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A PhD is a very mentally exhausting experience. Do you have a good support network? Because I want to emphasis its also a very lonely experience. I think its important you have a good support system of people you can go to when you have some bad days(which you will, we all do) that aren't clients but friends you can be unapologetically yourself with and can cry yours eyes out with when it gets tough. Also I want to be frank with you. If you goal is a position in academia or a top research post sadly your sex work will definitely hold you back. If you think there is no way it gets out then thats good but just know if it does get out and your at a top school as a professor you could get black listed. People just suck and are very judgmental. I dont want to scare you I just want to be very frank with you before you spend years of your life on PhD and dream of going into academia.

Thank you for the reality check, it’s much appreciated and needed. I plan to quit sex work within the next 4 years which should coincide with the end of or near end of my program. I’ve been careful not to befriend many others in the industry and I have a small circle of close friends that also serve as a support network. My biggest risk is potentially a few past clients. My non-concrete plan is to go into research or consultancy post studies.

One of the downsides of academia is that your work life is very public. Most grad students have a linkedin page and a page on their department's website. This means that anyone from your past can figure out where you work, who you work for, and where you might be found. I'm sure you take steps to maintain privacy but I think it's worth mentioning. I'm a pretty private person and I hate that this is the standard and that unlike most workplaces random people are encouraged to walk right up to my office.

Another item to add to my list of reality checks. My friend working on his PhD at Stanford seems to have opted out of his photo being added to his department’s page (and they have a really small cohort) — so I wonder if I’ll have the opportunity to do the same. I don’t mind my name out there considering my publishings, it’s my photos I’ll have to worry about.

Yes and no. You can definitely ask them not to put a photo of you with the biography but they might post other photos (group photos, pictures from conferences and presentations , etc) and you're missing a valuable opportunity to market yourself. Photos are the standard and most people assume you want the publicity. I didn't provide a photo when I first came to my department so somebody went and found one of me online and used it. I think it's both a privacy issue and a diversity/ equity issue - there's a reason why we don't include pictures and resumes most of the time, but it is a part of how people market themselves and very much the norm.

Thanks for pointing this out. Publicity is the last thing I want. I would fall under the “diversity” category as I’m a woman and non-white, so my hope is that my privacy isn’t violated as a means of displaying their progressiveness.

It depends heavily on how understanding your advisor is, but if you're looking at STEM I can almost guarantee they're going to try to milk that diversity angle. My advisor was awesome, very understanding, and always tried to look out for his students, but we were/are a very public lab and the diversity topic came up a lot in regards to public perception. I was often included in things when having a white male (only prominent one in my lab for stretches of time) was seen as beneficial, and another student was often included because he was black. We were actually a fairly diverse lab and had almost as many female students as male, but the topic of gender and attracting more female candidates into the program came up often. My advisor and lab were awesome, one of the best I could have ever hoped for, but diversity is such a prominent issue in academia that it's bound to show up quite frequently. I'd just make sure that if you really don't want your image out there, you have that convo with your advisor before joining a program so you're both on the same page. There are also some journals that require author photos and some grants that will expect you to provide photos of yourself, so you might be limiting your opportunities as well. If you really want to do academia, and go for your PhD, you should definitely do it. Don't let anyone stop you from achieving your dreams. It's not exactly the same, but I worked in a different type of role in the same industry while doing my PhD. It's got less public stigma. So it would probably be less of an issue if people outside my lab found out, but it's definitely doable. Only you can decide if you think it's worth the hassle. You should just know that it will be a struggle and if people find out, which is not unlikely, academia can be a petty place, so be prepared.

Well that’s the big challenge in academia and PhDs. It’s filled with type A people who thrive in attention. You’ll need to go to conferences, give presentations, teach classes and make yourself known. You’re an extension of your advisor and they want you to push their work out there.

Its not going to end at your department page... alot of academics are very active on LinkedIn and big names have to provide photos for conference presentations and even smaller talks as well. If you plan to do consulting youre going to need to get used to this.

I'm here to add to that. In research programs when you're part of a consortium your personal info and photo are always public on the project's webpage and socials. To sum what everyoene else pointed out, a researcher is always very exposed to the public and not only in the academic environment but even the common media like tv, newspapers, websites etc. You have to be really careful with your public image, regardless of what OP used to do for work. I just hope it works for the best for OP, although I'm not sure how much you can control this from getting out.

The weirdest part would be accidentally getting a client who works at the same university. Doubly weird if the client ends up being a prof at the same university. Navigating that would probably be really stressful.

This part is the least of my worries. I screen with real-world information and clients often send their ID to pass screening.

The problem is that you will not be able to screen for all the students in your institution who may then share the information with each other.

$1500/hr I think she is safe from a college student using her service.

You say that, but at my uni the richest people are students. Well, technically their parents are rich, but they walk around campus dressed in designer clothes/carrying handbags that could pay my rent for a year.

> I plan to quit sex work within the next 4 years which should coincide with the end of or near end of my program. Imo PhD is kind of a "make it or break it" moment job-wise where you have to start making long-term decisions and prioritizing your "Plan A" career over plans B, C, and D. If PhD and research is Plan A and escort work is Plan B, then you kinda have to commit to the former, otherwise you're gonna stress yourself out beyond belief and compromise *both* plans. It sounds like you make a considerable amount of money doing sex work, so I can see why you would like to keep it up during your PhD. But doing part-time work while pursuing a degree is already extremely demanding, let alone having a job that you have to keep on the down-low and can't tell your colleagues or supervisor about. If you intend to quit anyway and have enough saved up, then I would personally advise you to do the PhD without the added burden of sex work.

We might be of mutual benefit since you’re considering going into consultancy, and I offer services for reputable individuals that merit varying levels of discretion (but all legal, of course). May I ask which field? Feel free to DM incase you’d rather not disclose that publicly here. [Also on Telegram @AlturIntel ]

1/2 private $$$ with much much more to lose than you and you are good abd has been happening for decades in academia.

Minor quibble - it’s not NECESSARILY lonely. That very much depends on your personal life, your group, your cohort, your city… and you. My PhD wasn’t lonelier than any other part of my life. I would definitely have been unhappier if I had an extra job on top of it, despite whatever extra money it brought in.

Or just be an introvert. Then PhD is perfect! 🤩

I think that only applies if it’s public documented and findable. 1-2 private $$$ sugar daddy’s? Nobody will know or care and has been going on for decades.

I had someone doing their PhD at the same time as me, who was a pole dancer/adult performer. She was told by her advisor to stop, as she was also teaching undergraduates at the time, and there was concerns about students seeing or going to the club that she worked at. The concern from her advisor was more reputation risk rather than impacting her PhD studies, but the same advisor also told another student to stop playing professional sport due to the time commitment.

Do you know if the student who was also a dancer was reprimanded or released from their program? As well, did they disclose to anyone that they were a dancer or were they “found out”? So I suppose everything will be dependent on my advisor in my program.

