[MattA147]

Hi guys, I am extremely interested in pursuing a career in academia.

However, was wondering do you have to move around a lot for post doctoral positions and does this affect your family life/personal life. Like finding a wife/husband, settling down, and having children?

Obviously I don't mean to pry in people's affairs, however I would like a family in the future as well as hopefully a successful career in chemistry.

Apologies if I sound naive but I am an enthusiastic beginner and at this stage academia is one of the options I am interested in exploring further. Thank you for any help/guidance.

[Corribus]

I got married before I was a post-doc.

Honestly it's an improvement over being a graduate student, but don't expect a perfect life or anything. You'll be in the lab a lot, and probably applying for jobs, so to quote Denis Leary, "Don't make any f*cking plans."

[MattA147]

Thank you for your reply. Do you think that it is at all naive of me to be thinking of pursuing a career in academia before I even earn my first degree?

Does anyone else have some further comments? I would certainly appreciate it.

[Babcock_Hall]

I think you are asking some of the right questions.  But you should also see how you like doing research.

[Corribus]

@Matt

No, it's good to plan ahead. Just be aware that the road from undergrad to faculty member is a long and arduous one, and it's not for everyone even though it's the end point everyone will push you toward. As Babcock-Hall said, you should get a taste for real research before you decide whether you want to go far in that direction, although in the end managing a research program is very different from doing actual research.

Here's the way I would summarize it:

Graduate student is basically tons of work for next to no pay. It's really a form of indentured servitude, and that's no exaggeration. The only difference is that you can quite when you want to.

Post-doctoral fellow is tons of work for a little more pay. Honestly though you'll be sick of making less than a lot of your friends probably made direct out of college, and this after six or so years into it.  Free grad school sounds like a great idea, but you've got to balance that against lost earning potential.  Salary of a post-doc ranges from about 40 grand in academia to sometimes 50-70 grand in US government if you can swing one of those.

I'd say the worst part of it is the almost total lack of career guidance. Before you do a post-doc you should have a definite idea of where you're going. And do be aware that not everyone who wants a faculty job gets one. They are extremely competitive and, at least in the beginning, even more work than what a post-doc does.

My biggest piece of advice to graduate students is to take advantage of opportunities to enrich yourself beyond your core curriculum. Take a few business classes, for example. There are lots of jobs of PhD chemists and not all of them are professors. Your PI may balk at this and you probably won't feel you have time, but it'll be well worth your investment because it'll help you see what options you have should you ultimately decide research is not for you.  A friend of mine in graduate school got hired by one of the big consulting firms after he got his degree and I was like, "How the hell did you get that?" And he said he took courses in business, statistics, management and such on the side. I never knew. What a smart idea. And even if you don't decide to be a consultant, a lot of those skills will help you run a lab anyway. More professors should have those kinds of skillsets.

[curiouscat]

Make plans but realize that you may have to change them.

One empirical observation: Couples with both PhDs have a harder time finding the right post doc or the right job in the same town. Due to the specialized nature of the offerings. If your partner has a more ubiquitous job e.g.  school teacher, physiotherapist, plumber, retail, MBA, etc. locational flexibility is a bit better.

OTOH love knows no pragmatism so I guess you really cannot plan these things too much.

[MattA147]

Thank you all for such positive responses. I will keep it in mind but I will also remain open to other career paths that a Chemistry degree opens up for me.

I have decided to apply for a Chemistry degree which has a substantial research project in the final year where I will be working with the academics and contributing in a small way to see if I like academic research and to hopefully network a bit more before I reach a decision to do a PhD and head down the academic path.

Many thanks again.

Regards, MattA147