congruent with the committee chair’s expertise, and whether the methodology is appropriate ( 3 ). It has also been suggested that students start considering dissertation topics early at the start of the program to narrow the focus of their research ( 3 ). This may benefit students if assignments throughout the program can serve as preliminary work for the final dissertation ( 3 , 15 ). Lastly, time management skills may impact dissertation completion. The PhD student must be responsible and willing to take on tasks and to complete them in a timely manner ( 17 ). It has been proposed that PhD students should set deadlines and work continuously, avoiding taking extended breaks ( 2 , 13 ). As time is a critical factor, scheduling time for research and writing may keep the student focused ( 2 , 12 , 13 ). Harding-DeKam suggests that PhD advisors utilize structured meetings where what the student knows is analyzed against what the student needs to learn ( 15 ). The student is then given individualized and explicit expectations and deadlines to complete assignments depending on the stage of the process that he or she is in ( 15 ).

The dissertation process offers the PhD student an opportunity to develop critical thinking skills as well as positive attributes and behaviors needed as a professional. This challenging period of growth from student to professional may have barriers that will need to be overcome to be successful. Unfortunately, however, some students are unable to overcome these barriers. Completing the dissertation can be a major hurdle in PhD student success and influence attrition ( 23 ). These barriers were also noted in studies related to doctoral degrees in the field of education where when the student is no longer in the classroom, there is a loss of support from peers and instructors giving an opportunity to develop independence ( 15 , 27 ). This loss of structure can lead to apprehension and feelings of isolation, with the dissertation often cited as the most isolating portion of doctoral training ( 2 , 12 , 13 , 21 ). In addition, lack of structure as an all but dissertation (ABD) PhD student may lead to feelings of isolation and a loss of focus resulting in the student never completing his/her dissertation. This is congruent with a study by Gardner who interviewed 60 PhD students and 34 faculty members to determine perceived attributes for attrition from these stakeholders ( 10 ). The results of this study indicated that faculty found “student lacking” (including a lack of focus and motivation) to be the most identified reason for attrition at 53% ( 10 ). Both groups identified “personal problems” as reasons for PhD student attrition (15% faculty and 34% student) ( 10 ). Ali and Kohun found social isolation to be a major factor in attrition of the doctoral program and developed a four-stage framework to combat this ( 1 , 2 ). Some of the highlights from the proposed framework included a structured orientation, formal social events, a structured advisor selection, collaboration, and face-to-face communication ( 2 ). Kinesiology students also need structure and support. A study examining the socialization experiences of kinesiology PhD students by utilizing a qualitative approach found that they needed both social and resource support to be successful with difficulty noted most during times of transition – such as from the coursework phase to the dissertation phase ( 24 ).

Multiple alternative models for the dissertation process have been suggested. One alternative model is the cohort approach with a lock-step program. A study by Ali and Kohum described a PhD program of Information Systems and communications at Robert Morris University (RMU) that has a higher graduation rate (90%) and time of completion (3 years) than the national average ( 1 ). The RMU program utilizes a three-year lock-step program in which a strict schedule of community dinners, debriefings, presentation of proposals to students and faculty, and individual meetings with each member of the students’ committee is required to keep the PhD student on track ( 1 ). Additionally, the PhD students presented their progress to others in their cohort and elicited feedback throughout the process from development to completion allowing them to find issues and make modifications quicker ( 1 ). This method was also noted to decrease these PhD students’ feelings of isolation ( 1 ). The use of a companion dissertation is another alternative model for the dissertation process that has been described in the education ( 21 ) and nursing ( 23 ) fields which may decrease feelings of isolation. In a companion dissertation, two PhD students work together on the same project ( 23 ). Essential components are sharing a dissertation chair, a common research agenda, and a collaborative completion of the research and writing ( 21 , 23 ). While Robinson and Tagher found that this approach improved interactions between PhD students and, subsequently, degree completion ( 23 ), limited evidence on the number of schools utilizing this method was found. Limitations were also noted with the companion dissertation including co-writing taking longer, the dissertation seen as less rigorous, and tension between students to meet all deadlines ( 23 ). Thus, this dissertation approach may not be feasible in the field of kinesiology without further evidence of success. Additionally, Carter-Veale et al proposed another alternative dissertation model that utilized faculty mentors from multiple departments to give additional support and collaboration ( 5 ). However, limited information is available on the effectiveness of this proposed model or the number of schools utilizing this multi-department collaboration. Overall, the goal of these alternative methods is to decrease feelings of isolation by improving connectivity, collaboration, and communication between students, their peers, and their advisors and mentors ( 5 , 23 ). While the dissertation process can impact a PhD student’s completion of a degree, effective communication with the dissertation committee, early and relevant topic selection, effective time management skills, and adoption of alternative models may positively impact this process, but more evidence is needed.