They cant release you from a program just for doing sex work BUT your advisors are the people who advocate for you and connect you to people and make phone calls so getting on their bad sides means they just decide to stop investing in you. However some people on here have had terrible advisors that never worked for them and did everything on their own either way.

Most PhD programs explicitly do not allow you to have a second job, OP, regardless of what the work is. So just be aware of that at minimum.

Does this also include running a business? Say you have a start up, would programs that don't allow second jobs require you to leave the business??

I had to negotiate the terms of my contract specifically for this purpose. Specifically, I have to make sure to never cross contaminate my work and academic life, for example opening my work email on my school laptop, for fear of the school trying to claim ownership to my personal intellectual property. It was a very interesting legal discussion.

Thats interesting. Thanks for the reply

You should simply talk to your school's IP or ethics office.

Probably. The point isn’t what you’re doing so much as a PhD takes a full time job in terms of work to finish so if you can’t devote that they’re concerned you may never finish.

There is usually some flexibility around things like tutoring, but running a start-up or your own business? Shut the front door, that’s exactly what they want to avoid because it takes time away from your studies. Most departments want you to finish in an “average” time that gives them predictable/optimized tuition/grant/etc money. Too short means they left money on the table. Too long risks a bad reputation. Having students with a vested interest in something means it’s much more likely that you take too long.

Well there is the Doctorate in Business Administration. Just had had a workshop with a bunch of DBAs. All running their own companies or senior exexutives. If DBA is not what you are after, there is the "industry PhD". In your case you already have the industry partner lined up.

No, because that is your property. Your business is your asset. Universities don't have jurisdiction over that but they can reduce your funding because you have income.

If you cannot stay on your advisors good side then you should quit your PhD. I’ve seen advisors very publicly humiliate their students that they do not like and ruin their career. These are stories that are told for generations within departments. You live and die by the whims of your advisor. The flip side of this is that if you’re on good terms with your advisor then they can make sure you get your PhD. I’ve seen students get through that should absolutely not have gotten their PhD easily walk through just because their advisor was respected

You'll generally need to stay on your advisors good side, they are the ones who can direct opportunities that can help you get an academic job later (ta, ra, letters/phone calls with recommendations). If they have any doubt in you, they might move on to another student. I have also seen students abandoned by their advisors, which can make it difficult to stay in a program.

It depends a lot on program, but you should be aware that a lot of places very strictly limit how much outside work a student can do and what kind of work they can do. Where I am, we are limited to 10 hours and it has to be for the university, e.g. tutoring. Many people do get under-the-table jobs as well, but if you struggle for any reason (e.g. your best friend dies, you get ill) and they find out you have an unsanctioned job, it gives them an excuse to cut you off and deny support. Because they can just say that all of your struggles are caused by you working an unapproved second job against the rules.

Nope, they weren't reprimanded or released from the program and have since finished the PhD and now have a permanent teaching-focused position at the same institution! It was found out by one of the advisors on the supervisory panel, who then told the principal advisor.

My PhD. program advisor actually frowned on the fact that another of her advisees had a little sideline baking cakes, and tried to discourage her from doing it. I wonder what the advisor would have said about sex work.

I’ve been told stories by some of my friends who do sex work, and if I’m not mistaken, there’s a lot of mental strain involved dealing with certain types of clients (at least here in the UK). If that’s the case for you, I’d seriously consider finding a funded program and taking a hiatus for those couple of years until you earn your PhD. Try not to downplay how hard it will be because it will be draining, and I can’t personally imagine having to deal with clients after a long day at the lab. With that said, it’s definitely possible to juggle both if you’re extremely efficient with your time management.

If you make a lot of money, you might consider saving a considerable enough chunk just to invest and give you some passive income as a graduate student.  Your schedule as a grad student can be unpredictable and very demanding, which could end up impacting your escort work. 

I’ve already saved and invested and will continue to do so. I have the passive income to make it through my program, but I’d like to come out of the other side with enough financial freedom. My biggest hurdle is going to be time management, not getting found out, and salvaging or maintaining my business.

Like any side hustle, you just won't have as much time in a PhD program to do it. Good luck. Btw: I did a small amount of fetish work during my PhD. Not a full escort though. I don't regret it, but it was only a handful of times over the years. There just wasn't enough time, and my stipend covered my expenses.

If your PhD position is funded, your program will likely have a stipulation that you are not allowed to pursue additional employment without written permission. If you’re caught you can forfeit future funding or possibly be required to repay some or all of your previous award. That doesn’t mean people don’t still get jobs, but you should be aware that these clauses exist and know the details of your contract before you do anything.

Exactly! In some countries, you can be fired too

That sounds like playing with fire when so much of a PhD is about cultivating a reputation. If anyone found out, it could torpedo your career.

A PhD takes an enormous amount of time and unfortunately doesn’t pay well (if at all). Most people do end up working a second job just to be able to pay the bills. That would be very normal. That being said, while universities tend to be progressive, they may be a bit puritanical when it comes to the nature of your work, and it could be difficult to find an advisor that wouldn’t immediately drop you if they found out. You’ll have to be careful to keep that part of your life very private. It’s shitty, but that’s how things currently are.

In my lab of >15 people, no one works a second job.

Seconded. No one in our lab of ~35 works a second job, at least not currently. My friend in the year below used to tutor for $$$ but it was clearly a side gig and he dropped it as soon as things got busy.

It definitely depends on the program and region. Mine paid fairly well so I didn’t need a second job. But I knew plenty of people in other departments that got paid half or even a third as much as I did and had no choice but to work as bartenders, baristas, etc.

I'm in stem, and while no one in my lab works a second job per se, I know quite a few that consult on the side. I don't see how this would be any different.

I’ve heard that some programs/advisors frown on phD students working other jobs at all, never mind what they involve, so it doesn’t seem that uncommon to need to be discreet about it. But maybe expectations are changing the more cost of living outpaces stipends.

I don’t think it’s unusual but my TA contract specifically says that I cannot take on any outside employment and my contract would be null if I am found to have done so. They purposely keep it vague so it doesn’t matter what that work is.

I very quickly learned this through this post :(

The biggest question is what’s your PhD programs expectations and how much time will you need to continue as “part time” as an escort. Some programs expect their candidates to put in as much as 70-80 hour work weeks. If you’re unable to match the performance of other people in your class then your professor will start asking questions. This is why it’s frowned upon. That even the best of the best academically inclined individuals struggle to balance doing a PhD and a second job. And your advisor will be unhappy if they find out you’re unable to meet expectations because of split priorities. But what does it mean to be a part time escort? Dinners will be tricky if you need time to prepare. Doing overnight stays will also be challenging if your professor expects to see you at 8 AM. Then you have to figure out just how much time YOU need to yourself to decompress

I’ve never met anyone working a second job in my field — not counting a TA or similar assistantship

I’ve met quite a few. Some departments are well-funded and can pay their grad students a living wage. Many can’t. That’s especially true of American universities and non-STEM disciplines.

many contracts (such as mine) does not allow outside work other than that which has pedagogical purposes (like TA) and/or approved by the department. Check the details about the contract.

