<p>I live pretty frugally and while I can't say I am poor, my family doesn't have a lot of money and we are not financially stable. For this this fact, I'm not the type of person that should go to grad school and instead focus on finding a job ASAP. My perspective is that only people who don't worry about money go into research because they can afford to not worry about money and focus on their passion and I just don't think I'm in that same boat.</p>
<p>That’s nice. Thanks for sharing. If you have any questions, be sure to ask them.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m not really sure what you were aiming to get out of this post…? There are lots of people from working-class backgrounds in graduate school, myself included. If you get into a PhD program to work on scientific research, you’ll receive a modest stipend with which to support yourself. Scientists make middle-class to upper-middle-class salaries. I’m definitely not the type to not worry about money and only focus on my passion - while I love research, this is a career choice for me, and I intend to get paid for my services.</p>
<p>@gr33kbo1 - Your perspective indicates to me that you haven’t met very many research scientists or graduate students in the sciences.</p>
<p>Er, what? Doctoral study, at the very least, is funded regardless of your economic status. And even then, there’s the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation ([Jack</a> Kent Cooke Foundation - Homepage](<a href=“http://www.jkcf.org/]Jack”>http://www.jkcf.org/)) that specifically fund students with financial need (I’m sure there are others). </p>
<p>I could understand that you might have familial obligations where you need to go to work ASAP, but if you’re seriously interested in graduate work, socioeconomic status won’t be the deterrent.</p>