As with the other areas identified, the dissertation process has positive and negative consequences on completion ( Table 1 ). Recommendations to improve the dissertation process include choosing a topic at the start of the program and scheduling times for research and writing with set deadlines. As isolation and ambiguity in the process can impact completion, mentors should ensure the students understand the dissertation process early in the program, be available to consult, and encourage the student to ask questions. Likewise, the student should take a proactive approach to understanding the process and seek help when needed.

A review of the literature suggests repeated themes of potential factors that impact PhD student success in completing the program and degree: the student-advisor relationship, mentorship, and the dissertation process. As limited evidence is available regarding factors of success in PhD students specific to kinesiology, this general information gives insight to potential factors that may impact kinesiology PhD student success as well.

The student-advisor relationship can positively influence PhD student success by incorporating structured meetings, communication, and training for the advisors may improve the student-advisor relationship and therefore impact student success. This information may be useful to advisors so that they can help students better understand and navigate the program, as well as assist students in setting goals for meeting dissertation timeline deadlines.

Mentorship may also have a potential impact on PhD student success. Having a mentor to provide critical and timely information offers support to PhD students as they face the challenges listed in this review. Additionally, a mentor provides an opportunity for modeling and instruction on professional behaviors needed by the PhD student. A student could also find a mentor that is outside the department as in the Dissertation House Model where PhD students utilize multiple mentors across many disciplines to help supervise and assist in a cohort model ( 5 ).

The dissertation process should not be overlooked as an impactful experience on PhD student success. Evidence suggests selecting a chair and committee, building a topic, and managing the process and deadlines can impact success. Choosing a dissertation chair and committee was found to be a critical aspect to student success. To navigate this process, students are encouraged to proactively ask questions to understand the dissertation process, seek help from a mentor inside or outside of their department, research the chair and committee members area of research to see if it congruent with their interests, foster positive relationship by being proactive, and schedule time for writing and research. It has been suggested that the selection of a dissertation topic should begin early in the doctoral process. However, students should spend time reflecting prior to selecting a topic to ensure that it is interesting to them and that it will be relevant to their profession. As PhD students may feel isolated in the dissertation process, alternate models such as collaboration or the companion dissertation were reviewed; however little evidence is available on the widespread use or success of these models.

PhD student success of completing a degree and program is multifactorial. More evidence is needed regarding PhD student success for those enrolled in kinesiology programs. This could include a comprehensive survey to PhD students enrolled in kinesiology programs and those who completed the degree to determine the factors that these stakeholders attribute to successful completion. Additionally, a rise in undergraduate majors in kinesiology programs also necessitates the need for qualified PhD trained faculty as these majors are often selected by students entering physical therapy and other professional graduate programs ( 29 ). Therefore, future studies may also look at the type and quality of mentorship of PhD students for careers in higher education. Because there is limited information regarding kinesiology PhD student success degree completion, more research is needed with the aim of improving retention and completion.

• PhD Failure Rate – A Study of 26,076 PhD Candidates
• Doing a PhD

The PhD failure rate in the UK is 19.5%, with 16.2% of students leaving their PhD programme early, and 3.3% of students failing their viva. 80.5% of all students who enrol onto a PhD programme successfully complete it and are awarded a doctorate.

Introduction

One of the biggest concerns for doctoral students is the ongoing fear of failing their PhD.

After all those years of research, the long days in the lab and the endless nights in the library, it’s no surprise to find many agonising over the possibility of it all being for nothing. While this fear will always exist, it would help you to know how likely failure is, and what you can do to increase your chances of success.

