<p>Hmm thanks for the info. I might consider taking the professor route for it will allow me to follow what I like to research rather than follow what Capitalism wants.</p>
<p>While I might be a bit opposed to becoming a professor, something about being able to bring into the classroom your own findings intrigues me...</p>
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I might consider taking the professor route for it will allow me to follow what I like to research rather than follow what Capitalism wants.
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<p>You'd be researching whatever you could get funding for, which may not be what you like to research.</p>
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Have you ever had to research something you did not want or find interest in or are you able to do research in what you actually want? I hear this is sometimes a problem.
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As a graduate student, I'm researching what I want because I got to pick my lab. I picked a graduate program with hundreds of affiliated labs, which did a lot to ensure that I'd find at least one lab that was doing work I absolutely loved.</p>
<p>I designed my project with input from my faculty advisor (after all, it's his money), but it's definitely work I want to be doing.</p>
<p>actually yeah there's a great point by mollie. if you like the lab you choose then you'll be happy with your work there. that's something i've been struggling with -- not everyone likes their advisors in grad school. i've heard of some horror stories...how exactly do you go about finding the right advisor?</p>
<p>I don't know that I really had a process. I chose three labs for rotations that were doing cool work, and I took mental notes during my rotations about how the advisor interacted with me and with other students. At the end of three rotations, one of the labs was a clear fit for me in terms of subject matter and advising style, so I declared that lab.</p>
<p>The important thing is that the student always has a choice. One of the other grad students in my lab switched in after she had declared a lab and done research there for about a year -- she decided she'd rather do research in our area, so she just switched advisors. It will add about a year to her PhD, but at least she's happy.</p>
<p>What is the starting wage usually for someone with a PhD who wants to do research at a university? I've been reading around $40k-$60k from different forums. Is this true? Seems a lot lower than that website that was posted earlier. I mean my Dad is a Civil Engineer and he makes $110k and he only has a 4 year degree.</p>
<p>Yes, postdoctoral fellowships in academic labs pay about $40-60k a year.</p>
<p>The ~$100k figure is more in line with what a professor would make, but you can't get a professor position until after you've completed a postdoctoral fellowship, unless you're really amazing.</p>
<p>I would not advise going into science for the money.</p>
<p>How long are the postdoctoral fellowships?</p>
<p>And I'm not necessarily going into it for the money. If I was I would be a surgeon, but I have a deep interest for science. I just want to also live a bit comfortably while working.</p>
<p>If you want more money than that you can always go into industry. My family is comprised basically of scientists and MD/PhD's and I can tell you that some of the PhD's make well into the 200K level.</p>
<p>A postdoctoral fellowship lasts as long as it needs to -- the major goal is to get several first-author papers published in good journals. Generally they are 3-5 years long, but there's no set timeframe.</p>