Well, as I started off my final year of undergraduate studies, the choice was clear:
a) Five years of dead-end retail jobs
b) Five years of studying a field that interests me
I understand that the possibility of getting a decent job in my field after the PhD is not large, but it’s a hell of a lot better than I’d do with a BA in said field (Linguistics) and a BA in a language I barely speak (French).
As a transfer from a community college which had few French classes and no Linguistics classes, I have spent the last several quarters taking twice the normal course load for a full-time student, so that I could catch up and graduate this June after a total of six years of college. All upper-division classes with heavy workloads. Can’t say as the workload in grad school frightens me much.
I have no illusions that my life in grad school come August will be easy. But it beats serving coffee 40 hours a week for seven bucks an hour.