I must say, I enjoyed watching Jess back in the day, but I never saw her as an academic. She's smart, but as someone who spent a long time in academia (and in Edinburgh), she has nothing on the academics I've worked alongside. And this sounds arrogant, but I see myself as more intelligent and academic than Jess, but I know I don't have what it takes to do a PhD, and after working with PhD students, I honestly don't think I'd want to.
I've seen brilliant, hell, geniuses, drop out of their PhD programmes, especially in the literature department, and no matter how much support I gave them in my job there, I couldn't get them over those hurdles. It takes a lot out of you and it requires a lot of determination and self-motivation. Then again, I've also seen pretty dumb-ass, not so intellectual people achieve their PhDs because they didn't really care and didn't cave in to the pressures. It's a world of extremes, but it takes a lot of passion and enthusiasm.
All of us who studied Masters love studying and miss it, but most of us have to accept that, from seeing ourselves against the true academics, that we weren't built for the pipe dream of working on a PhD. I saw a lot when working at a university, and I learned from that experience what real academics were - I was kidding myself if I thought I was that standard, and I'm afraid I kind of think Jess is as well, which is probably why she's looking into starting again at a lower level in a new degree field.