Advice on deciding on whether or not one should go to grad school. Striving to be realistic, without flavoring it too much in either direction.
[Y]ou should know the basic facts of grad school experience: most experiments do NOT produce useful results, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying. You are not guaranteed an academic job after your PhD – or any job in specific geographic area or any specific type of the job. You will be making minimum wage-like salaries for ~5-7 years, and even though postdocs get paid more, it is not much more. But for this time you will have the company of like-minded people who are extremely smart, you will learn a lot, and since you live only once, grad school will certainly provide a unique experience that will shape your outlook on life.
“You will make a lot of money” isn’t on the list of what happens afterward, either. (It certainly can happen, but it probably won’t). But what the PhD helps enable is the opportunity to work on interesting problems. So if the whole “hanging out with smart people” angle appeals to you, it’s certainly something to consider.
I second that emotion. I certainly don’t make a lot of money, but a bunch more opportunities open to you with the PhD — even though I’m not doing research science anymore (but rather education and public outreach). Still, was it worth the struggle and years? I’ll never know…