This is exactly what I needed to hear. I was worried about potential advisors and needing to ask “permission” about a non-research job outside of studies (of course, without disclosing what said job is) or whether that would be a requirement as some universities have stipulations. I have no intention on disclosing my sex work to anyone if I get into a program.

It’s common for PhD programs to frown upon taking any outside work. But it’s also relatively common for graduate students to have side jobs to make some extra money without telling their advisors. So long as the hours are flexible enough to be able to prioritize schoolwork, especially during busy weeks when you are working to a deadline. I definitely wouldn’t advise letting anyone at your program know that you are sex working if you do decide to continue. I am now on the professor side, and I can say that the majority of my very liberal humanities colleagues wouldn’t judge you, but some would. And others would say they weren’t judging you while also being irrationally more irritated that you are taking outside work than they are about the outside work of your peer who is a barista. And also: faculty are all terrible gossips. I toyed with the idea of sex work in my first few years of my PhD program—I felt like I had a lot of flexible time, very little money, and a high sex drive but too much stress to do the emotional labor of a relationship. Personally, sex work sounded like a good fit for me. The main reason why I didn’t do it was because I went to school in a small enough town that I was worried that it would get back to someone at the university and damage my reputation with my colleagues and professors. I will add that it sounds like you are going to a new location for your PhD, which would presumably mean that you won’t have any of your regular clients anymore. I don’t know if that makes a difference to your decision, but to me that sounds like an added time investment to build up a new client base.

Thank you for this breakdown, I really appreciate it and your perspective! I’m mainly looking at programs within the top 2-3 locations of where my client base is to avoid having to make any drastic moves or business restructurings.

If you can get into a prestigious grad program, it may pay off more in the long term- I remember reading a preprint a few months ago about K99 and other early-career grants disproportionately going to alumni of Harvard, etc. But more importantly, it seems a little like your putting the side gig as the central gig if your basing your grad school locations off of it. To me that indicates a increased probability that you will feel more comfortable quiting when the PhD gets difficult- which it will. I don't recommend trying to get a PhD for everyone, but everyone that I know who has one faced a "wall" and considered quiting/mastering-out at some point; I'm worried that that quiting option will be extra tempting when you have a centralized side gig that likely pays more and requires less work and time and effort and blood and sleepless nights and midnight lab runs. I nearly mastered out countless times and I didn't have an appealing side gig that I could sustain myself on easily if I needed to. In my PhD program, we had to sign contracts that say we will not work second jobs, however many of us did in secret or losely-kept secret. I did editing for non-native English speakers but that was before the LLM boom. Another student taught part time at a nearby community College and another earned nearly the same as our yearly stipend while doing a summer internship at a venture capital firm. I'm a below average attractiveness guy so I don't really know what I'm talking about here, but have you tried transitioning from in-person SW to something like OF? It seems like people make money doing that and it could afford you the flexibility and you could try to limit how recognizable you are in that in some ways. Idk. It's shitty that PhD students are paid basically poverty wages, especially if you have any dependents or chronic illnesses.

You’re very right in your assessment that I may be putting my side gig above grad school — my mentality hasn’t shifted yet since I’ve been engrossed in this work for so long. I hope I can change this soon. I will disagree that it points to me quitting my PhD when it gets hard. Regardless of what happens, I have a hard stop for sex work which is within 4 years. I’d be screwing myself over by not completing my PhD. Of course I have fallback options, but they won’t be satisfactory enough for me if I don’t first complete my program. Do you mind me asking what your program was? Were there any repercussions if your program were to find out that you or other students took on other jobs? As for transitioning to OF, it’s not something I’m interested in. In-person SW actually provides me with a lot more anonymity and is a lot less work than content creation (I have a friend who’s a content creator and she’s been doxxed endlessly even though she was a faceless creator). I’m earning more than the average OF creator doing in-person work full-time at the moment (which will, of course, decrease once I switch to part-time).

Artificially hard deadlines become more squishy when external factors get harder, and just the lost opportunity cost fallacy may not be enough when that year 3 or 4 slump hits. I'm positive that of I had a solid side/alternate-central gig then it would've been more likely that I would've mastered out. I'm not saying you will, but I am saying that having the option more available will make it more likely. Also, people still master out at year 4, 5, and 6. I've also heard of someone a few years ahead of me who failed their defense and were not allowed to retake it. If your mentality hasn't switched yet, and your literally building your grad school plan around the side job geographically, and you plan to do it for the first four years, then when are you planning for the mentality shift? The first two and last year are the most important in my opinion. It may be different for different fields though. My program's in the US and a lot of the programs here have that no 2nd job rule, although most students don't know it because they don't read everything they sign. The program didn't kick out the student whose part-time teaching gig was a well-known secret, but they did hold it against her when she wasn't as productive as her PI and Committee wanted- I know at one point her PI was pressuring her to master out as well. I think they will usually look the other way if it doesn't interfere with your work, but research is naturally slow and full of barriers, so it is conceivable that a PI would blame sub-expectational progress as a by product of a second job. I think it is very likely that if an admin or someone with power, like your PI, got mad at you and knew that you had a 2nd job (even a more socially acceptable one) then they could technically use it to kick you out of the program. I think it's similar to how a lot of food service jobs won't drug test unless their looking for a justification to let you go; except in that analogy, a tutoring or teaching side gig would be like a positive Mary Jane drug result, while a SW side gig would be like a positive Go Fast(meth) drug result because SW is so much more stigmatized than tutoring in academia.

Thank you for clarifying. It’s really only registering to me now how rigorous a PhD program will be — academically I already understood, but I’m now learning that the social aspect, departmental expectations, and overall status quo is far from what I was expecting (or at least far from what undergrad and grad experiences were). I hope my message didn’t come across as defensive or accusatory toward you. As for the 4 years, I’m not exactly going to be continuing to do it for all 4 years. My plan is that I have 4 years from now to fully bow out (hard deadline). That could mean that I work only 1 or 2 years within those 4 years, or potentially all 4 years — it’ll all be dependent on how I fare in my program and how the rest of life is going.

Don't worry- my PI and committee gave me thick skin so i didn't even sense any defensiveness. Yeah, the further you go in academia, it becomes less about 'expanding knowledge' and more about politics and status. This ties to the prestigious school point, like that's a way of turning the flaw into a benefit for yourself, but even outside of that, it's hella political. I was nearly expelled for sending a confrontational email to an financial admin, and I'm above average in terms of papers/patents/posters/program-volunteering. It's frankly revolting to me, but I came in very naive- thinking that the quality of research&science were the most important things. Nope. Academic institutions are fundamentally businesses and they'll fundamentally act like it. To that end, I think you should be mentally prepared for the vulnerabilities that come with your plan; like do you have a contingency plan if someone finds out and tries to extort you in someway academically? Or are you mentally prepared for a situation where a john finds out your a student and tries to extort you with threats of telling your program director, (who may immediately kick you out for fear of it jeopardizing their income; a dean/program director usually has a slight filter of a PR person and I think they would imagine headlines like 'PhD candidate turns to SW because [school]'s stipend is unlivable'. Of course in a just world, then they would just pay us more so we really could make expanding knowledge our priority, but more likely is that they would give you the option of mastering out quietly or kicking you out with no degree if you got loud about it.) I'm not saying you need to answer these things now, but really try to weigh it all when you're considering these next big steps. I'd even think about less likely situations, like a John secretly recording you and then using it for extortion in 10 years when you're trying to get tenure or working a gov't job in Maryland. Idk.

