<p>The thread, "Don't Become a Scientist", made me reconsider pursuing a PhD.
Before deciding to get a PhD, I want to know if academia is right for me.
How can you know if you have a passion for research and becoming a scientist?</p>
<p>I don't think it's a particularly difficult thing to figure out -- is there something you want to do more than being a researcher? If so, then don't pursue a PhD. </p>
<p>Are you willing to put in the hours necessary to make your research project worthwhile? Are you going to be incapacitated when (and it's when, not if) your experiments don't work for months on end? Are you capable of being self-directed?</p>
<p>Thanks for your post, molliebatmit. I don't think I have most or all of the qualities you mentioned, but I want to give it a try. If, at the end, things don't turn out well, would I be flexible enough to switch my career goal to something else like medical school or any other professional schools? I'm in the sciences (Biochemistry) by the way. Thanks again.</p>
<p>One more thing: Do professional schools (medical or dental) emphasize research experience and publication as much as top grad schools do?</p>
<p>Better to ask over in the medical school board. :) I believe medical schools like undergraduate research quite a bit.</p>
<p>What do you mean when you ask if you could switch over to a professional school track? During college? (Definitely.) After a year or two of a PhD program? (Probably, but you'd have to do some explaining as to why you were quitting your PhD program.)</p>