My husband is doing his PhD in the cancer drug research area at a very very reputed University. (4 years now) . His advisor frankly told him that he cannot expect to graduate with PhD for a minimum of 3 years from now. He now feels it is wise to quit at this point (the university will give him an MS) and look for a job as he already has an MS in Chemistry and then this second MS in Bio Chem and can also show atleast 2 years of actual research experience...He says PhDs have less oppurtunity as they have to be paid more and that with an MS he can get a pretty decent job in a drug company and with a few years of experience he can reach the salary levels of PhDs anyways..We want to have a kid atleast within 2 years, so finiancially also this is a good move..What are the pros and cons if he decides to quit with an MS at this point and look for a job? What salary can he expect...Need some serious advice..no irrelevant comments or jokes please..Thanks
133313
You also should consider your husband's people skills, organizational skills, and management skills.  \n\nI am an Analytical Chemistry Ph.D. (1994), and just last year got promoted to an entry-level management position with still some bench chemistry responsibilities.  I have only mediocre to good people skills.  I think having my Ph.D. gave me the edge to get the promotion.  If your husband has good or excellent social skills along with technical competence, he can get promoted easily without the Ph.D.  Of the 60+ scientists at my facility, perhaps about 10 doctorates or equivalent at the whole lab.  Our director has a terminal degree.  The three middle managers do not, and of 13 front-line management, only 3 have Ph.D.'s.  \n\nWhile sitting on a committee evaluating potential promotions, very little or no weight was given to that person's advanced degree.  However, an advanced degree might influence perception in intangible ways which I believe did help me.\n\nI'd be inclined to support your husband's decision.  That's an extra 3 years of earning power (and retirement / college saving power), and by the end of that 3 years, he'll likely be making near what a starting Ph.D. makes.  It may be harder to get to upper management, but that's pretty difficult for Ph.D.'s, too unless they have good management skills, which most do not.  They don't teach you management skills in Grad school.\n\nHowever, it also depends on your husband's future working environment.  Some companies / agencies prefer their managers to have doctorates.  He does need to check to see if that is the case in his field.  It's not in mine.
217567
Well I do think that this requires a little more thought before you make a decision. I doubt that you are as far behind as you think, even when you see that others may have more experience than you do. I don't know what your grades are like, but your task right now is to learn some of the basics in your field, make contacts with some faculty members who can mentor you and with whom you can try out some ideas, and look at what are some of the things that you can do with your major. \n\nI don't know what you mean by scientist, so that is something you have to consider. If you mean by scientist someone who does research for a living, you are correct that it does take ideas and it does take a real knack for science to be successful. But I think you'll find that many scientists don't start out that way but their training builds it in them.\n\nBefore you decide to switch, talk to a faculty member in your field and share your concerns. They can give you good advice. You should also talk with your academic advisor. I would certainly try not to give up your scholarship if you can avoid it. Its worth too much. \n\nOne last thought--there are lots of things you can do with science besides be a research or bench scientist. Someone already mentioned forensic sciences, but there are things like medical lab science, environmental sciences, etc. I don't know which major you have now, but go to your career services center and find out what the variety of jobs are that graduates with majors like your have gotten.\n\nHope this helps. Don't give up too soon!
29178
Well, to be qualified.  A 14 year old might do better math then a 35 year old who didnt pay attention in school.  But who is going to believe a 14 year old?  BTW, I just answered a question on one of the worse jobs to take.  One out of the 3 was psychology.  The reason being is because its soo hard to find a job.  Thats why alot of psy majors go for their PHD's.  Dont go straight to your major.  Do something like paralegal service where a lawyer knows that u know how to figure out research, and can help them with psychological tendencies in humans.  Its not the wrong time, but really, its definately not the best.  Work at the social security office, they might take you.  Dont go straight for your major when finding jobs.  Translations, medical script translation is good, sales, contractor or "closers" for contractors, management at a low level, like micky D's, car salesman, customer service at stop and shop or shaws pays like 30 or 32k starting (this is agood one actually).  Just show them your psychological prowess at stop and shop and u might get it without even knowing it.  The main point is showing that you always keep your cool.  Dont say anything harsh.  Just keep your cool, and figure out logically what to say without showing emotion.  Just keep smiling.  Good luck bro.
223220
Finish uni, you might regret it in the future if you quit now. If you don't finish, you might be asked at a job interview what you did for those 2 years and it wouldn't look good if you said you just gave up your degree. A year goes by faster than you think.
