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Graduate School and Further Training
Uri Rosenheck/Wikimendia Commons.
Many science students feel that they have to get their Ph.D. in order to have any kind of career in science. It is certainly true that you'll need a Ph.D. to teach at the college level or to do independent research, but there are many fulfilling careers you can have without getting a Ph.D. Ph.D.'s can take years, so it's worth delving into whether it makes sense to get a Ph.D. for your chosen field.
The Ph.D. Path
Graduate School: Pros and Cons
Graduate school can be a transformative and rewarding experience. Graduate school will train you not only to have certain specific research skills in your field but also, more generally, to think scientifically about problems and ask important questions. A Ph.D. is required in order to be a faculty member or independent researcher at most universities, institutions, or biotech companies. The skill sets that are learned during graduate school and the credibility that a Ph.D. gives you are also transferable to many other careers, so you are not limited to doing research. In many countries, including the US, graduate programs provide small stipends (enough to live on if you are very frugal) to graduate students and cover their tuition, so you are paid while earning your Ph.D.
On the other hand, a Ph.D. typically involves attending graduate school for four to seven years. This is a long period of time in which you will be expected to work very hard and immerse yourself in your studies. It is important to really like what you do during this time because it would otherwise become a great burden.
Graduate School: Should I Attend or Wait?
Many people ask whether they should attend graduate school
right after they graduate from university or whether they should wait a
few
years. Graduate school is not an
experience to be undertaken lightly; as I noted earlier, it requires a
significant investment of time and energy. I'm a big proponent of
waiting a few
years and working in research before deciding whether to attend graduate
school. It will give you time to talk to lots of people who have Ph.D.'s
and truly
assess what you want to study, where you want to apply, and whether this
is a
path that you truly wish to take.
Grad School to Postdoc to Permanent Job
The vast majority of life science Ph.D.'s spend three to six
years as postdoctoral fellows immediately after their Ph.D., doing
research and
publishing papers while they are searching for a permanent job. Postdocs
earn a
larger stipend than graduate students, but still not a large salary.
This can
be frustrating, especially if you compare it to your friends who didn't
go to
graduate school and have seen their salaries far surpass yours while you
were still
in training. It can also be frustrating because many postdocs are in
their
early thirties and wish to start a family, but discover that it's hard to
make ends
meet when childcare is factored into the family budget. The take-home
message
here is that a large salary can't be a driving definition of success for
you if
you go to graduate school, as you will spend up to thirteen years
earning very
little salary.
Ph.D. Career Options
One of the most important things to know about pursuing a Ph.D. is that there are a large number of career options available to you. Another is that you may need them. A third is that you may want them.
Many Ph.D.'s go on to faculty positions in academia or research scientist positions in industry, and these positions are often viewed as the pinnacle of success for a Ph.D. But there are not enough of these jobs for everyone who applies. This leads to intense competition for the few jobs that are available. Networking to increase the chance of getting such a job is extremely important, but the reality is that not everyone will become a professor or get the job they want in industry.
You might have noticed that many of the people interviewed in this course who have Ph.D.'s are using the skills that they learned in graduate school, but are no longer doing research. In many cases, this is because there are not enough jobs in academia and industry for all who want such a position. But there are many other reasons why these people have their careers. Many academic and industry jobs involve long hours of work, including evenings and weekends. Many people wish to achieve a greater work-life balance by changing careers to one that places fewer demands on their time. In addition, some people come to the realization that changing careers will simply make them happier. For example, in research, more hours worked do not necessarily correlate with more or better results. A common joke among scientists when their experiment fails . . . again . . . is "that's why they call it re-search." A lack of good results despite great effort can become discouraging, and some people find that they are happier in fields in which, if they work harder, they have an excellent chance of yielding good results.
The Non-Ph.D. Path
Remember that there are many career options for those without Ph.D.'s. In industry and academia, people with a bachelor's or master's in the life sciences can work as laboratory technicians, shared resources specialists, administrators, writers, regulatory affairs specialists, clinical trial support personnel, and recruiters, just to name a few. Other options include sales and management. People with bachelor's degrees who love to write can work in public relations, marketing, and journalism. People who love science education can teach at the K–12 level and sometimes teach at the community college level. If you are interested in a particular career, it's best to talk to people in that career before deciding how much training you will need to reach your goals.
However, note that as more and more Ph.D.'s enter careers that were once dominated by non-Ph.D.'s, they have inadvertently increased the competition for those without Ph.D.'s. The fields of patent law and intellectual property are excellent examples of areas in which a Ph.D. was once not necessary to successfully obtain a position, but a Ph.D. is now almost a requirement.
This state of affairs has an impact on your planning for science careers. Precisely because there are so many Ph.D.'s who move outside of research to take jobs in journalism, fundraising and so on, you can be at a disadvantage when applying for those fields if you do not have a Ph.D.
Information Gathering and Graduate School
Whether pursuing a Ph.D. is the right thing for you to do is a choice that only you can make. It is best if you can gather as much information as possible and go in with your eyes open, and keep an open mind. The more clearly you know what your career will ultimately be, the stronger position you will be in to make the decision. It is also important to choose an advisor who is willing and able to help you think through your options. You definitely do not want to keep your career plans a secret from your advisor.
Ultimately, the question of whether to get a Ph.D. depends on several factors. For example, if you know you want to be a researcher or a college teacher, then you must get your Ph.D. But for most other professions in science, it can go either way. The Ph.D. will help you, but will delay the start of your career by several years; on the other hand, without the Ph.D., you might need to be twice as aggressive in networking, accepting internships, and so on. It comes down to what you feel most comfortable doing; using an advanced degree to give you an edge on your résumé, or using your interpersonal skills and ambition to build up your odds in a different way.
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