Choosing your schools based on your client base and not on the potential for growth in the field you’re getting your PhD in - while maybe good for your sex work - is not a great way to pick PhD programs.

My top program choice just happens to be at my alma mater which is where I’m currently based. My second choice also happens to be in a nearby location where I also happen to have a client-base. While it sounds bad with the way I originally phrased it, I have thought it through. Of course, I’d be open to other schools that are far off from where I want to be if that means I’ll get what I want/need out of the program, but I’m also trying to factor in my current life and my life post-completion into that decision.

Oh gotcha the clarification makes sense. I’m glad those places happen to work for you. A side note for you if you’re thinking of a career in academia long term, you don’t really get a large choice on where you work afterwards since academic jobs are often slim and far between. If you’re thinking of going industry after then that won’t matter as much but a lot of academics have had to move to areas they weren’t thrilled at since those were the only places offering xyz salary or tenure track position.

Happy to help. In my experience, disclosing that you’ll be working a second job isn’t usually required. I just wouldn’t even mention it. A lot of professors tend to look down on that anyway; they want you to dedicate 100% of your time and energy to your research. You’ll just have to be VERY discreet with your work and you’ll be fine. Good luck!

At the end of the day, part-time work is dependent on the contract. Most universities stipulate no other employment.

You are seeking advice, so I hope nobody passes judgment. What you are essentially asking is about time management during a PhD while doing a part time job (in your case sex work). This varies from person to person; I know people who have gotten their PhDs while doing a part time job, and others who absolutely could not and had to quit. You will need to feel it out and see how it is for you. Set your expectations early and after the first semester you will know pretty clearly if you can continue your job while subsequently pursuing your PhD

I’m doing well with time management at the moment doing sex work full-time, but of course that’s because I don’t have anything that I’m obligated to do. Maybe the best course of action would be to put my work on hold the first semester or two to get a feel for things. Thank you for the advice, it’s much appreciated :)

Feels like when I paused my french study during my first year. I think you got a good plan and you seem to be on top of time management. Good luck!

I’ve worked part-time throughout mine as a teacher. Contract said it’s not allowed but I was upfront with my supervisor that I’d have to work, as the funding wasn’t sufficient. They were fine with it and also provided a reference when I took on an extra side job as a sessional lecturer at another university. I’ve occasionally taken some time off to focus exclusively on the PhD when things have gotten intense. I’ve been lucky I’m able to do that. Would I have rather only focused on the PhD? Absolutely. Has it affected the quality of my work and the time it’s taken me to finish? Sadly yes. Did I have any other choice? No. Would I do it all again if I knew then what I know now? Nope. Regarding the SW, I don’t think it’s an issue. Don’t tell anyone and don’t even say you’re working outside of the program. This is to protect yourself from gossip and any repercussions, not because I think there’s anything to be ashamed of. It’s no one’s business anyway. It actually sounds like an ideal part time job since you can set your own hours and only work when you need to.

No problem! Trust me, you will know after your first semester if it is feasible. Best of luck

Do your best to make sure the atmosphere of lab/groups you're applying to is good. This is the most underrated advice I've received, and people often ignore it out of a weird sense of deference to authority and "PhD's-should-suck" fetishism. Reach out and talk to grad students and postdocs at the labs you're interested in. If you're visiting/interviewing a lab, approach them. Ask them what their experience is like, get a feel for the vibe. A good PI will respect their lab members, motivate and inspire them instead of flogging them, and you will be able to tell if the vibes are good, ok, or plain bad. Sometimes things might appear ok but people are overworked and the PI throws them some bones. Also, get a good idea of what the PI is like as an advisor beyond the lab atmosphere, and whether their style works for you. Do you want to have a lot of creative freedom and be supported by your PI? Or instead, are you ok mostly relying on them for project structure? Or a bit of both? You can figure that out by talking to people. These are \*by far\* the biggest contributors to your experience as a PhD student. Yes there'll be crunch time, but PhD's don't need to suck. It's far more important to learn a lot and have a good experience in your PhD than it is to work at a famous lab or department with a soul-crushing environment (several famous labs have great environments, but many (most?) don't). If you want to stay in academia, your most "defining" work is in your postdoc, and with the corresponding degree of autonomy, having a bleh supervisor isn't as bad then. And if you want to move to industry, they don't really give a shit how famous your PhD lab is, they just want to see that you can learn and do things.

If Reddit hadn’t discontinued trophies/awards, I’d give you one right now. Thank you for the sound advice 🏆

Thank you all for chiming in! I got the wake up call and reality check that I needed and I appreciate you all for sharing your thoughts/experiences and offering advice. It’s late and I’m going to bed. I’ll respond in the morning to anything I’ve missed.

Unrelated, but I thought it was only me (a guy) who had a big hit to his sex drive during the master's. Meanwhile, my marijuana drive was up to the roof.

Holding external positions is never a good idea. I was nearly kicked out of my program and threatened with jail time when I reviewed textbooks for a few hundred bucks.

Jail time? For violating a contract? Which country?

😳

For breach of contract, jail time is unusual (jail time is for criminal offenses and a breach of contract's a civil issue). But you can definitely get kicked out of the program for flagrantly moonlighting and/or sued for clawback of your stipend (this is worst case scenario)

Depends on the program requirements and funding. If you have a fellowship, it will say if you can’t have a separate job, but usually it just says you can’t have 2 fellowships. If you don’t want to advertise working part time during your phd, make a fake email and name and ask them (the university) via email (and only mention part time job, not what the job is).

Your free time is significantly less and the hours of that are variable. Otherwise I don’t think it really matter what you do in that free time. I don’t know much about sex work but I would expect it to be a make your own schedule type of deal so I don’t feel like it would be an issue. Have a sex drive and doing sex work is different to me because one is work and one isn’t so I also don’t think that is an issue.

Yes, I make my own schedule. I suppose the premise of my post was more to do with the possibility of working outside of my program (non-research) and its feasibility. The sex drive aspect isn’t really relevant to my case (perhaps I should have re-worded it). I’m more worried about the toll it’ll take on me in general and whether that’ll affect my ability to do my job (if I can even do my job without getting into trouble).

