Is a PhD in Science worth it?

[Jehanne]

What field is your PhD in?  And, by the way, great answer to my question!

Biologically inspired artificial intelligence. I found establishing an academic career harder than doing the PhD. Depending on the field, only 10% actually stay on in academia afterwards. But one thing a PhD  gives you is the confidence to try your hand at anything.

I have heard that "10% figure", too.  As for me, I was one of those many "good students" but was not (and, am not) "brilliant"; in fact, I struggled early on in elementary school, but developed a love of science and math through the writings of Carl Sagan, and especially, Cosmos.  The book appealed to me much more than did the series, and I vividly remember in sixth grade or so sloshing through Sagan's proof in the first appendix on the irrationality of the square root of 2 (which, eventually, I came to understand) but became hopelessly lost on the second proof in the appendix that followed on Euclidean geometry.

Eventually, I got a BS in computer science and then a MBA, which the company whom I was working for covered the tuition.  I still study, daily, in fact, but not intensely; I still have an interest and love of math and science and do not wish to forget what I have learned.  Sometimes, such knowledge even comes up at my office, and I have gotten dirty looks from some fellow engineers, who, it seems, have forgotten nearly everything from their college days!