Read on to learn how PhDs can be failed, what the true failure rates are based on an analysis of 26,067 PhD candidates from 14 UK universities, and what your options are if you’re unsuccessful in obtaining your PhD.

Ways You Can Fail A PhD

There are essentially two ways in which you can fail a PhD; non-completion or failing your viva (also known as your thesis defence ).

Non-completion

Non-completion is when a student leaves their PhD programme before having sat their viva examination. Since vivas take place at the end of the PhD journey, typically between the 3rd and 4th year for most full-time programmes, most failed PhDs fall within the ‘non-completion’ category because of the long duration it covers.

There are many reasons why a student may decide to leave a programme early, though these can usually be grouped into two categories:

• Motives – The individual may no longer believe undertaking a PhD is for them. This might be because it isn’t what they had imagined, or they’ve decided on an alternative path.
• Extenuating circumstances – The student may face unforeseen problems beyond their control, such as poor health, bereavement or family difficulties, preventing them from completing their research.

In both cases, a good supervisor will always try their best to help the student continue with their studies. In the former case, this may mean considering alternative research questions or, in the latter case, encouraging you to seek academic support from the university through one of their student care policies.

Besides the student deciding to end their programme early, the university can also make this decision. On these occasions, the student’s supervisor may not believe they’ve made enough progress for the time they’ve been on the project. If the problem can’t be corrected, the supervisor may ask the university to remove the student from the programme.

Failing The Viva

Assuming you make it to the end of your programme, there are still two ways you can be unsuccessful.

The first is an unsatisfactory thesis. For whatever reason, your thesis may be deemed not good enough, lacking originality, reliable data, conclusive findings, or be of poor overall quality. In such cases, your examiners may request an extensive rework of your thesis before agreeing to perform your viva examination. Although this will rarely be the case, it is possible that you may exceed the permissible length of programme registration and if you don’t have valid grounds for an extension, you may not have enough time to be able to sit your viva.

The more common scenario, while still being uncommon itself, is that you sit and fail your viva examination. The examiners may decide that your research project is severely flawed, to the point where it can’t possibly be remedied even with major revisions. This could happen for reasons such as basing your study on an incorrect fundamental assumption; this should not happen however if there is a proper supervisory support system in place.

PhD Failure Rate – UK & EU Statistics

According to 2010-11 data published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (now replaced by UK Research and Innovation ), 72.9% of students enrolled in a PhD programme in the UK or EU complete their degree within seven years. Following this, 80.5% of PhD students complete their degree within 25 years.

This means that four out of every five students who register onto a PhD programme successfully complete their doctorate.

While a failure rate of one in five students may seem a little high, most of these are those who exit their programme early as opposed to those who fail at the viva stage.

Failing Doesn’t Happen Often

Although a PhD is an independent project, you will be appointed a supervisor to support you. Each university will have its own system for how your supervisor is to support you , but regardless of this, they will all require regular communication between the two of you. This could be in the form of annual reviews, quarterly interim reviews or regular meetings. The majority of students also have a secondary academic supervisor (and in some cases a thesis committee of supervisors); the role of these can vary from having a hands-on role in regular supervision, to being another useful person to bounce ideas off of.

These frequent check-ins are designed to help you stay on track with your project. For example, if any issues are identified, you and your supervisor can discuss how to rectify them in order to refocus your research. This reduces the likelihood of a problem going undetected for several years, only for it to be unearthed after it’s too late to address.

In addition, the thesis you submit to your examiners will likely be your third or fourth iteration, with your supervisor having critiqued each earlier version. As a result, your thesis will typically only be submitted to the examiners after your supervisor approves it; many UK universities require a formal, signed document to be submitted by the primary academic supervisor at the same time as the student submits the thesis, confirming that he or she has approved the submission.

Failed Viva – Outcomes of 26,076 Students

Despite what you may have heard, the failing PhD rate amongst students who sit their viva is low.

This, combined with ongoing guidance from your supervisor, is because vivas don’t have a strict pass/fail outcome. You can find a detailed breakdown of all viva outcomes in our viva guide, but to summarise – the most common outcome will be for you to revise your thesis in accordance with the comments from your examiners and resubmit it.

