>>14418608phds are basically job training for foreign students, its basically quality control for shitty foreign universities, they want to make sure we import quality people to the US before sending them to the workplace
i'm not denying phds can get jobs (even ones that pay much higher starting), but you just get such a bigger head start financially if you get a job after undergrad
assuming you went to work or to graduate school 5 years ago, you could have made $1 million easy in the workplace, if you made $100k/year and invested a decent chunk of that in the stock market/crypto, you could have easily doubled your money
meanwhile in my phd I'm making something like $25k - $30k/year
I'm graduating next year and I just don't think it worth it overall, but who knows, maybe I'll get into somewhere good after I graduate