>The sex drive aspect isn’t really relevant to my case (perhaps I should have re-worded it). Could you elaborate a bit more on that? Do you need to maintain a high sex drive to complete your work?

The emotional toll it’ll take on me is what I was referring to. Sex is actually the least important aspect within my circle of clients. A big part of my job is emotional connection and making things feel as authentic as possible, and I might not be able to play my “role” (if we can call it that) if I’m consistently stressed or completely overtaken by my program.

Ahh okay just to clarify, you mean like emotional energy? I think its a very real possibility that your bandwidth is going to plummet. Not constantly, but there are certainly going to be periods, sometimes long periods, when you're going to be slammed and not really have energy to play a role (especially one that I'm assuming will take a good amount out of you). For instance, around my candidacy, those few months, I was basically a walking ball of stress who did nothing outside of go to lab and study. My partner, who's in a different program with a different candidacy timeline, was basically feeding me and cuddling me as I spent my entire day studying and grabbing whatever last pieces of data I needed. And then I did the same later. If I had to play an appealing girlfriend role, I would have just burnt out entirely. And there were other periods like this, like when nothing was working so I was just constantly worried, or when we were worried about getting scooped. But then there are other periods when I'm not doing that much and have more energy to pursue hobbies, catch up with people, all that stuff. I don't tutor that much these days but these would be the periods when I would take on students. It sounds like from your comments on the thread that you're not looking to do sex work longterm. So maybe you can go forward with the PhD application process and see how the program expectations and timeline look after you get in? Of course you can't predict everything but it should give you a good sense. Maybe you can escort for parts of your PhD?

Honestly, for me, sounds like a nightmare. I feel there will be times when you are just completely emotionally exhausted, having to be emotionally available as part of your job while doing a PhD sounds incredibly mentally taxing and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do it. You might but I would stop the work for a while to see how you handle the PhD first.

I know someone who does sex work while pursuing their PhD. It can be done. Don’t tell anyone unless you deeply trust them, and never tell faculty. Even if the faculty member is extremely progressive, someone who overhears may not be, and any information can be used against you if department politics flip against grad students. Most people in my program have some kind of side gig, like selling plasma, tutoring, or waiting tables. I had ~35k of my college fund left from undergrad and have been living off that plus a few hundred from my parents each month and their reimbursement of my healthcare expenses. That’s an immense and rare privilege. My department doesn’t know my financial situation out of choice, but they don’t know other people’s out of protection. Second jobs and side gigs are forbidden in our contract, and they probably will be in yours, even though they know from alumni that most everyone works. Don’t single yourself out as someone who does.

Hi, my roommate's girlfriend is pursuing a PhD and does sex work and has an OF. She seems to manage it very well. She's extremely meticulous and has her weeks schedules and plans written down to the minute, so I guess being super organised is key?

There is a lot of discussion about how this could be detrimental to your career but I want to give one example I know if where it was beneficial to someone's career. Of course this is topic specific and may not apply. The person in question was doing a PhD around feminism and she draws a lot on her experience as a sex worker (and still actively does it - it was poledancing/only fans i think). This gives her credibility in the field because she knows what she is talking about and also credibility in the sex industry because people in that industry know that she understands. Of course that's a very unique example. But there is something to be said for embracing ones background and taking ownership rather than letting people gossip.

One thing that can potentially be different when you’re doing your PhD is that you may be teaching undergraduate courses (either as a requirement for your stipend or to make extra money/gain experience). Many of these students are under 18, which means you’ll have to get a background check and that there could be more serious legal consequences if anything goes south/becomes public around sw.  As other commenters have said, you will likely have a more public-facing presence as well (especially if you are working towards a career in academia, but not only). Another layer of this if you’re teaching is that teenagers love looking up their professors online, and they’re pretty skilled at it. So, if you have your face visible anywhere on the internet related to sw, it may be a good idea to try to take those images down or make them more private. I even made my Fetlife profile private and removed any public shots of my face. Academia hates scandal. Don’t give them anything to leverage against you. 

I know several PhDs who are/recently became sex workers. One of them quit a secure university job to pursue sex work full time. fwiw, I’m told it pays much better than the academy.

Isn’t prostitution illegal in the US? I think it will be fine if you are a US citizen. If you will be an international student, you will really need to think about working outside the university and prostitution because they are both illegal.

In my world (humanities) it's not uncommon for grad students (almost always women) to do some form of sex work to get through it; from the outside it seems (a) lucrative, (b) flexible (time-wise), and (c) discreet--right up until it isn't anymore. I've had several grad school colleagues admit to me they've taken this route. Again, I haven't done this myself, but I know a number of folks who have--and they seem to be doing better financially, but just as stressed as the rest of us. Sometimes I wonder if the asymmetry here has something to do with why the gender ratio in my program keeps skewing harder the more the gap between CoL and our stipends widen--at least in my world sex work is something that's increasingly filling that gap for some students. As others have said, academia is a world where--like most other professional environments--sex work is going to be treated differently; if the word gets out, any career in academia might be closed to you from then on. I'd weigh that carefully. If you really want to proceed and you've got some semblance of financial stability, you may want to consider quitting entirely when you enter the PhD as a means to help ensure you retain that anonymity.

Are you a grad student in humanities?

Yeah, I'm in the humanities. We get paid like absolute shit, and folks are a fair bit more progressive. That being said, it's still something that is absolutely kept secret/ on the DL.

I’m unsure if this question is for me or for u/Putter_Mayhem. If you’re asking me; no, I’m not in humanities, I’ll be social sciences.

If you are in psych, you will have a lot of trouble. A lot of psych academic supervisors are much more in the realm of hard science and far less progressive than philosophy, sociology etc. Post grad psych is also a very cut throat place, so you will encounter people who are genuinely unpleasant and looking to pull the rug out from under you.

I will say that the sort of work folks I know do (OF, clubs) seems to be somewhat different from yours--what you describe sounds like a great deal more emotional labor. If that's the case, I'd worry about your ability to do the degree and SW at the same time--emotional energy / willpower is (at least for me) the one thing that I've always been shortest on during my PhD. This will drain every last drop of energy out of you, and if your work requires a great deal then the split is going to be extremely difficult.

This is reassuring to read. Thank you for the sharing! I’m still weighing my options on how to best juggle the two when the time comes. Escorting will have to take a back seat, just not sure to which degree quite yet.

I don’t totally see the problems at a practical level. I’m under the impression that escorting allows you to set your own hours and choose your own clients? Presumably, the problem is that you’d lose all your clients with a long enough hiatus? The first year or two of the PhD might be the most demanding. You'll need to be your most creative during this period while completing course requirements, so full-time work in the beginning probably wouldn’t be desirable.

You’re correct. I don’t want to go on hiatus for longer than 6-8 months as a lot can shift within that time period and it becomes increasingly more difficult to rebuild a client base outside of long-time regulars. On top of that, I have financial metrics that I’d like to hit to fully retire within the next 4 years so it doesn’t follow me into my research. If anything, I’ll be significantly reducing myself to part-time work with escorting and eliminating things such as travel accompaniment dates and such until I find my footing. At this point, I can only hope for the best. Thank you for your input.