This means that as long as the review of your thesis and your viva examination uncovers no significant issues, you’re almost certain to be awarded a provisional pass on the basis you make the necessary corrections to your thesis.

To give you an indication of the viva failure rate, we’ve analysed the outcomes of 26,076 PhD candidates from 14 UK universities who sat a viva between 2006 and 2017.

The analysis shows that of the 26,076 students who sat their viva, 25,063 succeeded; this is just over 96% of the total students as shown in the chart below.

Students Who Passed

The analysis shows that of the 96% of students who passed, approximately 5% required no amendments, 79% required minor amendments and the remaining 16% required major revisions. This supports our earlier discussion on how the most common outcome of a viva is a ‘pass with minor amendments’.

Students Who Failed

Of the 4% of unsuccessful students, approximately 97% were awarded an MPhil (Master of Philosophy), and 3% weren’t awarded a degree.

Note : It should be noted that while the data provides the student’s overall outcome, i.e. whether they passed or failed, they didn’t all provide the students specific outcome, i.e. whether they had to make amendments, or with a failure, whether they were awarded an MPhil. Therefore, while the breakdowns represent the current known data, the exact breakdown may differ.

Summary of Findings

By using our data in combination with the earlier statistic provided by HEFCE, we can gain an overall picture of the PhD journey as summarised in the image below.

To summarise, based on the analysis of 26,076 PhD candidates at 14 universities between 2006 and 2017, the PhD pass rate in the UK is 80.5%. Of the 19.5% of students who fail, 3.3% is attributed to students failing their viva and the remaining 16.2% is attributed to students leaving their programme early.

The above statistics indicate that while 1 in every 5 students fail their PhD, the failure rate for the viva process itself is low. Specifically, only 4% of all students who sit their viva fail; in other words, 96% of the students pass it.

What Are Your Options After an Unsuccessful PhD?

Appeal your outcome.

If you believe you had a valid case, you can try to appeal against your outcome . The appeal process will be different for each university, so ensure you consult the guidelines published by your university before taking any action.

While making an appeal may be an option, it should only be considered if you genuinely believe you have a legitimate case. Most examiners have a lot of experience in assessing PhD candidates and follow strict guidelines when making their decisions. Therefore, your claim for appeal will need to be strong if it is to stand up in front of committee members in the adjudication process.

Downgrade to MPhil

If you are unsuccessful in being awarded a PhD, an MPhil may be awarded instead. For this to happen, your work would need to be considered worthy of an MPhil, as although it is a Master’s degree, it is still an advanced postgraduate research degree.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of stigma around MPhil degrees, with many worrying that it will be seen as a sign of a failed PhD. While not as advanced as a PhD, an MPhil is still an advanced research degree, and being awarded one shows that you’ve successfully carried out an independent research project which is an undertaking to be admired.

Finding a PhD has never been this easy – search for a PhD by keyword, location or academic area of interest.

Additional Resources

Hopefully now knowing the overall picture your mind will feel slightly more at ease. Regardless, there are several good practices you can adopt to ensure you’re always in the best possible position. The key of these includes developing a good working relationship with your supervisor, working to a project schedule, having your thesis checked by several other academics aside from your supervisor, and thoroughly preparing for your viva examination.

We’ve developed a number of resources which should help you in the above:

• What to Expect from Your Supervisor – Find out what to look for in a Supervisor, how they will typically support you, and how often you should meet with them.
• How to Write a Research Proposal – Find an outline of how you can go about putting a project plan together.
• What is a PhD Viva? – Learn exactly what a viva is, their purpose and what you can expect on the day. We’ve also provided a full breakdown of all the possible outcomes of a viva and tips to help you prepare for your own.

Data for Statistics

• Cardiff University – 2006/07 to 2016/17
• Imperial College London – 2006/07 to 2016/17
• London School of Economics (LSE) – 2006/07 to 2015/16
• Queen Mary University of London – 2009/10 to 2015/16
• University College London (UCL) – 2006/07 to 2016/17
• University of Aberdeen – 2006/07 to 2016/17
• University of Birmingham – 2006/07 to 2015/16
• University of Bristol – 2006/07 to 2016/17
• University of Edinburgh – 2006/07 to 2016/17
• University of Nottingham – 2006/07 to 2015/16
• University of Oxford – 2007/08 to 2016/17
• University of York – 2009/10 to 2016/17
• University of Manchester – 2008/09 to 2017/18
• University of Sheffield – 2006/07 to 2016/17

Note : The data used for this analysis was obtained from the above universities under the Freedom of Information Act. As per the Act, the information was provided in such a way that no specific individual can be identified from the data.

