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Originally Posted by israelecon
since i was mentioned i guess i should answer.
firstly, i am a canadian citizen so that leaving israel is not exactly so difficult for me and a phd is definitely not the only way to do it.
i may be a special case because my father is an economics professor himself, so i kind of already know what i am getting into. i.e. i myself have no research experience per se, but i have seen research up close and i have discussed research ideas etc. with my father. also, since he works at home i get to discuss things with his colleagues as well when they come to work with him. so in my case i may have a bit more of an idea of what research entails than others in my position (although i am not sure about this). but certainly i think this kind of background has given me more preparation for research than would entering data sets and programming stata, as golden rule put it. in general most of the research experience people put on the profile is not "real" research experience in the sense that that is not the kind of stuff you will be doing as a professor, either because its not good enough (maybe good enough for a student, but not for a prof) or because they will get their RA's to do it for them while they do the "real" research. so i wouldn't put too much weight on what people usually call research experience, although i am aware that some people do have real serious research experience and that probably is very helpful. but that is probably more the exception than the rule.
as to the job itself, i see three main advantages.
1. the academic atmosphere. i.e. you have a job that lets you continue to learn your whole life and keeps you in the forefront of human knowledge in some field.
2. the academic freedom. you do what interests you.
3. the freedom. this is related to what others have said about not getting a real job. many of my friends never saw their fathers, sure their family was richer than mine and lived in a fancier house, but thats because their fathers worked all day for it. my father had the flexibility to be home whenever he wanted (except the 5 hours a week he had to teach). i want the same flexibility when i raise a family and i think that an academic position is the best paying job that will give you this freedom, and i am willing to take a pay cut for that flexibility.
so actually, as opposed to the above suggestion i see an academic job as a way of buying freedom by taking a smaller salary.
obviously the reason i want to do the phd in the US is because of the prestige and the quality of the education (and the fact that they are paying me). but that is not the reason i chose to follow this route in the first place.
it seems to me that what happens a lot in the US (and the reason you observe what you do) is that since US college graduates are so young 20-22, they are very enticed by all the money they can make in consulting, for example. they work in that for a couple of years and realize that yes its a lot of money, but no i don't want to do this for my whole life and then they go and do a phd.
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I can't agree more. My father spent a lot of time in his office and had no time talking to me and my mother. I think it is part of a reason while my parents got divorced. My father doesn't earn much, but he still had an unsuccessful marriage.Therefore, for family reason, I want to be a professor. Besides, the econ theory really attracts me.