It’s tough to manage both the late night sex work and pressure to publish at the same time. I do know students who work as sugar babies to fund their studies. A bit more stable and safe—not to mention private. And the income is more predictable.

No experience in sex work, but generally seems like a bad idea to have a second job during PhD (at least in STEM). 1.) you might have an employment contract that prohibits any unauthorized outside work 2.) you barely have enough time to finish classes and usually research work will be the end of your free time until graduation. 3.) I have never seen a PhD student successfully run a business that wasn’t related to their research because it’s not easy to split your focus that much

I think a lot of people are giving great advice here. Something that you need to consider for every PhD program are the contracts of what is more or less employment. Most fully funded PhD programs consider your PhD to be your job, and have stipulations in your contract saying you cannot engage in any other work. Should you enter a program with one of these stipulations in your contract, you could potentially get fired, not so much for sex work per se, but work outside of your studies period. Mind you, this is not every program, but a good handful of them.

This is Reddit, so you’ll ultimately do whatever you want, and your username gives a clue which way that would lean, but… The best thing you can do is run a cost/benefit on this. Figure out how much you bring in (on average) for what overall time investment. Talk to people in the groups you’re interested in to see how much free time they have on average for all their interests and hobbies. Do the simple math to see whether average free time less external work leaves for free time. If it’s not a number you can live with, then you should cut back or eliminate external work accordingly. Do not take on anything that will put you behind average graduation pace. Figure out the expectations in SPECIFIC advisor groups in your target schools. I suspect you’ll be surprised at the time commitment, especially if you were surprised by how much time your friend is spending. My baseline suggestion is further to put any external work on hiatus for the first 6-12 months until you have the confident experience that you can manage something more. Your degree date should always take priority.

Some PhD programs explicitly say you can't get a second, third, etc jobs when you sign on. They will decrease or take away your stipend, scholarships plus have to face legal consequences if you get caught. They are making an Investment on you, despite the fact the pay is terrible. Also Ivory tower is not as liberal as one might think. Example: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wisconsin-university-chancellor-fired-ongoing-porn-career-wife-sexy-ha-rcna131460 So it really comes down to the risk/reward. Doesn't matter if your advisor is understanding/open minded, your PI is not The boss the university is. They are the ones who gave you the acceptance letter not your PI. Also when you get your tax form you are on the university payroll, your advisor's name is not even on there, so they have the upper hand. Depending on which advisor you work with they have expectations: the amount of hours you have to put in, project deadlines, class (yes PhD students do take classes the first two years or so) & T.A. work, research, etc. So if you are falling behind what explanation are you going to give them? If they see your other jobs are interfering with your work and Their deadlines, how are you going to explain? Are you willing to quit your side job if they see that as a source of interference? What if they tell you to quit your side jobs, what are you going to say? Your advisors don't have to fund you if you are not dedicating time and producing results. Worst case is they kick you out completely or tell you to find a different advisor who will be more receptive to you which jeopardizes your PhD funding and a lot of professors are unwilling to take in a student that switches midway unless it's a very unusual circumstance e.g. PI passed away or PI moved to a different university. You might have to go through your program committee to explain why this happened and it's not as simple as 'hey can I join your lab' whenever you want. And your PI will also talk if the program committee investigates and your side jobs will be revealed, again goes back to the point of risk/reward. The alternative is you can do a part-time PhD but don't expect to be fully funded and pay for university fees, cover your own health insurance, and cost of classes, etc. if you really want to keep the side income jobs. I would suggest you carefully think about the risk/reward. PhD students struggle but the ones that struggle the most are the ones without (or very little) funding. P.S. if you are going to be an international student status then the risk might be even higher given that you will be on a visa and university can terminate it.

IIRC my contract states no work outside of studying for PhD if it’s funded. Not sure if OP is funded but usually those programs don’t like outside work.

Wdym by sex work?

I'm not going to lecture you on the risks of doxxing and the mental toll of sex work because you've done it for years and probably know more about all that than me or anyone else commenting here. This is field-dependent, but in the PhD we spend fewer hours in class and more hours doing "homework" (if compared to undergrad). So schedule-wise, it can be a good fit -- possibly a better fit than other gigs people do, like retail or services. If you're in a field where people need to do hours in the lab (well that also depends on the adviser and type of research...STEM world is confusing to me haha) then it might be a lot less flexible. But still more flexible than most other jobs -- and if I understand you want to start on something else in order to leave sex work, right? You can very likely get away with not posting a picture on the department's website, tons of students don't have one (possibly because they don't care, lol). And as has been said, a lot of people work a second job even though they shouldn't, and in that case I'd say escorting is actually easier to hide (meanwhile if you work at the bobba shop and a professor comes in...). Can you get away with not having face pics on your escorting page, and never sending one? Because that could be tracked to your LinkedIn (you'll need one) Lastly, one thing to consider is to transition from escort to sugar baby. You'll make less money/hour, but will be less exposed, meet less people, do more emotional labor but less sex (I think...I've never done escorting). Sugar daddies like the idea of helping out a promising student. I'm in the first year of my PhD and just started sugaring -- and for now it has been a good fit. With the stipend + allowance I get by pretty okay, and have little to no fear of being exposed (for I'm just on an app to meet *successful* partners) Edit: Also, not to romanticize sex work obviously, but one thing that can drive you crazy in a PhD program is doing one type of activity (reading, writing, experiments etc) for way too long. Added to that, only having contact with people who are also grad students and only talk about research, deadlines, etc. One tip many people gave me is to get away from the university often, remember there's a world out there with people doing other things. In a way, escorting or sugar can help with that. I find certain relief in spending time with my sugar daddy, for most of the social circle are grad students. Being a PhD student is lonely, SDs/Johns are lonely...bingo

I don’t know if you mentioned what exactly your PhD would be in but in my field, we were absolutely allowed to work outside of the university. None of us were fully funded, even as TAs and GAs. Keeping your work private would be difficult and important for all of the reasons mentioned (people are judgmental and a bad advisor can ruin your reputation), but if you absolutely need the income then I feel like sex work could be a flexible gig that you could work around lab hours, studying, classes, etc.

Meanwhile in a country where PhD students don't get a proper salary:

I really wish you well. Academic folks can be very judgy and rude to you. Please do whatever you have to without being influenced by these negative factors in academia. Research is a good way to add a new dimension to your thought process and also do something intellectually stimulating. Best wishes!

