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Writer's pictureSarah Davis

How To Deal With The Sunk Cost Fallacy in Grad School

In a book I was recently reading, I came across the discussion of sunk cost fallacy and I was reminded that this was a term that was thrown around a lot when I was in grad school.


The sunk cost fallacy is when we continue to do something if we have already spent time, our effort, and/or money on it regardless if the costs of continuing are higher than the benefits.

Or in other words, in grad school it may sound like:


"I know the course is incredibly hard and time-consuming, but I have to continue taking this course because I already took the prerequisite."


"I can't make any changes about my thesis proposal because I already spent so much time writing the first draft, and I'm already burnt out."


"I am only looking for jobs in academia because I've already spent so much time and money going to undergrad, grad school, and now my doctorate, even though applying to jobs is taxing and overwhelming."


When I was weighing the pros and cons of taking a 4 month leave of absence near the end of my PhD, the single most important thing I did was talk to the people around me to help me make this decision.


And you know what?


The people who truly supported me unconditionally encouraged me to take a step back and consider the pros and cons, the costs (e.g., time, money, my mental health), the benefits, and help me figure out what I wanted to do.


The people who weren't supportive helped perpetuate the sunk cost fallacy, encouraging me to stick through it because I had put so much time in already, that taking a break would cause me to be even further behind, that pushing ahead is what you do in academia, etc.


Luckily, I listened to the people in my life who supported me, took that 4 month leave of absence and have never looked back. It truly was one of the best decisions of my life, even if at the time it seemed like one of the most difficult decisions.


So, if you feel like you are falling prey to the sunk cost fallacy, here is one simple yet important thing you can do to help gain more perspective:


Talk to people who truly care about you when you are overwhelmed or stuck making a decision about anything to do with grad school


Whether it be about how many classes to take, what side projects to take on, what grants to apply to, future job options, make sure you are talking early and often to other people about your decisions. A bonus is if you have people in grad school and people who are not in grad school to talk to.


I'm not saying you have to get "approval" before you do anything, but when we are stuck or overwhelmed, sometimes we can have trouble zooming out and seeing the bigger picture or even how it is actually affecting us.


This may mean you have to ignore the advice of certain people, such as your advisor, the graduate advisor, or anyone else that is invested in your progress in grad school because sometimes they can't be objective. Certainly there are many advisors out there that are true mentors who have their grad students' back regardless, but there are many who don't.

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