十多年前网上就有一篇美国教授的帖子，建议美国学生不要进入研究生院（也就是读博士）。研究生院当然不包括医学院和法学院，因为这两个毕业后高收入的专业没本科。

　　我今天回头去找那个帖子，结果发现了这个博客——“不读博士的100条理由”：

http://100rsns.blogspot.com/p/complete-list-to-date.html

　　注意右下还收集了很多反对读博士的精彩文章。这些理由在中国也大体适用。比如说，读博士基本上都是出于惯性而逃避现实。

　　留学生读博士、做博士后可能有更强的理由，比如国外的科研训练总体上远比国内正规（王鸿飞博士的观点），但恐怕最过硬最实际的理由还是解决身份问题。以前国内读博士或者做博士后是为了解决自己乃至配偶户口，也是同一性质。但是随着僧多粥少，这种优待也逐渐淡化了。如果在同一国，本科毕业后再读博士，确实是路越走越窄。

附：截至目前作者已经写出了91条理由：

Complete List to Date

1. The smart people are somewhere else.

2. Your colleagues are your competitors.

3. Your pedigree counts.

4. It takes a long time to finish.

5. Graduate school is not what it used to be.

6. Intellectual expectations are falling.

7. Labor demands are increasing.

8. There are very few jobs.

9. It is very, very hard.

10. There is a psychological cost.

11. There is a psychological cost for quitting.

12. Adulthood waits.

13. Respect for the academic profession is declining.

14. Adjuncthood awaits.

15. Marriage and family usually wait.

16. Where you live will be chosen for you.

17. Funding is fleeting.

18. Fellowships are few and far between.

19. These are the best years of your life.

20. Few ideas are exchanged.

21. Graduate seminars can be unbearable.

22. The liberal arts do not attract investment.

23. There is a pecking order.

24. “You are still in school?”

25. Academe is built on pride.

26. Some graduate students are more equal than others.

27. The academic bubble may burst.

28. Writing is hard.

29. You may not start with plans to be a professor, but...

30. You occupy a strange place in the world.

31. There are biological consequences.

32. The university is an economic engine.

33. There is too much academic publishing.

34. There is too little academic publishing.

35. Mumbo-jumbo abounds.

36. “So what are you going to do with that?”

37. The university does not exist for your sake.

38. The tyranny of the CV.

39. You are asked to do the impossible.

40. Faddishness prevails.

41. Teaching is your first priority.  

42. Your workspace reflects your status.

43. Attitudes about graduate school are changing.

44. Advisers can be tyrants.

45. Nice advisers can be worse.

46. You may not finish.

47. It requires tremendous self-discipline.

48. The two-body problem.

49. There are few tangible rewards.

50. You are surrounded by graduate students.

51. You are surrounded by undergraduates.

52. Your adviser’s pedigree counts.

53. Teaching assistantships.

54. “What do you do for a living?”

55. There are too many PhDs.

56. Grading is miserable.

57. Rejection is routine.

58. The one-body problem.

59. You pay for nothing.

60. The tyranny of the dissertation.

61. Unstructured time.

62. You have no free time.

63. Your friends pass you by.

64. Smugness.

65. Teaching is less and less rewarding.

66. “Why are you studying that?”

67. There is a star system.

68. It is stressful.

69. It is lonely.

70. It is unforgiving.

71. The tenure track is brutal.

72. The humanities and social sciences are in trouble.

73. Perceptions trump reality.

74. Academic conferences.

75. You can make more money as a schoolteacher.

76. There is a culture of fear.

77. It attracts the socially inept.

78. It takes a toll on your health.

79. The tyranny of procrastination.

80. “When will you finish?”

81. Comprehensive exams.

82. Teaching is moving online.

83. It narrows your options.

84. The politics are vicious.

85. It is not a ticket to the upper middle class.

86. It is a state of being.

87. The financial rewards are decreasing.

88. You are not paid for what you write.

89. Virtually no one reads what you write.

90. Virtually no one cares about what you are doing.

91. Downward mobility is the norm.