Having a severely difficult time deciding what I want to do in life...?

College Majors Science Majors
1

<p>Hey CC, </p>

<p>this is my first post, so I apologize in advance if I accidentally violate any syntax or posting rules. </p>

<p>I'm a Physics & Chemistry double major (my uni has a nice rule that if you qualify for the general requirements of one degree, 28 hours in another discipline with certain amounts of junior/senior level coursework automatically gets you a second major in that discipline, so it's not that tough on my schedule).</p>

<p>I have a 3.95 GPA. I love solving problems, patterns, riddles, etc. Math is my favorite subject. I've always contemplated on going to graduate school for Physics or Chemistry and becoming a professor. I'm in my junior year, and I have A's in Pchem, Modern Physics, Ochem, etc. </p>

<p>I'm extremely extroverted and I love working with people, socializing, and talking a lot. I used to work as a Math/Physics tutor at my uni and a Math/English tutor at a learning center for grades 4-12 before I switched to being a TA/researching modeling/detection hardware.</p>

<p>My girlfriend is a Biology major who wants to go to medical school, and she got me volunteering a medical/volunteering club on campus about 3 semesters ago. I love volunteering at a hospital, it's fun. As a physics major with proficiency in technology and equipment, I've talked with sick/bored/curious patients in a bed on how their medical hardware works in laymen terms and the physicians I shadowed/patients though I have a talent for communication.</p>

<p>I've been contemplating becoming a doctor, because I like helping, altruism, talking to people, and science at the same time. I took Bio I and II over the summer, and knocked those out, it was interesting. </p>

<p>I took a mock MCAT and made a 35 (I could use a touch up on biology, but I destroyed the Physics and Chemistry parts, I think I can get it to a 36-37 with more formal biology studying), which is high enough to get into arbitrary schools of my favor. However, friends have told me that being a doctor isn't all what it's made to be (late shifts, calls, patients berating you, depression over constantly seeing people dead). I've had professors also tell me that going into clinical medicine is a waste of my talent and I should go to graduate school (sort of biased though..)</p>

<p>I wouldn't mind becoming either a physician at a research/treatment facility like UT Southwestern or the NIH, or a PhD professor, because both involve interaction and research....</p>

<p>However, I'm lost...and I'm going to be graduating in 1 1/2 years...so I don't know what to do....help?!</p>

2

<p>Lets see Med School 4 years of school + a residency or two and guaranteed 6 figure income.</p>

<p>Science PhD 5-7 years of serfdom working 60+ hours a week for a $25k stipend followed by years or post-docing for the same hours for $35-45k then probably no job and career change or serious poverty perhaps teaching community college part time.</p>

<p>Of course your professors think you should go to grad school because 1. That is what they did, they have no idea of life outside of academia, and they desperately want cheap inteligent labor to work in their labs.</p>

<p>If you really want to do research do a MD + PhD that way if there is no place for you in research you can still practice medicine or teach medicine or be a coroner or there are tons of options for gainful employment.</p>

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<p>Get a life sschoe. Do you have nothing better to do than post on this forum and harass science majors almost every day? The OP is obviously smart enough to be very successful at anything he chooses to do, that includes getting a PhD and becoming a professor. The people who should not go for a PhD are the ones who barely scraped through undergrad with a 3.0. They are the ones that will be stuck in post docs for years because positions in academia and industry will be given to those who are truly gifted in their subject. Science is highly competitive and only the best, brightest, and most passionate will be successful, which the OP obviously is.</p>

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<p>Nope. sschoe has been doing this every time someone asks about a career in the sciences for the last three years. Lives for it… can’t let ANY post about it pass without a bitter, negative comment. Has become background noise at this point… but sort of like ongoing fingernails on a chalkboard.</p>

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<p>He’s probably a North Korean out to hinder the USA’s scientific progress by discouraging bright young minds from pursuing science. It’s the only explanation as to why he is so passionate about it.</p>

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<p>Medicine it is buddy</p>

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<p>You might be interested in doing both:</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/students/research/mdphd/[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/students/research/mdphd/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I get the feeling you’re a pretty altruistic guy besides the fact that you said you are. Now I won’t tell you what it is better for you since that’s impossible, but I’ve been working on an ambulance for a while as an EMT. Obviously we don’t have nearly as many responsibilities as doctors, but seeing death on a daily basis isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I know your friend said that it is depressing, and which while of course it is, it isn’t destructive. To the point where your friend says being a doctor isn’t all it cut out to be- I’m positive if you’re an altruistic person that it will definitely be everything you’d want. Saving lives on on a daily basis is indescribably uplifting. Plus you have the applause at the end of the day as well ($). Just my .2</p>

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<p>Yes the OP does sound extremely smart and it would be all the more tragic for him to get a science PhD and have his life or at least a good chunk of it ruined as a lot of very smart people in academia and pharma have had happen to them.</p>

<p>I agree with the previous poster. Medicine is a huge field. You will find some niche that you will enjoy and still be able to make a solid living whether it is medical research, practicing medicine, teaching medicine… I can’t say the same for science and anyone here who does is either lying or completely out of touch with the scientific job market in the USA.</p>

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<p>Oh please, you know Sschoe is telling the truth and actually makes these forums quite interesting and entertaining. What would you rather have, someone who tells you the truth or a dressed up lie just to make you feel good?</p>

