How often do people not do PhDs on the basis that they don't teach you to be a good researcher? Perhaps this is different in certain circles, but almost everyone I know doesn't want to do a PhD for personal reasons (and also timelines).
The most common objections are the following:
PhDs are very depressing and not very well paid.
Advisors do not have strong incentives to put much effort into training you and apparently often won't. This is pretty demotivating.
A thing you seem to be advocating for is PhDs primarily at top programs. These are very competitive, it is hard to make progress towards getting into a better program once you graduate, and there is a large opportunity cost to devoting my entire undergraduate degree to doing enough research to be admitted.
PhDs take up many years of your life. Life is short.
It is very common for PhD students (not just in alignment) to tell other people not to do a PhD. This is very concerning.
If I was an impact-maximizer I might do a PhD, but as a person who is fairly committed to not being depressed, it seems obvious that I should probably not do a PhD and look for alternative routes to becoming a research lead instead.
I'd be interested to hear whether you disagree with these points (you seem to like your PhD!), or whether this post was just meant to address the claim that it doesn't train you to be a good researcher.
How often do people not do PhDs on the basis that they don't teach you to be a good researcher? Perhaps this is different in certain circles, but almost everyone I know doesn't want to do a PhD for personal reasons (and also timelines).
The most common objections are the following:
If I was an impact-maximizer I might do a PhD, but as a person who is fairly committed to not being depressed, it seems obvious that I should probably not do a PhD and look for alternative routes to becoming a research lead instead.
I'd be interested to hear whether you disagree with these points (you seem to like your PhD!), or whether this post was just meant to address the claim that it doesn't train you to be a good researcher.