216276
well I believe on average some one with a masters will make more, also if there is a job, I have a bachelors and you have a masters who do you think they will pick for the Job? lucky you, I will be eating romen noodles for another few weeks lol
442803
I can speak for the University of Houston.  My good friend graduated from there less than a year ago and got a starting pharmacy job at Albertson's for 96k with a 20k signing bonus paid over 3 years.  Those numbers sound good enough to me to pick that school.
267673
Check out the recruiting statistics from each school - where do they mostly place, how many students have a job right at graduation, 3 months after 6 months after, and 1 year after.  That should give you an idea of the quality, and also the real prospects for graduation.  I assume starting salary will be very comparable.
42604
Around 12 years.  It's not really a question of hours.\n\n______\nI'm pretty sure the minimum for an undergraduate degree is less than 4 years as most schools allow students to graduate in three should the accumlate a sufficient number of credits.\n\nI also believe that the average time to complete a PhD program is substantially higher than 3 years.  I base this on three main sources.  Firstly, of all the people I know how have PhD, I've not known anyone to have completed it in 3 years, or even 4.  Secondly, the Wikipedia article you cited states that the British eduation system is unusual in that it may allow students to obtain a PhD in "as little as three years," so I think it likely that three years is generally considered to be remarkably short.  Thirdly, I checked the websites of several schools and found all of them report average time to completion of a PhD program to be significantly greater than three years.\n\nhttp://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/doctoral/ (5 years)\nhttp://www.btny.purdue.edu/Pubs/Policy/TimeToDegree08-00.html (4 to 6 years)\nhttp://www.bcm.edu/mcb/program.html (5.53 years)\nhttp://www.yorku.ca/fes/programs/phd/phd_description.asp (5.5 years)\nhttp://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/elementaryed/nav04.cfm?nav04=21298&nav03=14147&nav02=14144&nav01=14023 (4-5 years)\nhttp://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=average+time+to+complete+PhD+program&spell=1 (5.3 years)\nhttp://www.mis.temple.edu/programs/Graduate/FAQ.htm (4+ years)\nhttp://pathmicro.med.sc.edu/graduate/PHDsummary.htm (5.5 years)\nhttp://www.math.uci.edu/graduate/phd.html (5-6 years)\nhttp://www.son.washington.edu/eo/phd.asp (4.5 years)\n\nI could go on, but I'm rather bored of copying web addresses and have a paper to write.\n\nNow unless I'm missing something (which I may be - as I mentioned my school uses a somewhat different system), an average of 30 contact hours per week simply doesn't make sense.  I determined that I attend classes 29 hours a week this term, and that is considered an overload at my school.  I think a normal courseload is closer to 15 to 20 contact hours per wek.
251586
I wrote a long list yesterday of the qualities needed to be a successful scientist, I'll copy and paste it later.  In order to be a biologist, you need to take a major in biology or biochemistry (I would recommend biochem, because it's more rigorous and harder to learn later in your career), then, assuming you want to be an independent scientist running your own lab, you need to get a PhD (4-6 yrs), an MD with research training (4-5 years not counting internship), or an MD/PhD (7 years, again not counting post-grad work).  Then, you need to do at least one postdoctoral fellowship, preferably in a top international laboratory (3 years)- often, 2 post-docs are required for very high-level training.  So, after high school, you are looking at 4 years of college, 5 years of grad school on average, and about 5 years of post-doctoral work-Generally scientists are hired as professors (or scientists by pharm companies) when they are around 27-30...this is when you start your independent career.  For me, and all those I know who run their own laboratories, it is a dream job- fascinating work, travel around the world, the feeling you are doing something important and helpful to humanity, nearly complete independence, close association with often brilliant and always interesting people, teaching and mentoring young students, good pay (about $80,000 to start), very very stable job security, never having to worry about being bored, ability to choose your own hours and work schedule, ability to research whatever you find most interesting or personally important, constantly challenging at a very high levels, being on top of the newest technology and discoveries....I could not imagine doing anything else.  A recent job satisfaction pole put University Professors as the second most satisfying careers because of a combination of job security, pay, community respect, intellectual and professional satisfation, and relatively low stress.\nAbout your specific question-no, they (don't say "he" since over half of the grad students coming up are women) dont make as much as physicians, generally.  As a prof, you make $80-150,000 a year, as a scientist in a pharma company you make $100-200,000 a year (but lose your independence)- The working hours are fairly low for a professional occupation with that pay-certainly lower than most physicians, but you pick what you work on, where you work, when you work, when you take time off...there is incredible independence and freedom.