<p>I agree, either pursue a MD or MD/PhD. The PhD route alone does not look good at all these days. I have seen so many PhDs regret their decision.</p>

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<p>What sschoe2 says is almost entirely true. The American Chemical Society also says a sugarcoated version of the same thing about chemistry graduate school ([ACS</a> Issues Report: Advancing Graduate Education in the Chemical Sciences](<a href=“http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2012/december/acs-issues-report-advancing-graduate-education-in-the-chemical-sciences.html]ACS”>ACS Issues Report: Advancing Graduate Education in the Chemical Sciences - American Chemical Society)).</p>

<p>I am somewhat knowledgable on this issue and I can tell you going to graduate school for science is not something to take lightly, and the fact that you have to ask online and have not sought out research opportunities means you should do something else. Here are some things I know.</p>

<ol>
<li>The people who managed to be successful in graduate school:</li>
</ol>

<p>-Had an advisor with a multi-million dollar grant. (A vast amount of resources are needed to do novel research.)
-Had a national fellowship (NSF, Hertz). Believe it or not these people weren’t that much more knowledgable than everyone else, they just had more time to put into research and conferences.
-Have some attribute that makes the department want to invest in you. (National undergraduate award like the Goldwater, Graduate from top school, previous degree, triple major with 4.0.) The department I was in would have some explaining to do if someone like this did not graduate. I know of someone who was clueless, but got passed through because it’s a big deal to get rid of someone with a masters. Yes, I do know someone who had a triple major with a 4.0, from a school that has a reputation of being difficult, who won a Goldwater Scholarship twice, and was a Hertz fellow. Was he treated the same as any other grad student? Not even close. Is he going to get a good job? He’s not sure, but I think he is.
-Had a parent or family member in academia vouching for you. I know of someone who had a fast track to a good job because his dad was a professor. Someone whose parent is a professor at a pretty unknown SLAC who has a lot of control over who their successor is. I know several people from other countries who were essentially hired for a job, but they just needed a PhD.
-Had none of the above, were extremely driven and the only thing they wanted out of life is to be researcher and research is the only thing they want to do. These are the people who made it the farthest.</p>

<ol>
<li>The place you attend matters for a variety of reasons. </li>
</ol>

<p>-Many professors don’t change their research tremendously, and as time goes on, it essentially turns into going to the school graduated from decades in the past. It’s not as big of a deal if you’re working for a new professor because they’re still doing newer research.
-Some schools just have graduate programs to teach undergraduates. These programs typically have high dropout rates, long time to graduation, and treat their students with no respect. What do I mean by no respect? No one gets their first, second, third, fourth, or fifth choice for their advisor because their are so many students and so few professors. Their teaching responsibilities limit their ability to do anything related to graduating. Taken from the ACS report:</p>

<p>“A large undergraduate teaching need is not a sufficient justification for a large graduate program. Teaching needs that remain uncovered by graduate students in a healthy program should be addressed by faculty or other professionals hired and supervised by the department.”</p>

<p>I could expand the list, but these are the main things. The point is you need to be very careful going to graduate school, but you can mitigate the risks by going to a top school, working with a well known, innovative, productive advisor, with a track record for graduating students and putting them in good jobs, and having outside funding.</p>

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<p>I don’t understand why a PhD is constantly harassed like it is. PhDs have very low unemployment rates, regularly earn good salaries. Whether or not it is in your field is another subject of discussion. It’s not like you get a PhD and are thrown into a pile of uneducated homeless folk.</p>

<p>If you’re attributing high earnings to a PhD, you’re doing it wrong. Go be a petroleum engineer.</p>

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<p>@Ctesiphon, you are either trolling, very naive or convinced that any form of higher education pays off. With regards to “uneducated homeless folk,” you neglect that unions do an exceptional job of getting people wages to support a family and do not require higher education. You also talk about PhDs in general, which makes no sense. The fact is, if you want to benefit from higher education, you have to look at what people want to hire you for and do that.</p>

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<p>You also have to look at the availablilty of jobs, the requirement of being hired, and the supply of availble workers. In the case of science there are very poor numbers of jobs in the USA (the ones that haven’t already been offshored) compared to vast number of both native workers and the increasing number of h1-b’s companies are demanding that the USA be flooded with. As a result wages are poor, we have brilliant scientists slaving away as post-docs year after year because they still hold out hope that someday they will get a real job in science which for most people that will never happen. Also companies are getting away with making insane purple squirrel requirements for specialized education and experience and providing no training nor professional development. </p>

<p>As a chemist in industry I have never gotten anyting more than the most rudimentary training. I had to teach myself many of the requirments of my job which I was successful mainly due to the availablitiy of online resources, artciles and free classes offered by instrument manufacturers as well as networking groups of others in the profession.</p>

<p>One has to look at the situation and ask is it worth it to devote so much time effort and money to train for something that has such a poor chance of offering even the simple ability to support yourself. I think most Americans are seeing the anwser to that is no even if your really have a passion for science which is why more and more graduate programs are being dominated by foreign nationals. For them, it is a way out of poverty but for Americans it has turned into a way into it.</p>

<p>Also unemployment figures are always doctored to make things look rosier than they are. What you need to look at are labor force participation rates and how many PhD’s are lumped into “further studies” rather than unemployed.</p>