I once pi$$ed off my academic advisor (a professor of Ottoman History, and a good one) by replying to his opinion that I could go for a PhD in History, i.e. follow his career path into the Ivory Tower, by telling him I was not inclined to join the priesthood. I don’t think he ever forgave me for that quip, but the pretensions of intellectual loftiness characteristic of that class always rubbed me the wrong way.
Well, I quit work and went for a PhD at 40. It was in engineering, though, and few of my professors were Americans, so I didn’t have to put up with any BS.