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Experiences of a London PhD student and beyond

PhD Profiles: Advice from an Anonymous PhD Drop-out

This month’s PhD Profile is a little different to the others in the series . This time we’ll be hearing from someone who made the decision to drop out of their PhD program and quit their PhD.

Nobody goes into a PhD expecting to not finish it, but every year some students will make the decision to drop out. Our contributor today was a theoretical physics PhD student in the Netherlands and since quitting the PhD has gone on to have a successful career in tech.

We hope that you find the conversation informative, particularly if you’re considering whether to drop out of a PhD programme yourself.

If you have any questions you’d like future contributors to answer, please let me know in the comments or here . If you have a PhD story you’d like to share, please also get in touch! As a bonus: two years after finishing my own PhD, I’ve now written about my own top PhD regrets which you can read here .

Why did you initially decide to do a PhD?

A very large part of the reason is just tunnel vision. As someone interested in the study of fundamental sciences, you don’t really see people that leave academia and go for “just a job”. As a result, the further I proceeded in my studies, the less I thought of not pursuing a PhD.

Another part was that I was desperate to prove myself. To finally do something with all my native intelligence. And getting the highest degree you can get is definitely a start, right?

How was your experience at the start of the PhD project?

My advisor was very happy to have me join him – he basically created the position for me, while I was spending the time as a technician over at another Dutch university.

I started literature studies, getting into what the greater group was doing, talking to the experimental researchers for the joint project. I had taught a few classes and taken part in PhD schools. We had some get-togethers with research partners attached to other universities.

Why did you decide to drop out of your PhD program?

There are so many issues there, it’s hard to start. There were some personal ones – I didn’t know it at the time, but relationship stress was a hefty background signal (separation followed later that year). 

The lack of travel allowance is what set me thinking. At this point I had been in the PhD position for four months part-time and three months full-time. I found out that the travel allowance wasn’t a thing – but when I signed up, they assured me it was. I felt very betrayed and was extremely upset.

My advisor came outside for a smoke, spotted me there and asked “what’s up?”. I explained the issue, only to be rudely interrupted with a “I don’t care” and him then going off on a rant that professors don’t earn enough. 

That incident, which of course causes a sort of repulsion, allowed me to step back and take stock. What are the things I care about here? For me the answers were:

• Interesting work
• Teamwork & team spirit
• Work/life balance, which wasn’t a thing in this group
• A decent salary so that I can start paying student debt
• A feeling of responsibility and empowerment

I wasn’t happy. The work was interesting, but otherwise none of my “this is what I want in a job” things were present.

I had a strong feeling of “what am I doing this for” and the answer “another degree” just didn’t work out for me.

Without that “inner fire”, as they call it, a PhD is just something for which you suffer. I didn’t enjoy the long days, the random requests, the continuous pressure. 

So I started looking for a new job. Now, I’m one of those computer kids from high school that started working as a (game)developer before he graduated high school. I kept doing small development projects and my first job was as a software/sensor technician for the experimental setups that group built themselves.

I found a new job – data engineering at a gaming company. This job was an excellent fit for my interest, tastes and experience – including those years doing development and working with experimental data. I’m now the data tech lead, interacting with numerous business stakeholders and a small team of people around me. 

I ran into some issues, my ex and I separated and I lived with my parents for a bit (I’m a boomerang kid!). That was a nice way of having some safety and dealing with the emotional fall-out. And to take stock and look at myself, try to find who I am without being “half” of a couple, as I had been since achieving adulthood (18).

Was it a difficult decision to quit the PhD?

Quitting was a very hard decision to make. I had to evaluate numerous things: Why wasn’t I happy? Was it my long commute? Was it actually my relationship all along? What about work life balance?