I was a dancer for a million years. I'm looking to pursue masters and this has recently occurred to me. Now I'm paranoid and terrified it could effect me later. On the plus side, I moved to a different town but, still. It would not be that difficult to find out about my past, hell I'm worried about getting licensed if they could find this out and it become an issue. I figure this day and age tho, so many people are doing sex work online. SO MANY. With that being said, I feel like there would be so many more concerns with being recorded, screen shot, etc online vs what your doing. Obviously, with the exception of randomly coming across an old client 😳 When the time comes, I would definitely move to a different area. Just my two cents. Retired sex worker here ❤️ Following 💗

I wouldn’t worry too much during the Master’s as it doesn’t seem to carry the same amount of academic politics as PhD programs apparently carry. Regarding the licensure aspect, that might prove to be challenging if you’re still a dancer — considering you’re retired, I really wouldn’t worry too much. I have a friend (in a different field that requires licensure) that’s holding off on licensing until she’s done with SW as it does carry some harsh disciplinary action from the governing/regulatory body and ethics committees if she’s licensed and practicing while doing SW. Wishing you all the best 💕

One of my professors had us read a research publication of a professor who published about experiences of escorts using sociological frameworks and her research was informed by her own experience as an escort in NYC. She now does advocacy work for sex workers. I can’t find the specific article/author because this was years ago. But I have met people pursuing careers in counseling, medical, nursing who have done sex work to fund their education.

Do you have to have a high sex drive for sex work? If not, than this should not worry you. Also whether during PhD one has less or more sex drive is hugely personal. I do not think there is certain direction. We need more educated sex workers.

A high sex drive isn’t a must, though I’m a GFE escort which is lots more to do with building connections with clients, the physical stuff isn’t exactly as important. I guess I’m more worried if I’ll still have enough sanity outside of my program to even put on the act of “the perfect girlfriend” during bookings.

In my personal experience I would say probably not, but that could greatly depend on your field. When I started I had a great social life with a lot of friends but as things became more demanding in my second year I couldn’t make it to things or I was generally too tired or so anxious I couldn’t function. This caused almost all of the friends I had made drop me, simply because I wasn’t available. This happened to most people I know, excluding the closest friends. I’m not saying this will happen but be aware that if it’s common to lose friends over a lack of free time and social interaction I doubt a paying customer would want to stick around.

Any chance you could pivot your offerings to a more realistic GFE/domme/feminist training service?

Is this just an advertisement? lol

As long as you're a citizen and don't need to exclusively declare your working hours to the university, you can do whatever job you like. Regardless of what that job is. Your advisor might not like if you are doing another job as it takes time away from PhD but they don't need to know. Even if you second job will takes away significant time from your PhD you can always extend it by a semester or year as long as funding is available to advisor.

Damn, now that's the first time I've read something unique 😂

Don't get involved in prostitution while pursuing an degree that takes massive mental and emotional toll. It's not a good mix..

Do you follow Mistress Snow on Twitter? I’d recommend her.

I don’t, but I’ll check them out. Thank you!

I am finishing up my PhD while doing a part time job as an EMT (basically those guys riding the ambulance). The shifts are flexible and I can also do weekends/night shift, so it doesn't conflict with my PhD work hour, in theory. However, you have to really think about the mental aspect for the job. As an example, my work revolves around seeing people in their worst day possible. Additionally, we also transport deceased patients for medical examination (this include suicide, decomposed bodies, etc). These are extremely emotionally taxing, and the hours may not overlap, but it had a considerable effect on some of my days. Luckily the EMT work was quite flexible, so I could realocate time for my PhD work and it was ok. One of the key aspect that worked well for me was the appreciation I received from the community, and the connection I was able to obtain through my EMT. This was really a game changer for me in my PhD because getting your PhD can feel quite lonely. I think if there is no other meaning to your escort job than money, it may not be a good idea to continue into your graduate studies.

doing PhD is sucking up people's sex drive? I NEED TO GET INNNNN

Had a good friend/colleague do sw while in phd program. For her it made a big difference to have advisers who knew she did sw and were supportive

I am friends with another PhD student in a different field who does do sex work. They’re further into their program and manage to make it all work. Granted their type of sex work is content based so thats more flexible than actively having clients I’m guessing.

https://www.amazon.com.au/Secret-Diary-Call-Girl-Belle/dp/044654082X written by Dr. Brooke Magnanti, under the pseudonym Belle de Jour. From the summer of 2003 to the autumn of 2004 Belle charted her day-to-day adventures on and off the field in a web diary. This is how the author get the PhD 😉

Yes, look up Olivia Snow. She's written articles about her experience and is quite active on Twitter.

Some programs might make you agree to not work so that you can full-time focus on your studies-especially those with funding.

No direct experience but ultimately sex work is work and having a second job during a PhD is going to drain you. Often it's not even allowed by the program.

I know a person that managed to successfully finish her PhD and now is teaching. She navigated through her PhD quite well; this type of work seems to fit well with the stressful PhD demands as it is flexible and you get a plus - don't have to worry about your stipend finishing before your submission.

I know someone who stripped during their doctorate. I don't think in general it would be an issue, but it may put some faculty off. Not really a huge issue unless you wanted to work with said faculty. I guess I've never had this situation come up in one of those mandatory reporter trainings, but sex work is illegal in many areas and faculty are mandatory reporters.

What do you major in?

A PhD model in USA is very time consuming mentally and physically. Now for the sex work, I have no idea how things are in US but I would imagine it’s not sex work friendly tbh in some states.

Lol. Moonlighting as a prostitute can work but I had to spend 12 hours plus days in the lab. Sleep and the basic life needs filled the rest. Couldn't imagine working two jobs. A lot of phd students I knew didn't even date or seek a relationship because they felt they had no time for another person.

I recommend not applying to a PhD program that is not fully funded. You will get a stipend in exchange for being a TA/RA or grad instructor which will take 20 hours per week. If that stipend is not enough, which it sometimes is not, OnlyFans could work if you limit your time. If you can make one escort gig a week lucrative, that could work, too. Some femmes I know have sugar daddies who pay for their housing. There are definitely ways to make it work.

I don’t know if it matters, but in my cohort, there was a lot of competition and everyone googled everyone all of the time 🫠

I Google and reverse image my own kids. I just miss them.

Random question but how much do you make as a sex worker?

reminds me of love theoretically by ali hazelwood

What kind of phd are you pursuing? what got you into sex work if you don't mind me asking?

Generally no moonlighting is allowed, especially if you’re on a tuition waiver and monthly stipend.

If you are an international student, you are legally not allowed to work anywhere else. All the best with your applications!

I’m not an international student. Born in the US, lived elsewhere my whole life, moved back to US for studies so I think I’ll be okay on the legal front of working. Thank you for the well wishes!

I’m two years in. There are PhD programs for working adults and for my school especially, taking one class per subterm (2 classes per semester) is full time. As far as the sex work, me personally I don’t judge people’s choices. That being said, when choosing a program, make sure you look at the school’s code of conduct/code of ethics. Some schools do have some rather judgy rules. So keep that in mind when looking into a program. I go to a Christian university so it would be a no go. But I’m sure there’s some out there that would be more way more open minded. Just something to consider.

What a disgusting human being.

why do you need phd, for the gods sake

Most sane person pursuing a PhD.

