Why do I want to pursue a doctorate degree?

I had contemplated about a doctorate degree since my Sophomore days, and I felt compelled to write this post to further crystallize my motivations. In doing so, I hope it may also help other prospective applicants to reflect on and refine their own reasons.

Like many, I began with a thorough cost-benefit analysis of this endeavour. In short, it is not worth pursuing a PhD (in my opinion) to build wealth, to build prestige, and to build or sustain relationships.

Reasons Against PhD

To Build Wealth

Wealth should not be the primary motivation for pursuing a PhD because of it’s opportunity costs. In general, a graduate salary would exceed the stipend for a PhD degree. By considering this alternative (being employed), one would be able to use that additional income for their hobbies, travel, or investments which could then compound over time. From the human capital perspective, the additional 5-X number of years spent on the doctoral degree does not always increase the amount of income earned in one’s lifetime. For these reasons, it’s usually not a rational decision to pursue a PhD to build wealth.

To Build Prestige

Prestige might not be the best reason to pursue a doctorate degree because one could do the same by climbing the corporate ladder. Spending five years, and potentially more, for a “Dr.” title seems hardly justifiable for the amount of effort, time, mental and physical health involved in the degree. Instead, climbing the ranks in the corporate world—which could be as satisfying and a lot more lucrative—could accumulate a lot of prestige as well.

To Build Relationships

Relationships, particularly romantic ones, can be harder to come by and/or maintain during a PhD. A doctorate degree naturally demands a very high commitment; one that not only requires a significant amount of time and attention, but also require you to be in a different country for international students (also see, two body problem). To exacerbate, a stipend alone is usually sufficient for the candidate (and only the candidate), forming a considerable financial constraint. All of these factors combined have created the worst possible environment to find love and/or sustain previous relationships: friends, family, pets and other dependants. Though it’s possible, it’s difficult 🥲.

Despite these (negative) reasons, why do I continue to persist towards a doctoral degree?

I list down three core reasons below.

Reasons For PhD

To Do Research

I persist because I’m curious about how multimodal models behave, interact and collaborate with other actors (See research). In experiencing research from internships and projects have helped me appreciate how research can impact people’s lives. From detecting driver fatigue (SmartDrive) to software vulnerabilities, artificial intelligence can have tangible and important benefits. Seeing this, I became invested in how multimodal intelligent systems can collaborate (with humans and non-humans), and whether it can do so in a meaningful, fun, and interactive way.

I emphasized the “fun” and “interactive” aspects because they serve are important signals of social intelligence; a trait that is implicit in the many overarching goals of AI: general artificial intelligence, human-AI symbiosis, and safety. Achieving these goals demand AI to remain helpful, despite the cultural, social, and personal differences of each actor.

To these ends, I envision intelligent systems to be multimodal in order to capture subtle social nuances. After which, these nuances would synergize for machines to understand higher level concepts like humor, culture, body language, and sentiments. Beyond individuals, I also envision a future where machines understand the consequences of it’s actions. The would do so by first, comprehending social and cultural norms of different communities, then respond in an interative manner. To make this vision a reality, a PhD program is a crucial and natural next step.

Personal Anecdote: The SmartDrive project was especially meaningful to me because it was the first research project that I had undertaken, sparking an interest in multimodal (thermal and depth data in this project) systems. Moreover, a lot of the inspiration was from my own step-father who was a night-shift taxi driver which made every little progress much more significant.

To Mentor

The next motivation is my aspiration to be a university professor; one who not only conducts research, but also actively teach and mentor the next generation of innovators. I see this role of a faculty to be uniquely placed (strong connections to industry, academia, state organizations, and students) such that one could bridge opportunities to less privileged youths. To this end, a PhD is not only necessary as qualification, but also to develop me into the person I aspire to be.

To further elaborate, I state three important reasons why I also wish to mentor during and after a PhD.

First, I wish to “pay it forward” for the guidance that I received from past mentors. I was fortunate to be mentored by Prof. Roy, who not only guided me in research, but also cultivated my interests and perspectives. Since I benefited immensely as a mentee, I thought that it’s only right to also mentor others—who might be facing a difficult (similar) situation in their research journey—to continue this practice of cultivating the next generation.

Second, I have found mentoring to be deeply fulfilling in it’s own right. When I participated in various extracurricular activities (teaching assistant or facilitator/volunteer), I discovered that I find genuinely enjoy guiding others to their interests, even if these interests are not in research or AI; witnessing the moment of “realization” or a “spark of curiosity” makes the entire interaction and experience fruitful to me.

Lastly, mentoring refines various important soft skills. Being able to communicate well, present technical ideas, and collaborate with others are important transferable skills that that one can gain during a mentorship experience. Moreover, interacting with my peers and/or mentees often bring interesting new ideas which further develops my research perspectives (see Intrigued but Unavailable).

To Bridge Opportunities

Finally, I wish to pursue a PhD program to bridge research opportunities for students from less privileged backgrounds. In merit-based systems, prestigious schools often provide access to a wider range of opportunities and networks to their students. Thus, enabling them to work towards these opportunities and be rewarded accordingly. In contrast, students in “normal” schools may not even be aware of these opportunities; contradicting the very basis of meritocracy, as these less privileged students won’t be able to put in effort for something that they are unaware of. This fundamental flaw is a cause that I wish to mend in my own capacity, and I believe that in the pursuit of (and attaining) a PhD would put me in a much stronger position to lead initiatives in bridging this gap.