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What’s life really like as a PhD chemist? : chemistry


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Edit: Emphasis on life as a recent graduate, as that’s where I’m most clueless, but I’m interested in hearing about all of it. I hope this is appropriate for this section; I wasn’t sure where else to put it.

So since my teenage years I’ve thought I wanted to get a doctorate in (organic) chemistry; it’s one of the few subjects I really enjoy learning about, and though I have a BSc in the field now, I still want to know more. I’ve never questioned my intention to enter grad school and earn a doctorate… until now.

There was, here on Reddit, a letter posted supposedly by a disillusioned doctoral candidate; some of you may remember it. It wasn’t too long ago. Anyway, the author claimed that the professors spent all their time competing for an increasingly inadequate amount of grant money, and that it’s all about schmoozing and politics and selling yourself, and that most of the actual research is done by grad students forced to work on uninteresting projects chosen for grant purposes that may or may not have any potential.

I don’t know what the truth of it is, though, and it’s occurred to me that I don’t actually know what someone who has recently acquired a PhD in chemistry would actually do. I know there is interesting research going on somewhere, but I don’t know how likely it is that I’d be able to get involved; how much opportunity there is. I imagine it’d be different depending on if you were in industry or academia, and I know what the established professors at my four-year university do, but beyond that I really don’t know.

If anyone who has recently (or not, if it’s not changed!) completed a doctorate in chemistry, or is going to soon (especially organic chemistry), can tell me what they do all day and whether they’re happy with their choice, I would very much appreciate it. I love the subject, but if it’s going to be long hours of hard and uninteresting work, I might want to pick a less grueling career that gives me the free time to just study as much as I can on my own.

Thanks in advance to anyone who responds!

via What's life really like as a PhD chemist? : chemistry.

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Born in 1964, business owner, from Woodbridge, VA, owns ExcitingAds! Inc. (http://www.excitingads.com) and blog (https://search.excitingads.com). He was born in Mirpurkhas, Sind, Pakistan. His elementary school was ST. Michael's Convent High School, Mirpurkhas, Sind, Pakistan. Graduated high school from ST. Bonaventure's Convent High School, Hyderabad, Sind, Pakistan. His pre-med college was S. A. L. Govt. College, Mirpurkas, Sind, Pakistan. Graduated from Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, Sind, Pakistan in 1990. Earned equivalency certification from Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, Philadelphia, PA in 1994.

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