To get a doctorate or not to get a doctorate?
So today, my entire future plan got knocked on its head!
As a refresher, my plan was to take a year to get a job as a lab tech and save some money/pay off loans/take a break from school. I would then try to get a Masters in Science Writing (preferably from MIT) and proceed on into the world of... well, science writing!
I don't think I'm going to do that anymore.
My head is all spinning with all the different input I've gotten. First, I emailed a woman who was a chemistry major here at my college and who now works as an editor at Chemical & Engineering News. The gist of her reply was that people with Ph.D.s have a huge leg up because it's guaranteed proof that they can handle any science you throw at them. So that got the wheels turning. Then, today, I had two (three!) conversations that tilted me towards the Ph.D. route. The first was with Dr. Mehl, my biochem professor, who gave me all sorts of fascinating and helpful information about what it REALLY means to get a Ph.D. His advice, unequivocally, was to take the damn GRE and apply to grad schools now. When I get accepted, I can then defer enrollment as long as I damn well please. The second was with a guy who was visiting to give a Q&A session. He works on the admissions board at U. of Michigan's chemistry doctoral program. He basically said a lot more about why a Ph.D. is useful, what the experience is like, yadda yadda. Then I called my Daddy and he was like "yeah, take the GRE now! you'll kick its ass!" (To be fair, he was a lot more balanced and encouraging than that. Ilmydaddy. But that's what I took from it.)
SIGH.
So now there is a massive paradigm shift in how I was thinking. I think a secret part of me always suspected this was coming - I mean, it's kind of silly for a person of my intelligence and academic achievement, *particularly* in the sciences, to NOT get a Ph.D. I should become Dr. Anne Gillies some day, you know? That's probably a silly way to look at it, but it's true. So I don't think I ever truly believed I was going to get away with not getting a doctorate. But it was a nice fantasyland, because holy crap a Ph.D. program scares me.
But what I heard today made the whole idea a lot more concrete. I have a much better sense of what the actual process is like, so I can think about it in realistic terms instead of just this monolithic block of RESEARCH for five years.
However, one concern I have is personal. If I go to grad school next year or the year after that, that's committing the ENTIRETY of my early twenties to chemistry research. This means that almost all of the people I meet in my EARLY TWENTIES will be... chemistry doctoral candidates. Let me be frank. I don't LIKE most chemistry students/people. Not all, but in terms of general trends, I am much much more drawn to people in the humanities. At least here in America, for some reason that trend was untrue in Ireland. Anyway. My point is, I don't want to end up marrying a chemist just because they were the only person around. Being holed up in that insular world is terrifying for me - I am an interdisciplinarian at heart. That baffles most chemists. So the question is - where DO I fit? If not a Ph.D. in chemistry, then where? What can I do with my life that is exciting, dynamic, and practical at the same time?
That's another thing. A chemistry doctorate is staggeringly practical, in the big picture. I get PAID every year (roughly $25,000) and I can continue to defer my loans. Having a Ph.D. in chemistry is a brilliant stepping stone for ANY career. That degree says "Hi, I'm smart! Want to hire me?" to ANY employer in any field. All of these arguments are very persuasive.
But is it right for me?
I predict a lot of tearing my hair about this in the next months. Sorry :-/
As a refresher, my plan was to take a year to get a job as a lab tech and save some money/pay off loans/take a break from school. I would then try to get a Masters in Science Writing (preferably from MIT) and proceed on into the world of... well, science writing!
I don't think I'm going to do that anymore.
My head is all spinning with all the different input I've gotten. First, I emailed a woman who was a chemistry major here at my college and who now works as an editor at Chemical & Engineering News. The gist of her reply was that people with Ph.D.s have a huge leg up because it's guaranteed proof that they can handle any science you throw at them. So that got the wheels turning. Then, today, I had two (three!) conversations that tilted me towards the Ph.D. route. The first was with Dr. Mehl, my biochem professor, who gave me all sorts of fascinating and helpful information about what it REALLY means to get a Ph.D. His advice, unequivocally, was to take the damn GRE and apply to grad schools now. When I get accepted, I can then defer enrollment as long as I damn well please. The second was with a guy who was visiting to give a Q&A session. He works on the admissions board at U. of Michigan's chemistry doctoral program. He basically said a lot more about why a Ph.D. is useful, what the experience is like, yadda yadda. Then I called my Daddy and he was like "yeah, take the GRE now! you'll kick its ass!" (To be fair, he was a lot more balanced and encouraging than that. Ilmydaddy. But that's what I took from it.)
SIGH.
So now there is a massive paradigm shift in how I was thinking. I think a secret part of me always suspected this was coming - I mean, it's kind of silly for a person of my intelligence and academic achievement, *particularly* in the sciences, to NOT get a Ph.D. I should become Dr. Anne Gillies some day, you know? That's probably a silly way to look at it, but it's true. So I don't think I ever truly believed I was going to get away with not getting a doctorate. But it was a nice fantasyland, because holy crap a Ph.D. program scares me.
But what I heard today made the whole idea a lot more concrete. I have a much better sense of what the actual process is like, so I can think about it in realistic terms instead of just this monolithic block of RESEARCH for five years.
However, one concern I have is personal. If I go to grad school next year or the year after that, that's committing the ENTIRETY of my early twenties to chemistry research. This means that almost all of the people I meet in my EARLY TWENTIES will be... chemistry doctoral candidates. Let me be frank. I don't LIKE most chemistry students/people. Not all, but in terms of general trends, I am much much more drawn to people in the humanities. At least here in America, for some reason that trend was untrue in Ireland. Anyway. My point is, I don't want to end up marrying a chemist just because they were the only person around. Being holed up in that insular world is terrifying for me - I am an interdisciplinarian at heart. That baffles most chemists. So the question is - where DO I fit? If not a Ph.D. in chemistry, then where? What can I do with my life that is exciting, dynamic, and practical at the same time?
That's another thing. A chemistry doctorate is staggeringly practical, in the big picture. I get PAID every year (roughly $25,000) and I can continue to defer my loans. Having a Ph.D. in chemistry is a brilliant stepping stone for ANY career. That degree says "Hi, I'm smart! Want to hire me?" to ANY employer in any field. All of these arguments are very persuasive.
But is it right for me?
I predict a lot of tearing my hair about this in the next months. Sorry :-/