<p>I am currently working towards my Bachelor's in Chemistry and am thinking about the future. </p>
<p>Is it worth it to get a PhD in Chemistry or Pharmacology or would it be better to get a JD and use my chemical background as a bonus? Or both (if so, in what order?)? Or, finally, would it be best to live with my BS in Chemistry and just work with that?</p>
<p>Also, my criteria for "worth it" are as follows: beneficial for job market, well paying, and valuable use of time. </p>
<p>Thanks! </p>
<p>P.S. Working in the US is not my only option, so please no comments about the science industry becoming extinct in this country.</p>
<p>Don’t start a Ph.D. just to get a “better” job. it is a long raod and the earnings you miss out on you will never make up. You should do a Ph.D. if you are passionate about doing research.</p>
<p>The JD is only 3 years but you will take on significant debt and the job market now for lawyers is a bit weak (that may change by the time you graduate).</p>
<p>If you just can’t decide, find a job as a chemist for a while and when your notions of a long term career are clearer it will be easier to make this decision.</p>
<p>xray, is this perhaps a self-limiting issue? If you can get admitted to a paid PhD program, should you do it? One lives as a starving student, but the PhD is free, actually with a paid stipend for the five years or so. I agree that it should be done only if research, and/or also teaching, is your dream. :)</p>