Drifting In

The final factor is not as consciously driven as some of the above reasons for pursuing PhD
study. Several contributors described how they drifted into a PhD after undergraduate or postgraduate studies. This notion of drift is not necessarily something we would discourage, as, after all, none of us knows what opportunities are around the corner and we cannot all have clearly thought-out plans from the start.Yet we would add a cautionary tale to those scenarios that lead to individuals drifting into a PhD without giving very careful consideration to the entity that is being taken on. Martin Smith spent several years working towards his doctorate but in the end discontinued his studies as the need to earn cash took over. Martin remarks below on the dangers of drift:

I somewhat drifted into doing a PhD, in a subject area that was of interest to me, but was not my academic passion. I was unprepared for the challenge and commitmentI needed to make in the years to come, and feel now that I should have taken amasters course to see whether higher level research and study was for me.

The reality is that personal circumstances are a clear indicator as to whether a PhD is viable in terms of a drop in earnings, the prospects of the market place after completion and the opportunities that are available. Bill Armer, an older student whore turned to education late, describes how his options after his undergraduate degree were fairly limited, and hence the ‘drift’ into further study:

As a late returner to education, I had no clear motivation when I first undertook my BA degree. Finding myself unemployed and potentially unemployable, I really drifted into academia as an honourable alternative to the dole.

Ultimately the motivations for undertaking a PhD span the spectrum of the personal and the political, motivated by the subject or a specific project, influenced by a role model or attracted by the department, institution or even the student lifestyle! Often, career plans are somewhere in the complexities of motivations as students wrestle with the question ‘Where will having a PhD get me?’

Motivation to Do Phd

Career development

Lack of job satisfaction

Personal agenda

Research as politics

Drifting In