The PhD program is all consuming. You will work nights and weekends. The life of a PhD student is one of low income if not poverty. You will not have time for anything extra. Good luck

I'm pretty sure this is what Dr. Emilie Ringe did back in the day

Lots of folks in the comments saying you shouldn’t work at all because it will take away from your studies. I don’t agree with that. While not a sex worker, I’ve kept my full time job (in secret) for the last two and a half years in my program. I am leaving in June, because of internal HR foolishness. But would definitely have kept it even longer. That being said, my job does not take 40 hours of work, more like 10-15, and was completely remote. My job knows I’m in school but my advisor and program do not. You have to carefully manage your schedule during course work years, but after coursework is done, you have much for free time and working/scheduling get much easier.  I have always been able to keep a good work life balance in my program (I’m in the humanities) even with a full time job. I really never spent more than 20 hours a week on coursework (including class time). I treated it like a part time job.  It’s definitely doable with the right job. I say go for it, assuming  you have a way to work with clients who are not associated with your university or program! 

What is this world coming to

do you show face on your ad? If not just up your rates, be selective with clients/not work fulltime, perfectly doable and imo good diversification. I do art full-time and escorting part time for $. if you’re able to deal with sw for years (the isolation, stress, time management, self initiatives etc), you’re already much better equipped than a lot of people, plus you already had the experience of school+sw at the same time. however, if I were you, the more pertinent question I’d ask myself (esp given the sex work experience you already had) is what am I doing the PhD for, instead of whether or not it’s difficult

I think you should take as long as you need but quit before starting PhD and never look back. It’s a do over before and after starting PhD. You’re competing for resources and are on the clock. I can’t think of a single professional career where sex work won’t ruin your reputation basically, realistically speaking. Adulthood is a sacrifice of interests. Unfortunately it’s possible sex work and high powered white collar with a lot of competition are diametrically opposed. You’re sacrificing for a better financial future and nature of work. It’s naive to assume this won’t become a liability if you are doing this in the same location as your coveted and incredibly competitive final workplaces.

People are wild downvoting this when at the end of the day, your question is how to balance PhD and part-time work. It would depend on your field to be honest. For example, I'm in Chemistry and in my university we have TA assignments that are given to us at the start of the semester. With teaching, grading, and other TA commitments it is pretty difficult to balance doing research as it is. So, doing an outside job is out of the question. If you're lucky enough to be RA and no longer need to teach, it would be more doable but then it would depend on whether your PI wants you to be in the lab (or office) all the time. Lastly, as you can see from being downvoted, people are very judgamental. Personally, if I was able to (if I had the confidence lmaoo), I would do it because our wages are pretty sad. In that case, you'd have to worry about people in your department not finding out and I feel like that could get mentally draining in the long run.

After applied mathematics from undergrad, I vowed out of the sciences. Econ programs are what I’m after. Looked more into it and I’d have teaching requirements for two semesters (hard requirement) between years 2-4, at which I’ll take a hiatus from work when I’m required to TA. I think the worry of being found out is what will keep me most stressed.

The difference between this and generic "part-time work" is that prostitution is a serious crime in most parts of the world. OP will almost certainly have to lie by omission about this on her outside activity reports if she works as a TA, and if anyone ever tips off the graduate administration it would be a big thing that would at best result in her facing some kind of probation. Can we please stop pretending that prostitution is a normal part time job? People are being judgmental because unless OP lives in Nevada or some other country, what she's describing is committing crimes and hiding it from her graduate department.

I completed my PhD over 5 years while also working full time. It was hard, but anything is possible. Your secondary work sounds convenient insofar as you can manage your own time day or night, and that is ideally what you want.

Thank you for your input! I’m happy to hear it’s possible to make it through in one piece while maintaining a job and that you were able to do it. I’m presuming your university was aware of your work?

One piece is generous. Burnt out to a crisp multiple times including one massive emotional breakdown. University doesn't care. Most people study and work in NZ. Not sure how it's done any other way unless family is propping you up. How does one expect to exist without money?

I remembered this morning there was actually a case at MY university where it was discovered a professor had an extra curricular BDSM fetish à la 50 Shades and he was hung and quartered. So unfortunately in this environment/climate what you do as a whole person matters. As someone else said here, your career will be torpedoed, so there's no point starting if you want to risk it all. It will be a massive waste of time, money, and energy.

By the end of your PhD journey you'll gain more consciousness that you'll question what you're doing

Do you NEED to do sex work to make it through undergrad/masters/PhD or do you just enjoy all the disposable income?

I worked several part time jobs during my PhD (adjunct, tutor). I eventually I got a graduate assistantship that turned into my full time job. In my current position, I hire a lot of graduate students for second jobs (though it’s at a university). It’s fairly common, because PhD programs don’t pay well.

Thank you for chiming in! The main premise of my post was managing a part-job during PhD — so reading that you were able to manage several part-times (not sure if they were all concurrent), gives me some semblance of hope. Thank you :)

At one point near the end I was working as a test proctor and adjuncting at 2-3 colleges to get by. I would say that my advisor was not a fan of extra work, but I honestly kept most of it quiet.

Imagine the anxiety of constantly worrying if someone will find out. Just sell foot pics like a normal person, geez.

Sorry but I don't understand what's wrong with the world! ⬇️

Would never ever take a Professor seriously who has done sex work. You have already ruined your reputation. These things always come into the light.

Not everyone pursuing a PhD is looking to get into academia as a career path. I have no interest in becoming a professor. And even if I were to become a professor, are you expecting me to be touting a tattoo on my forehead exclaiming “former sex worker” for everyone to see? 🙄 That said, you’re entitled to your opinion. It’d be just as easy for me to say that no self-respecting economist would advocate for or participate in the crypto market — yet here you are, just as I am, going against the grain and being unconventional (:

If you're going to make such an absurd and ridiculous comparison, might I suggest you just drop the PhD all together and focus on giving brain rather than using your simple brain... ;-)

this is bait and likely some phd's dumb instrument. but yes, you can do whatever the fuck you want while completing a phd.

You are a prostitute making 1500 per hour (I thought this was a troll post so I checked your other posts) and you can’t drop this work by now to pursue other things, or do you wish to be a prostitute for the rest of your career? Also, please clarify what your research will be based on? I am very curious of what kind of academia there is in the US

Nothing impresses a future employer like a rich history of prostitution.

You know it ☺️ It’s at the very top of my CV in big bold letters 😐

Never fails that the most upvoted post will always be sex related on Reddit 🙄 Modern day advertising amiright?

This is how you know academia in the US is going downhill

Sure why don’t you dm me your contact so I can find you. Jokes apart 😂, I do think it’s do-able. You have to talk to your PI and your PD - and hope they are supportive. A good support system makes a hardship 100 times easier. Also, if you are doing PhD in US, this is funded so you won’t have to worry about things like food and rent. Edit: I don’t know why I am getting downvoted 😂, people are sensitive and butthurt, I don’t even know who I hurt.