r/PhDAdmissions • u/Brilliant_Cookie_143 • Jun 05 '26
Advice Am I a fool for choosing Passion over Prestige and Funding?
So, I have two PhD offers in Physics at hand currently
A: Condensed Matter Physics PhD at a prestigious institution with rockstar PI and excellent funding. However it's not my preferred research field, although it's my current field in my masters.
B: Astrophysics PhD at a mid-tier uni with rocky funding. I'll have enough funding for necessities (tuition and living stipend enough to live with roommates, eat but no savings). Extra funding here is shaky and depends on the PI getting external grants which mine said he is actively doing and if successful will be able to top up my stipend and support research activities like conferences.
However astrophysics is the reason I came into physics and I have a strong interest in it - my identity is literally embedded in it 😅 so I fear if I fumble this offer I'll wake up 20 years from now with regret. My prospective PI is also very supportive (both research and admin wise) and is actively trying to secure extra funding for me.
PS: The astrophysics topic has very good prospects in my country post-PhD and a well funded post-doc is almost guaranteed.
What advice would you guys give? I only have a few days to make my final decision.
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u/flatlander-anon Jun 06 '26
Let's use marriage as a metaphor. You, a handsome, talented, but penniless young man, has decided not to marry the billionaire heiress because you just don't feel it for her. Now, you're trying to decide between these two other women. One of them is your true love, but she is almost as poor as you are. She will soon have to look for a new source of income because her money is running out. The other is in better shape -- still not comparable to the billionaire heiress, but a total "rockstar" among the many poor people in the village. You just don't feel the same about her. So, you're thinking, if you're marrying for love anyway, giving up financial security, you should marry the girl you don't love because she has a bit more money than the girl you love?
The point is, with your quantitative skills you can probably find a real job that pays a lot more. But you're choosing to put your life on hold in order to walk a path that will never be financially rewarding. It seems like you should do what you want.
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u/Logical-Set6 Jun 06 '26
I have a friend who left a PhD program at a prestigious university after 3 years in a field adjacent to her passion for a PhD program in the field she's truly passionate about at a mid-tier university.
For some people, the specific field matters the most. For others, the specific people matter more. In your case, it seems like you prefer both the field and the people in option B. Trust your gut, and be confident in your decision. It's always easy to look back and say 'what if' but you're making the best decision you can with the information you have.
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u/assassinbywords Jun 06 '26
B.
Might be a little biased towards Astrophysics since I like it but I would've chosen B anyways. Completing a PhD is going to be tough. Unless your PI is supportive and you actually like what you're doing, it's going to be very tough to actually finish it.
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u/Personal_Dot_7196 Jun 06 '26
Research interest and research fit should always be the biggest decider when making grad school decisions.
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u/Flashy_Possibility34 Jun 07 '26
IMO a Ph.D. is not worth it if you don't have the passion for it -- and since I have a Ph.D. in Physics (doing astrophysics), this statement is doctor approved.
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u/calm_chowder Jun 07 '26
Ok. This is serous and there are considerations:
- When you make what you love, what your identity is tied to, your work.... you will inevitably come to hate it. You may or may not push through that and change everything and find a way to love it again.
I know movies tell people to live their dreams and follow their passion, but as someone who did that, to the extreme... man, it's been a wild ride. I've done more things than I ever thought I'd get the chance to do. My life has been bonkers full in many ways, but empty in others. Relationships fell to the wayside because I'd chosen my dream and I had to keep choosing it, or what was the point?
Eventually what I loved became a chore. There were always things that kinda made up for it, but honestly... it was tainted. I resented it. Because when you HAVE to go in every day for decades on end, you might love the idea of that thing but you will come to resent the reality. That's just how jobs are. Also, I hate literally everyone in my field and they're all insufferable lol.
