I got a PhD in biology. After 5 years in teaching, it was becoming problematic to find work (unless female or minority) so I went to medical school. Worked out well.
too many career post docs taking up space that actual students are supposed to have.
even worse, I've seen people who cashed out on pharma scam companies go back and work as post docs in university cause they couldn't find another job in industry. WTF is that all about?
If you can get in on a startup that goes public you can make millions and retire early. It's a longshot but it happens.
It's my experience that a lot of PhD aren't even basically competent, people get jobs cause they play psychophant.
I have a BA in Biology, (mammals). A colleague from undergrad graduated in 1988 and then immediately entered a PhD program at The University of California. He finished his PhD in 4 or 5 years. He does wet lab research on plants. His post-doc was a mere 2 years and then professorship at a university in Boston. He teaches and does research. While I am very proud of him, and he was also lucky; I hadn’t known of others to move forward so quickly. I wasn’t interested in a pathway with such uncertainty at each step. That is why I decided on public health.
I almost completed my MSc in biology, but I quit, I could see the direction of academe appearances, and quit. In retrospect, sticking it out at least I would have had those MSc letters after my name and could have found better employment.
Fact is, university admissions need to better reflect societal need.
In Canada we need way more nurses and doctors (and no, stealing them from other countries is evil), we in Canada need to train/educate more of our own.
I always encourge students to sign up for job alerts when they are undergrads so they can understand the job market. It is really sad to see how few tenure track faculty positions are available for PhDs in biology. Other health sciences PhDs do much better but students really need more mentoring and career support so they avoid spending decades of their life for a career that may not be possible to achieve. Also, one need not spend a decade doing biology research to get a teaching faculty position- you should be able to teach biology without that kind of extensive research experience. Assuming that most faculty positions are teaching heavy, its really unfortunate that students are spending so much time in their PhDs and postdocs.
I have learned way more about critical appraisal from VP and sensible medicine than from didactic lectures....
On the topic of tuition after the first 3 years: Its "free tuition" even without didactics because they are letting you take research and dissertation credits... and use university resources like the library.
In 1978 as I was finishing my biology masters degree and just about to get married, I came to the same conclusion. I saw too many post docs, just not going anywhere. Took the MCAT, 7 years later started a pediatric practice and never looked back. Best decision ever.
Just to nitpick one tiny part of the scam that is graduate education, 222$ for a "dental subsidy" from Harvard??? That is insulting. Hopefully, these students (aka indentured servants) get free care from Harvard's dental school, because 222$ won't pay for more than part of a cleaning. I guess if it rolls over, by the time these people are done with 8 years of service they can maybe afford a shiny new filling in their last remaining tooth. I guess it is a good deal for Harvard's dental students who are stupidly in debt and in need of patients to practice on so that they, too, can graduate.
I got a PhD in biology. After 5 years in teaching, it was becoming problematic to find work (unless female or minority) so I went to medical school. Worked out well.
too many career post docs taking up space that actual students are supposed to have.
even worse, I've seen people who cashed out on pharma scam companies go back and work as post docs in university cause they couldn't find another job in industry. WTF is that all about?
If you can get in on a startup that goes public you can make millions and retire early. It's a longshot but it happens.
It's my experience that a lot of PhD aren't even basically competent, people get jobs cause they play psychophant.
I have a BA in Biology, (mammals). A colleague from undergrad graduated in 1988 and then immediately entered a PhD program at The University of California. He finished his PhD in 4 or 5 years. He does wet lab research on plants. His post-doc was a mere 2 years and then professorship at a university in Boston. He teaches and does research. While I am very proud of him, and he was also lucky; I hadn’t known of others to move forward so quickly. I wasn’t interested in a pathway with such uncertainty at each step. That is why I decided on public health.
I almost completed my MSc in biology, but I quit, I could see the direction of academe appearances, and quit. In retrospect, sticking it out at least I would have had those MSc letters after my name and could have found better employment.
Fact is, university admissions need to better reflect societal need.
In Canada we need way more nurses and doctors (and no, stealing them from other countries is evil), we in Canada need to train/educate more of our own.
The higher ed system has become a Ponzi scheme.
Universities today have bigger and bigger price tags but less and less value to people who actually want to learn and contribute to society.
Ponzi not Ponze
I always encourge students to sign up for job alerts when they are undergrads so they can understand the job market. It is really sad to see how few tenure track faculty positions are available for PhDs in biology. Other health sciences PhDs do much better but students really need more mentoring and career support so they avoid spending decades of their life for a career that may not be possible to achieve. Also, one need not spend a decade doing biology research to get a teaching faculty position- you should be able to teach biology without that kind of extensive research experience. Assuming that most faculty positions are teaching heavy, its really unfortunate that students are spending so much time in their PhDs and postdocs.
I have learned way more about critical appraisal from VP and sensible medicine than from didactic lectures....
On the topic of tuition after the first 3 years: Its "free tuition" even without didactics because they are letting you take research and dissertation credits... and use university resources like the library.
In 1978 as I was finishing my biology masters degree and just about to get married, I came to the same conclusion. I saw too many post docs, just not going anywhere. Took the MCAT, 7 years later started a pediatric practice and never looked back. Best decision ever.
Of course I always snicker at a phd who demands to be called “Doctor” at all times. 😆
We don't do that in French. I find people who call themselves doctors outside of medical degrees completely ridiculous.
MSc graduates don't go around calling themselves Masters!
Exactly!!!
Just to nitpick one tiny part of the scam that is graduate education, 222$ for a "dental subsidy" from Harvard??? That is insulting. Hopefully, these students (aka indentured servants) get free care from Harvard's dental school, because 222$ won't pay for more than part of a cleaning. I guess if it rolls over, by the time these people are done with 8 years of service they can maybe afford a shiny new filling in their last remaining tooth. I guess it is a good deal for Harvard's dental students who are stupidly in debt and in need of patients to practice on so that they, too, can graduate.
Can confirm that doing PhD in other areas results in poorly payed manual labour in the Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis salt mines.