Is a PhD for Me? Life in the Ivory Tower: A Cautionary Guide for Aspiring Doctoral Students

Each year, tens of thousands of students enroll in doctoral programs across the United States. The experience can be formative, uplifting, fulfilling, and inspiring. It is also often intense, frustrating, demoralizing and at times even infuriating. While many students are destined to be productive researchers, attentive educators and respected thought leaders, others are destined for failure. With the benefit of hindsight, many of those who leave graduate school without the coveted degree realize they were unprepared for the program and ignorant of the realities of the academic world. "Is a PhD for Me?" is designed to help you, the aspiring doctoral student, in two ways. First, it is meant to help you make an enlightened decision about whether it is in your best interest to pursue a PhD degree. Second, in the event you do decide to pursue the advanced degree, the book is designed to help you anticipate and negotiate the trials and tribulations of the program. Embarking on a PhD program is a significant challenge, and one that should not be entered into lightly. This book will help you determine whether you have the unwavering passion, sustained commitment, and realistic understanding of the challenges, to thrive and succeed.

Dr. Yuval Bar-Or is a leading expert in decision-making in the context of risk. He is an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University's Carey Business School, where he teaches finance.

Dr. Bar-Or has lectured extensively in academic and professional settings on the subjects of decision making, risk management, and financial literacy. He holds a Ph.D. in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1998, Dr. Bar-Or established The Light Brigade in the belief that enlightened decisions - those made with better knowledge of facts and consequences - will result in lower personal and corporate risk. His company consults in the areas of investing literacy education, decision making and leadership development, and corporate credit risk. He is an active blogger and the author of several books.

Prior to launching The Light Brigade, Yuval Bar-Or held senior strategy and operations roles with some of the world's leading risk management firms, including KMV and Algorithmics. His roles have included managerial responsibilities in New York, Toronto, London, Singapore, and Australia. His book "Leveraging People for a Corporate Turnaround: Leadership and Management Guidance for Organizational Change" touches on the importance of good decision-making skills for corporate leaders. His second book, "Is a PhD for Me? Life inside the Ivory Tower: a Cautionary Guide for Aspiring Doctoral Students," is set in the academic world. His third book, on financial literacy and investments, is expected in mid 2010.

Dr. Bar-Or was born in the USA and spent over a decade in Israel and Canada, where he completed three university degrees at McMaster University. He lives in the Eastern United States, and is currently pursuing a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.