נ Attrition in Graduate Schools. Erin O'Connor has been discussing graduate school attrition lately. What seems to be missed in practically every discussion of dropouts, whether it be from high school, college, or PhD programs, is that dropping out is not necessarily bad-- in fact, it can be a very good thing indeed. Going further, from what I've seen in PhD programs, it is practically always a good thing when someone drops out. By this I of course do not mean that everyone should drop out, or that the department made the right decision to admit the person who drops out. Rather, pretty much every person I have observed drop out of a PhD program made a wise decision to do that rather than continue and try to get their PhD. The department doesn't know whether a student will be a success in the program when the student is admitted, nor does the student know whether he will like it. Suppose that after his first year, a student discovers that graduate school and the research career that succeeds it is (a) a lot more work than he thought, and (b) not enjoyable. The student already knows that if he drops out, he can get a non-academic job that will immediately pay him triple his graduate school stipend and by five years from now, when he would have gotten his PhD, would pay him double what an assistant professor would get. Should that student drop out? Of course he should. But often pride or inertia keeps such a student going, to the detriment of himself and the department which has to take care of him.

    Moreover, and just as important, there is an opportunity cost to every student. If our unhappy student drops out, we can admit an extra new student. Thus, the question is really not just whether a weak student should leave, but whether it is better to keep a student we know is weak rather than replace him with someone else whose undergraduate record isn't quite as strong on paper but who might actually work out better. Every weak student retained is another person who is denied the opportunity to try to show he is better.

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