Is it really as miserable as PhD Comics makes it seem?
But all the bad things happen to someone, often one of your friends. For a Ph.D. holder reading PhD Comics is an exercise in nodding with recognition.
And I haven't read all that much PhD Comics so I don't know if it plumbs the real depths. Do characters in the comic become suicidally depressed? Do professors drive talented eighth-year students to drop out by making crazy demands on their time? Do students find themselves drafted as poorly paid, no-equity employees at their adviser's startup company? I saw all of that happen to one friend or another in the real world.
This is a pretty rare occurrence. The talented eighth year student, I mean, not the professor making crazy demands on time.
Another very common occurrence, mostly absent from PhD Comics, is a professor failing to kick out an untalented/unmotivated student in their second or third year. The result is that the student wastes 5 more years in the fruitless pursuit of a PhD, eventually dropping out due to neglect by their adviser.
Getting to a tenured professorship is a tournament. Many apply, but only a select few will win. The problem is that very often, no one tells you when you were eliminated. They just let you carry on as if you still have a chance.
whoa whoa where do you do research only 5 days a week??? most PhD students i know average 6 to 6.5
Also, in my case, even though I left academia afterwards, the PhD's freedom enabled me to become involved in several open source communities which have opened a lot of opportunities. If you like freedom, and you like research, I think PhD are a good experience, even if you don't end up in academia - after all, most PhD graduates do no become tenured professors.