Should you continue to a PhD after your master's? Do it when your target job explicitly requires one, and count the psychological burden before starting

No money needed. Check the education requirements in your target employers’ job advertisements, then talk with two or three current PhD students.

The 2020 UK Department for Education study cited in item 24 of this chapter (master's degrees) also estimated returns to PhDs. Its wording was “8% (women) and -9% (men) for PhDs”: after adjusting for family background and undergraduate attainment, women with PhDs earned about 8% more at age 35 than women with only a bachelor's, while men earned about 9% less. The study also found that PhDs reduced the likelihood of unemployment and annual earnings below £30,000, but also reduced the likelihood of annual earnings above £40,000. Returns varied greatly by discipline: they were particularly low for mathematics PhDs, while psychology PhDs were among the highest. For the psychological burden during doctoral study, a 2021 meta-analysis provides figures. Across 16 studies involving 23,469 PhD students, the pooled prevalence of clinically significant depressive symptoms was about 24% (95% CI 18%–31%, the confidence interval). Across 9 studies involving 15,626 PhD students, clinically significant anxiety symptoms affected about 17% (12%–23%). Results varied greatly between studies (I² approximately 98%). For costs in China, the 2013 policy states that tuition for full-time academic doctoral degrees should, in principle, not exceed 10,000 yuan a year, and the national postgraduate grant should be at least 10,000 yuan a year.

Britton J, Buscha F, Dickson M, van der Erve L, Vignoles A, Walker I, Waltmann B, Zhu Y (2020). The earnings returns to postgraduate degrees in the UK. Department for Education. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5f609e478fa8f5106d1563cc/PG_LEO_report_FINAL.pdf；Satinsky EN, Kimura T, Kiang MV, et al. (2021). Systematic review and meta-analysis of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among Ph.D. students. Scientific Reports, 11, 14370. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93687-7；Liu H, Gao Y, Tuerxun N, Cabirou L (2026). More than Depression: Doctoral Students' Mental Health in China: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Behavioral Sciences, 16, 1355. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs16081355；财政部、国家发展改革委、教育部 (2013). 关于完善研究生教育投入机制的意见（财教〔2013〕19号）. https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/content/2013/content_2404719.htm

Contested. The depression and anxiety figures only pool the proportions from surveys in various countries. They are not compared with people of the same age, and the scales used are not the same. So they show that these symptoms are common among doctoral students. They do not show that doing the doctorate caused them. A pooling of Chinese-language studies found little difference in psychological symptoms between doctoral students and master's students, but both were higher than the national norm and the youth norm. The limits of the income figures are the same as in item 24 of this section (doing a master's). They can only be read as a direction. Job notices for university teaching posts, research institutes, and some research-and-development posts often state that a doctorate is required. If you want that path, first go through the notices of the last few years at the place you want. If low mood during the course lasts more than two weeks, first do the things in Section 3, item 18 (what to do first when mood is low). If there are thoughts of suicide, call 12356. See Section 1, item 25 (call 12356 when depressed or having thoughts of suicide).