\n Now, about the qualities-Ill cut and paste the other question\n\n\nMoral values or professional values? Ethically: honesty would be the most important by far- Modesty or at least the ability to admit when you are wrong ( so you dont cling to a hypothesis against the data), generosity-this leads to collaborations and sharing of data, which accelerates the process of discovery; kindness, so that you design the experiments with the wellfare of the animal in mind.\nAs far as the professional values go: Open-mindedness for examining data and coming up with correct conclusions; logical thinking..that;s obvious; intuition, for those many times that verbal and mathamatical thinking fail you; conservation, to design experiments that use the least amount of material, time, and animals (or whatever test material or subject is being employed); sexiness, by this I mean the excitement or current interest level of the public or scientific community, so that you can obtain grants for your research; delayed gratification, because often it takes years to answer the question; patience, both for the time it takes through trial and error, and the training of students in a very difficult and demanding career; judgement, so that you choose the *most* important question to be addressed, and apply the proper proportion of effort; discipline, because the work requires extreme care and attention to detail, you must be able to ignore some very interesting questions so that you can apply yo
474161
Your degree really depends on what you would want to teach at the university level.  If you don't know that yet, I would suggest just getting a regular Masters in Education degree - and if you needed to get a PhD specific to a field of study later, then you can do that.  (Keep in mind that most universities require a PhD to become a professor.  Most allow adjuncts with field experience, though.)\n\nI understand your confusion...  I am 25 and about to finish my BS, and will be entering the masters program in August - it took much thought, but I think that it would be most beneficial to not put it off...  I don't know about you, but I know that if I put grad school off I will be 40 before I go back - and by then I may have other life priorities that keep me from school.\n\nBut, good luck on whatever you decide to do!
10735
Start the job first, see how much you really like it.  If it's not all that awesome or is not offering you the income level you were expecting, start up grad school.  I took a year off in between undergrad and grad and it was a much needed break from school, even though I was working full-time during that year.  Being out of school is nice.  The only downside I can see to not starting grad studies immediately is that when you go back to school after having been off, it is a little disorienting.  I had some people tell me this and I didn't believe them.  But when I started grad school, I was a little off sync because I had not done anything like that for a year.  But it doesn't take long to get back into the swing of things.
432793
Even PhD's have a rough go of it in organic chem - would recommend PhD before looking for ajob.  DuPont would be great if you can get in.
321178
www.bls.gov/oco \nGo to this website to find out about different occupations, what they do, where they work, and how much they are making.\nMost people I know go on to get a Masters in a more specialized area of Biology. Just what you want to hear...more school!\nIts better to find an area to focus on or minor in because truly the jobs are competitive. My suggestion is epidemiology. You can make good money, there are a good amount of positions out there, and the future is looking pretty good for that area. \nBest advice I have is do at least one internship where you can learn about the different jobs and experience it hands on. I 'thought' I wanted to go into Biotechnology but once I got into the field realized it wasn't for me, nothing wrong with it but it wasn't personally fulfilling. \n\nGood luck!
188980
It depends on what you want to do.  I have a friend whose dad has at least 5 masters (personally, I would never do that-but to each his own!)
621388
A master's degree would be more competitive in the job market.\n\nYou are thinking about going on to a PhD and a master's is an intermediate step.
150298
You are YOUNG and here's what my mother said to me (my mother by the way is a Professor of Business Management and got her Bachelor's, Master's, then PhD all while I was growing up - starting at age 21- and she's had a GREAT career); anyway, she said, when I was going to be going to Graduate School a little bit later than other people, "You're going to be 25 anyway- wouldn't you rather be 25 with a Master's Degree?"  Of course the answer for me was yes.  Also, when I got there, there were people of ALL ages and I never thought about it again.  You probably won't either once you do it.\n\nBy all means, do what you want to do with your life - some people don't decide to go to medical school until they are in their 30's or later.  You don't want to have regrets later.  Go for it :)  \n\nTake care...
402240
Becoming a doctor will be extremely time consuming.  Your wife will have to understand up front that she will carry most of the burden of watching and caring for the children for the next 3 to 5 years, depending on where you are education wise, until you start your internship and rotation.  You will be away from them for days at a time.  Then there is the financial burden.  As you know it's not cheap.  Take all of that into consideration.  If your kids are at an age that is formative, (2 to 5) it does become a critical issue.  Yes it can be done, but the little ones will probably suffer the most.  On the other hand, down the road an M.D.'s wages can provide nicely for wife and teens. Just make sure the family knows what YOU'RE getting into.  Especially give your wife a full option of say in the matter.  Best of luck to you.