Life Choices II

I just watched Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith yesterday. FREE - Courtesy of a technology leader in the field of virtual instrumentation.

The fear of loss is a path to the dark side
- Yoda to Anakin, after the latter had revealed to him his nightmarish visions of Padmé's death.

A continuation (of some sort) from a previous post. It doesn't take one much analysis to figure out the outcome of that hypothetical scenario. The one who had to make a choice was the guy.

Life works in mysterious ways. The cliche saying: "When one door closes, another opens." appears to be true (at least to some). The only problem occurs when too many doors open.

Now, let's suppose he found himself again presented with choices. He had passed his PhD qualifying exams (clearing one out of the three major obstacles). At the same time, he also received job offers (he could leave school with a Masters) and he found himself getting drawn to a girl who unfortunately lives halfway on the other side of the globe.

So what would he choose? Continue the PhD? Accept a job offer? Or chase the girl?

I just want to highlight that: when one is faced with being presented similar choices repeatedly on different times, his/her priorities will change.

The most crucial question now becomes: "Why do the PhD?" You will be surprised that 1st year grad students will answer this question differently from those in the later years.