My acquaintances with PhD’s are among the least bitter, most satisfied, and happiest people I know. They all hold their degrees in natural sciences or physical sciences and get to play all day for their salaries.
Thank you all for the perspectives. It is hard to get a sense of life in academia when you’ve been working in the private financial world for your whole (6 year) career.
DeadJesus, thanks for the input. As for Anchorage, it’s as densly populated as it gets in Alaska. Although I never went to university in Alaska, all the public schools are very well funded and I can’t imagine IT people aren’t in demand up there.
I am considering studying political theory while studying for the PhD, so that is something I’m already looking into.
Once again, thanks. The more I think about it, the more I think this is what I want to do.
Apos - My wife is also a doctor, going to do her fellowship in Infertility/REI. Pays well, and without that support I doubt I would take the ‘risk’ of a PhD.
I am applying to schools this winter for a degree in BioEthics. I got my undergrad degree in Philosophy in '02 from SMU and I really want to be a professor.
The two schools that I am leaning the most heavily towards are Rice and Georgetown (which I will be visiting in Dec.) Anyone know of some other schools that I should check out based on reputation or experiance?
As a sci-fi fan and advocate, plenty of SF books have characters presenting philosophical arguments regarding story situations. Try:
THE GODS THEMSELVES by Asimov
A CASE OF CONSCIENCE don’t recall author
Since I started reading it at 9 I was familiar with ideas that I didn’t encounter until late highschool or college. My handle comes from the first SF book I read. It can cause serious brain damage.
Dal Timgar
A case of conscience was written by James Blish
We’re not quite that far along: still in med school, accuring debt. 
I do have a master in public administration to fall back on… I guess. So far it hasn’t really allowed me to fall forwards in the first place. I think academia will ultiamtely suit me far better than the working world, as I absolutely stink at self-promotion, and due to extreme shyness, it takes me a while to get going: not exactly the best for an interview.
It’s interesting that people mentioned bioethics–a philosophy professor at my undergrad does exactly that–he’s got a tenured position at the school, but he is also the on-call ethicist for the hospital down the road.
P.S. I’m one of those PhDs. I’m not bitter. A little scarred, maybe, but I appreciate the mind I got out of the deal. Not a PhD in Philosophy though. A Philosophy PhD is dead sexy if you ask me.
Well, I had a bioethicist in my undergrad faculty as well. Before that I don’t know that I would have ever thought of it in particular as a specialization.
As it is, I think it is the best field in philosophy as it is current and evolving as we watch and learn that things can be done. These are the issues that people have real feelings about. Good Times.