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rlpw t1_j9urs5w wrote

Reply to comment by Medievalismist in People in DC with a Master's degree make less than the average DC salary? by jdeeebs

My PhD is in a social science. I knew what the prospects were going in sorta. I say sorta because the choice to get a PhD wasn’t entirely based on the job market - it was based on actual interest and I knew I wasn’t going to be paying for it. But it’s still a bit disappointing when going about looking for work or seeing these salaries.

I saw a few positions targeting just masters level experience and explicitly stated they won’t hire a PhD. At the same time I saw phds hiding their phds to get work. 😩

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Medievalismist t1_j9uzpf9 wrote

I graduated the year after the 2008 crisis. When I went in to the PhD there was still the fantasy that if you did well and worked hard, you could get an academic job. Not only did that evaporate, but they kept evaporating with fewer and fewer and fewer every year since.

Feeling the same as you, where a PhD is either a curiosity that nobody cares about, or is seen as an active hindrance to getting a job. I hate it so much.

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rlpw t1_j9v4py1 wrote

The commenter above mentioned STEM PhD industry salaries are like 200k. Perhaps specific stem fields although most folks don’t consider social science a stem field despite science being in the name. Also the titles of positions can be confusing and arbitrary - ie a “research associate” for some organizations require a PhD while others require at least a bachelors.

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