I'm starting a PhD in inorganic chemistry and materials

>>1293951
PhD's are rarely worth it. They wont make you earn much more than a masters except a few disciplines, and when you factor in lost earnings over 3-5 years you do your PhD you're worse off.

I was offered a PhD in financial mathematics over at Leiden a few months back and still considering it. Bumping out of curiosity what /biz/ has to say

>>1293961
You don't get a PhD or MD for the money.

that sounds really awesome and im jealous

>>1293961
From what I understand, chemistry job market is not good right now. There is a glass ceiling in the industry for people without a PhD because of this. Many PhDs who land the job make really good money, but landing the job is the difficult part.

In the end doing a PhD is going to depend on your field. Engineering? Fuck no unless you are set on teaching. Chem? Look at job sites. I'd say a solid 80% of the jobs "prefer" at least a masters. Many of them PhDs simply for the fact that most of the jobs chemists do are research based in nature. A PhD teaches you how to do research really really well.

>>1293982
Just my rationalization anyway. It's gonna depend on what field you go into as well. I just want to hear how other people are doing in similar situations as well? Maybe even how the job hunt is going/went after they graduated?

Ik your situation.
1. You better shift that focus to materials chemistry and tell your PI to go fuck himself if he has your organometallic, coordination/ligand exachange bullshit reactions. You need marketable skills, and meaningful papers.
2. You already know youre doing a post doc so lets not fool anyone
3. The biggest problem with grad students is that they have the japanese work ethic. 11h of bullshit is not more productive than 8h of actual work. Limit and automate the grading process a lot of students take 6-7years to graduate bc they're the TA for the advanced synthesis or advanced inorganic class with 8h lab weeks and 10page labreports.
3. Financewise live with 2other grad students, they will have similar schedules which will keep your home in harmony. Chad fucking your oneitis while you study for Cum's will break your spirit. Rent should really be 750 to 800 a month.
4. Make contacts outside of lab and the degree program. Go out to bars fuck a girl, every girl in your program is at best a 7 and neurotic and married/engaged.
look into careers outside of chemistry, try material science, programming, software engineering. Pure chemistry died a long time ago.

>>1293994
I wasnt clear. I'm currently doing a lab rotation. This first lab synthesizes ionic conducting materials while technically not being a "materials science" lab. the other projects are catalysis and organometallics focused, the one i want is materials synthesis.

I realized a couple months ago that I would prefer to materials. There are many labs for that at my school for that including ones that work in ion conducting materials so I can maintain my focus. I will most likely switch to one once the rotation is over.

Thanks for the heads up. A couple of the things you wrote arent feasible for me, but I'll definitely make sure to find marketable skills, not do bullshit 11h of work, and get further into materials.

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>>1293951
I'm in a similar situation, finance wise and all except I'm doing physical chemistry/chemical physics. Heterogeneous catalysis and materials science are my research focus. I think we'll be ok, I don't care much for material possessions

>>1294634
Good luck dude.

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>>1293961

So so so so much this.

If you have a bachelors and your life is going nowhere, then adding a masters or PhD to the situation is only gonna add to your debt, and rarely does it create a magic job out of the sky.

>>1296084
Thank you, good luck to you too.

>did a bachelor degree
>working on my masters
>finished all subjects, but only have to finish my thesis
>i have to do my thesis over again due to a deadline
>can't afford it
>don't want to spend the time on it anymore because the thesis sucked all fun out of it
Honestly, I wish I just started working and perhaps did a masters at the side as a hobby project.
Now my parents would kill me if I dropped out, but I really don't want to spend another fucking year on it. I need money to buy a house and a gf. And start a biz for financial independence.
I could do that all in the same time I would be reading more fucking books.

>>1296559
Also, I stopped loaning money at 10k so my debt is manageable. But I do have to start paying it back very soon. Which will increase my financial burden.

>>1296559

> doing a thesis

nothing better to remove the fun out of a genuine interest than doing a thesis.

The academic world needs to change, and when it does we're gonna look back at those critical professors as a fuckin joke.

>>1293951

For me, the hat in the picture has always carried the symbolism of squaring (framing) ones mind.

>>1296107
I was lucky enough to have the interest on my loans paid every month by my parents, so I'm not going further into debt.

I am wondering if anyone in my situation was able to pay a little bit of it off while in grad school.

>>1293951
entering the phd program was the biggest mistake i have made in my life. 3 years in now and would drop out if offered a good job.

both the bachelors and phd are in mechanical engineering.

>>1297978
you are pretty much guaranteed a great job at the end of all this. most of the regret surely comes from not enjoying your project, yes? from what i understand mechanical engineers are very much sought in almost all areas of industry.

>>1293961
Try getting a job with a Bachelor's in biology, or any "academic" discipline for that matter.