I graduated college in 2018, and, even though I majored in Neuroscience and wanted to do computational neuroscience research, that there was just no way I could accept the working conditions + cost of grad school, PhD, and postdoc life. It seemed like a terrible deal then, even as a young student who ONLY wanted to do research. Learning software engineering and breaking into the industry was SO much easier than continuing my education, and while I don't regret it, I have to imagine the deal has only gotten worse. The only people I still know doing research are fully funded by their parents, and even then most of them have dropped out for easier jobs. Cannot imagine the brain-drain that is happening across the US right now.