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<p>Are there other possible paths? Sure. But it really depends on the field. A philosophy Ph.D, quite honestly, isn’t well-trained for much of anything outside academia. Could they get a job in some other field? Of course. But would that philosophy Ph.D help them get that job? Probably not. Which means they just wasted five years.</p>
<p>I could hazard a guess that film archives, etc. might hire film studies Ph.Ds, but I have no idea what that job market looks like.</p>
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<p>Actually, there’s not necessarily a whole lot of things outside of law you can do with the JD. Have you looked at post-law school employment statistics lately? They’re pretty awful too. And JDs come out with a lot more debt than Ph.Ds, in general.</p>
<p>Essentially, if you’re not 100% sure that you want to go to graduate school for anything, you shouldn’t do it. Grad school is a major life commitment with significant opportunity costs. I made the choice to pursue an MS only after I worked in the field, established job networks and developed a realistic plan.</p>