The first few interviews I went to led to nothing, but in one of them I got to talk to a PhD from the same university that knew the professor and others as well. So while the interview went nowhere, I learned a lot because he was able to point to the differences he noticed most.

I then had a holiday and after a few days of quiet I decided to definitely quit. When that decision was really made it took me about two more months to get interviews rounded out and compare offers. 

Would you advise people against starting a PhD?

Well, for one thing, you can hardly stop them! But usually I’m open about my experience, but also emphasise that it was mine . Perhaps in another group, another field, another time or another place things could have worked out differently. 

Mostly I advise prospective PhD students to look . To comprehend what they’re getting into – work culture, work/life balance, satisfaction.

And I also tell them to stop asking me when they’re still in the bachelor’s degree, as that’s just not deeply topical enough to relate to what you’re going to do later.

What similarities have you seen between academia and business?

When you’re in a PhD, you’re always told that “We” have to get this thing done, the “group” has to do stuff, and so forth. Your inner fire is going to keep you going, you’re told, as if that’s a good thing!

In business, companies that aren’t very loyal to their employers seem to like thinking of themselves as “a family” and thus “we are all in this together” and of course “we need everyone to bring their agame”. 

In the end, you don’t own the company. You’re not the professor in charge of the group. If you’re not careful you can become a wage slave. Just don’t buy into the cheap rhetoric of people that are going to profit. 

In business, you won’t get a cut of the profits. In a PhD, the larger recognition often goes to the professors, not the PhD students. Not even the postdocs really – they’re just scrambling to get their “Portfolio” filled with decent papers so they can become a tenure-track researcher.

This might seem a bit… negative. It is! Research hierarchy derives from a sort of “Apprentice->Journeyman->Master” system of the old guilds. That’s fine, but back then you didn’t hire ten apprentices, two journeymans for the one master! The inflation at the bottom – the inflation of the wage-slaves – is a cold war thing. And this is a story told to me by my Professor.

Do you have any advice for students considering starting a PhD?

If your university offers the opportunity to do an internship, as mine did, take it. In my case I had to work hard not to do it , as the only option of an internship not being obligatory was the extra-hard Master’s programme I was in. 

However, I think doing an internship would’ve offered me a lot of insight as well, into business, into life outside of university, how people that aren’t related to me live their (working) lives… It is all very valuable. And of course, a nice benefit is that the place where you did your internship often offers you a job.

Looking back, do you regret having accepted the PhD position?

This is always an interesting topic to consider.

“Looking at the fall-out of that time, doing a PhD was a good decision. I learned a lot about myself and what I want to do.”

From what colleagues have related to me, a lot of people take a longer time to realise that you need a healthy blend of work, life, salary, job satisfaction and career opportunity. Because of starting the PhD, I have a far better view on what I want.

Thank you to our contributor for offering to anonymously share their PhD drop out story with us. We hope that you found this article insightful, especially if you’re consider dropping out of your own PhD program.

Depending on your circumstances it may be worth considering a break from your PhD rather than dropping out of your PhD entirely. Another contributor, Melissa, talks about her decision to take a break here .

Two years after finishing my own PhD, I’ve now written about my own top PhD regrets here .

You may also wish to check out this profile from Anurag who switched to a different PhD program after leaving his first. Sometimes a change of institution or supervisor can help you complete your studies, particularly if you’re determined to pursue a career in academia.

Finally, if you’re feeling unable to cope with the pressure of your studies I’d encourage you to seek support. For those in the UK the Samaritans provide free support over phone and e-mail. Alternatively, if you want to speak to someone who has been through a PhD, I’m starting to offer a small number of one-on-one sessions which you can book here .

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How To Tell Your Advisor You’re Quitting Your Ph.D. Program.

by Gertrude Nonterah PhD | May 16, 2023

“How do I communicate to my advisor that I want to quit my Ph.D. program?”

Someone asked me this question on YouTube and I had to think long and hard about it before responding.

I’m a champion for Ph.D. students and I often want people to finish their Ph.D.s. This is true especially if they are an under-represented minority like me.

But I also realize that a Ph.D. is not the right path for everyone. And it goes without saying that there are lots of successful people who don’t have a Ph.D. Some don’t have a university degree at all.

