<p>So I'm a recent college graduate with a major in Chemistry. I got two job offers.</p>
<p>One is Data Analyst. It involves programming and figuring out the popular trends of search keywords among consumers and providing that as business intelligence to companies. It seems like a cool job but if I take this I have to relocate and find a place to rent. The other is Entry-level Chemist at a local pharm company. Pay isn't impressive but I can just live in my parent's house. It's also related to my major.</p>
<p>One more thing, I am interested in going to grad school for something quantitative (Statistics or Math) in the future, so which one would be a better choice?
Or does it not matter since I will go to grad school anyway?</p>
<p>Both sound like relatively low level menial jobs. So its up to you to decide which of the two is the lesser evil for you. So you want to sit and look at a screen all day, straining your eyes or stand up all day running tests? I know what I would do, and its not staring at a screen all day.</p>
<p>I’d take the data analyst position. It may lead to something better like consultancy or other business positions.</p>
<p>The Chemist position all you can hope for is to be a senior bench chemist some day perhaps making $60k some day if you are lucky enough to still be employed past age 40.</p>
<p>I would do the data analyst as well, especially if you want to get a graduate degree in math. It can lead to quite good opportunities in the financial district I think…</p>
<p>It won’t lower your chances, but it won’t do much to increase your chances either. Data analysis, on the other hand, is very relevant. Depending on how you’ll be analyzing the data (simple statistics or state-of-the-art machine learning tools), you could potentially learn a fair bit of statistics in the process. Awareness of potential applications might give you a whole new appreciation for the stats theory in your Master’s too! </p>
<p>But I am biased. I just spent a summer doing data analysis and had a blast. (It is fun for a few months or maybe years. Wouldn’t want to do it for the rest of my life though.)</p>
<p>Agree with the above posters -> Data Analyst. I have BS in both Chemistry and Computer Science and guess which one became my career, has the most fun, has the most opportunities in, and makes the most money? With a BS in Chemistry you’ll start as a dish washer for the phd’s. If that is what you really want to do then work for one of the fast-food chains. If you really want to stick with Chem the get your phd ASAP.</p>
<p>Do not get your PhD in chem or bio. It is 5-7.5 years of living in poverty working slave hours so you can get a $35k post doc or be unemployed when you are done. There is a huge glut of science PhD’s competing for fewer and fewer jobs.</p>
<p>Also most programs have a 50% attrition rate as high as 75% in really bad programs. A lot of PI’s see you as a cheap lab tech and the college as a cheap TA. They will let you stay there forever and make no effort to mentor you. If you are really good they will also try to keep you there for 8 years to ring more research out of you. Really bad conflict of interest there. </p>
<p>The post doc system is set up to use jobless PhD’s as low paid researchers often without benefits. It is sad to think about all the medical researchers who don’t even have access to medical care themselves. Science is set up as a trap for really smart suckers to exploit them for as long as possible then discard them like a pipette tip. Stick with Comp. Science.</p>