This is literally true because you cannot get a PhD if you don’t learn to navigate University politics, which is the singular largest corrupting influence in academia. If you fail to do that, they literally give you a Masters as a consolation prize for preserving your integrity.
The reason I have a PhD is because I was about to drop out and get a real job, when one of our papers won an award and I backed my way into a thesis defense with a 30 page dissertation because it made my advisor look good.
This is literally true because you cannot get a PhD if you don’t learn to navigate University politics, which is the singular largest corrupting influence in academia. If you fail to do that, they literally give you a Masters as a consolation prize for preserving your integrity.
I beat the system by skipping the Master’s on the way to my PhD and then not getting the PhD in the end. Smoked a hell of a lot of dope, though.
You sound like you know from experience
The reason I have a PhD is because I was about to drop out and get a real job, when one of our papers won an award and I backed my way into a thesis defense with a 30 page dissertation because it made my advisor look good.