In any case, telling your advisor you’re quitting your Ph.D. program is a difficult conversation no matter how you slice it. It’s common to feel guilty about letting your advisor down. You might experience guilt for letting down the people who have invested in you in various ways. However, it is important to remember that this is YOUR life and you need to do what’s best for you. Even if it means leaving academia.

Watch the video below as I answer this question.

Quitting your Ph.D. might feel like a nerve-racking decision for you. But thinking through your future career goals, and if a Ph.D. fits in that future can help you come to a satisfactory conclusion.

If you’re thinking of quitting your Ph.D. program, take a step back to reflect. Reflect on what you truly want for your life. Consider your goals and whether a Ph.D. aligns with those future plans. If you have the opportunity, take some time away from the Ph.D. program to see how that feels. Write down your thoughts and reasons. The pros and cons.

Writing down your thoughts and feelings before the conversation will help you to stay organized and on track. When you do have the conversation, use those thoughts you’ve written down as your guideposts when you finally discuss it with your advisor. Be prepared for your advisor to be disappointed. But don’t be guilted into staying if you have done your evaluations and realized a Ph.D. is just not the path for you.

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Chemistry: PhD Completion Rate Statistics

Nearly 50% of Workers Are Thinking of Quitting Their Jobs, Study Shows. Are You?

Nearly half of all workers are thinking of quitting their jobs in 2024, according to new research from Microsoft and LinkedIn. Here's why.

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Nearly half (46%) of working professionals say they are considering quitting their jobs this year, according to a new study from Microsoft and LinkedIn , which surveyed more than 30,000 people in 31 countries between February and March 2024. 

The trend is reminiscent of the “ Great Resignation ” of 2021 during year two of the pandemic, in which 40% of working professionals left their jobs.

On the positive side, a February 2024 survey from ZipRecruiter showed that Americans are feeling more confident about their job-hunting prospects than they have in two years. Even so, dissatisfaction with persistent high inflation and their current jobs could equally be driving workers to seek new opportunities.

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Are workers planning to quit their jobs due to higher inflation?

Although labor market conditions are contributing to workers' decision to consider career changes, inflation is also still squeezing Americans’ budgets. Changing jobs typically comes with greater pay gains and benefits packages, according to new data from ADP; job switchers saw year-over-year pay increases of 10% in March, up from 2.9% six months prior. 

Do people who leave jobs regret quitting?

About 80% of those who quit their jobs during the Great Resignation regretted their decision , according to a Paychex study . This is particularly true for Gen Zers who miss working in an office environment and Gen Xers who miss the work-life balance from their previous jobs. 

What does the job market look like right now?

The labor market posted 8.5 million openings in March, with health, government, private education and hospitality industries fueling job gains, according to a monthly government report from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even so, according to Kiplinger’s economic forecast , April employment rose by a mere 175,000, a marked slowdown from the 315,000 gain in March. Health care continued its usual strong gains. Retail, wholesale, transportation and warehousing also reported above-average increases.

On the other hand, the unemployment rate inched up to 3.9%, with slightly more workers losing their jobs and a rise in the number of workers being forced to work part-time due to a lack of full-time opportunities. 

Annual job and wage growth

As many workers seek new opportunities and higher wages, Kiplinger reported that annual wage growth slowed to 3.9% in April. That’s the first time wage growth has been below 4% in nearly three years, according to Kiplinger. 

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics ( BLS ) shows that total employment is projected to grow by almost 4.7 million from 2022 to 2032. However, it’s worth noting that the 20 highest-paying jobs are all in healthcare fields, with most requiring advanced degrees. 

If you changed jobs in the past two years, or you’re thinking about changing jobs in 2024, higher pay is likely at the top of your list. However, other reasons to pursue a new job may also include relocation, more flexible hours, greater benefits and the option to work remotely. 

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For the past 18+ years, Kathryn has highlighted the humanity in personal finance by shaping stories that identify the opportunities and obstacles in managing a person's finances. All the same, she’ll jump on other equally important topics if needed. Kathryn graduated with a degree in Journalism and lives in Duluth, Minnesota. She joined Kiplinger in 2023 as a contributor.

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