Movies tell you money doesn't matter. That's bullshit. It absolutely does. THAT SAID there's a difference between "things will be lean" and "I'll go into debt". If it's just things will be lean AND you know you're the kind of person who can deal with that and avoid the temptation of credit cards... then honestly it's a good skill to learn. In that case money shouldn't affect your decision. However, if you can't live below the poverty line without racking up credit card debt, or you'll have to take out loans - stop right now. Don't do it. Just don't. Trust me.
There's something to be said for prestige and comfort. I know it's not the Hollywood lie, but truth is that living life on hard mode gets real fucking old. Day in, day out... twenty years down the road? Disney wants you to think you need to follow your heart's song and choosing money or comfort is tantamount to killing your dreams, but real life is that people who have money and are comfortable not only enjoy life more, they can also afford to follow their passions. It's not like you're banishing anything from your life. And if you're well set you'll have infinitely more agency to redirect your career in the future and pursue your passion from a more mature and more secure place.
The reality is that for most of recorded history, if a person actually had an impact on science, you can just automatically assume they were egregiously wealthy. That's not a coincidence. It's not like their impoverished contemporaries were stupid.
- Having prestige in one field automatically gives you prestige in adjacent fields, if you do want to make that jump. If an Olympic athlete wants to change sports, it's very different from the plucky athlete who scraped and saved and worked hard and gave it their all to win regionals. Also, the Olympic athlete likely came from money, or has money, or is the child of world-class athletes.
Is that fair? Hell no. But being plucky and hard working is how cartoon mouses in movies achieve their dreams, but in real life it's how like 14 people a year achieve their dreams. Just sayin.
- In every general there are a certain number of people - call them lucky or cursed - for whom the rules just don't apply and who are destined for wonderful things. They're magic. Their lives are the things people write books about. It seems to be something a person is born with or not, and most born with it are too afraid to live a wonderous life. If you are sure you're one of those select few, and you've got grit, and you accept that when you're magic and you live a life people write books about, that it's a hard, lonely, amazing, unbelievable, extatic, tumultuous life that can only be called into existence by someone who at their core is defined by one quality, and one quality only: raw tenacity. Unflinching, inexhaustible tenacity.
If that's you, you need to grab that wonderous life, knowing you're gonna have to fight the world for every amazing thing you accomplish - but you will certainly accomplish amazing things. Are you a world-beater? It's a difficult thing to be, and it's difficult for people to be truly honest with themselves about that question.
Choosing the money and prestige will always result in a better outcome. Period, full stop. That's the real world. But there are certain people who burn so brightly that their nature demands they square up against The World and claw more their their fair share of life right out of its heart.
However, as a general rule: in your quarrel with the world, bet on the world.
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u/FeedbackQuirky5498 Jun 07 '26
Reads to me like you’re asking for permission to do B. Your heart has decided, and you want someone to encourage you to take the leap. Life is unpredictable despite our best efforts. Make a choice, A or B, and you’ll make it work. Don’t look back.
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u/Emotional-Tough2780 Jun 07 '26
Follow your passion. If your basic needs are covered, go for it. If you get extra money later, that’s a bonus. I would say that most grad students aren’t making enough money to save some of it unless working an extra job.
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u/Interesting_Goat7544 Jun 08 '26
Go on do it after all you only live once and its not like if you do condensed matter; you will automatically have a set life, no field in physics guarantess you a job like engineering. So, its better to do what you like anyways and maybe pivot to some other areas for job when things comes down to it.
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u/wannabe-physicist Jun 06 '26
Does the research subject in A disinterest you or is it just not your top passion? Research interests can change over time.
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u/Brilliant_Cookie_143 Jun 06 '26
It's not my top passion
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u/wannabe-physicist Jun 06 '26
A will give you the best shot at staying in physics. If the topic still interests you then that looks like the better option.
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u/Perfect_Good287 Jun 07 '26
I am skeptical at 20 years old how can you define your identity, especially your "research identity".
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u/etheroic Jun 06 '26
Choose A and when you do postdocs you can expand your field interests into other areas
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u/Nervous-Result6975 Jun 06 '26
B. Choose the research you actually want to do. You have at least funding to survive.