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-> Chinuch, Education & Schooling
vet techy
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Thu, Aug 28 2014, 5:19 pm
I know someone who has a large family and in kollel and at the age of 43 decided to go to medical school and now he is a doctor. Yes he felt funny in a class of students that were his kids age but he didn't care.
So when it comes to education there is never a time limit.
I say go for it.
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eschaya
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Thu, Aug 28 2014, 8:01 pm
mille wrote: | It's by no means great, but most PhD programs, especially in the sciences, offer stipends. Most from my experience seem to be in the mid 30,000 range. I also know many colleagues who teach undergraduate classes during their PhD and make additional money as an adjunct professor. And on top of that, PhD programs have tuition waivers, so she won't be going into debt at that level! |
True, once she gets to the PhD component they should be surviving, but it sounds from the OP that she first needs to get a BS... so that's up to 4 years of no salary at all plus tuition payments until the PhD stipend can possibly kick in. But it seems from the OP that this is not the primary consideration, in which case I can't think of any reason not to go for it!
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seeker
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Thu, Aug 28 2014, 8:28 pm
Couldn't you skip the second BS, just take prerequisites and go straight to a masters followed by PhD? I don't know enough to say.
In terms of "too old" I think about it this way:
If you start this journey at 25, then in 10 years you will be 35 with a PhD is biochemistry (or whatever your goal was)
If you don't start this journey at 25, then in 10 years you will be 35 without a PhD in biochemistry.
Since getting younger is not an option, the way I see it the only question is whether your life stage can handle it - e.g. if you have kids (or plan to have kids soon) who need your presence more than this level of schooling will allow, or that kind of speculation.
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amother
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Thu, Aug 28 2014, 9:04 pm
nylon wrote: | If you already have a BS degree, it should be possible to complete a 2nd BS in less than 4 years as some of your courses will count (general education requirements) although since science requires courses to be taken sequentially you wouldn't save as much time. It's doable. 25 is not 40. But be sure you know what you're in for as a science grad student and be thinking towards your eventual career... you don't want to be stuck as a postdoc for years and years like some people I know. |
Can you or the people who "liked" your post please clarify what is meant by the bolded? I'm in a similar situation to OP but in the early stages of figuring things out so I don't know so much yet.
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princessleah
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Fri, Aug 29 2014, 9:29 am
I would agree with the people who said not to do another BS. Find a continuing school of education (like NYU, Columbia). Take all the pre-reqs without having to pay for another 120 credits. With the rest of your time, get a part-time job or volunteer position at a biochem lab. I think THAT experience will give you a leg up on the 22 year olds you'd be competing with to get into grad school. They're probably all working in labs with their professors at school.
Do you want to go into academia afterwards? Or go work somewhere like a pharma company?
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california2
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Fri, Aug 29 2014, 1:12 pm
I completely agree that the important factor to consider is whether you want a life that only the PhD will get you. It's great to like grad school, but you need to make sure you'll like what comes after.
If "what comes after" is academia, realize that yes, you are likely at a disadvantage compared to younger people. That's because they have less responsibility. I personally waited til I was done training in my field - it took a very long time!! then had kids. My classmates who had kids during training felt terribly limited personally and professionally - felt like bad moms and students - and did not do as well as I did. That might be fine for you, or it may not - if you want to go on in academia, you can't just "do" a PhD - you have to excel DURING the PhD, and that takes a lot of time, and a lot of intellectual energy.
You have to think hard about how much you can give and to what. Remember the motto of "new" feminism: "you can be anything you want to be, but you can't be EVERYTHING you want to be..."
I don't mean to discourage you entirely, but make sure you're sure before you dump a ton of resources (time and energy mostly, as PhD programs in science are generally fully funded)
Good luck!!
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amother
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Sat, Aug 30 2014, 8:18 pm
princessleah wrote: | I would agree with the people who said not to do another BS. Find a continuing school of education (like NYU, Columbia). Take all the pre-reqs without having to pay for another 120 credits. With the rest of your time, get a part-time job or volunteer position at a biochem lab. I think THAT experience will give you a leg up on the 22 year olds you'd be competing with to get into grad school. They're probably all working in labs with their professors at school.
Do you want to go into academia afterwards? Or go work somewhere like a pharma company? |
Academia.
I really appreciate everyone's input and opinions. Thank you all for commenting!
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nylon
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Sun, Aug 31 2014, 9:59 am
amother wrote: | Can you or the people who "liked" your post please clarify what is meant by the bolded? I'm in a similar situation to OP but in the early stages of figuring things out so I don't know so much yet. |
Funding for academia in particular is limited, and it's been cut. So postdocs--who along with grad students can be treated as cheap labor--are chasing a limited supply of positions. There may or may not be opportunities in industry, depending on your focus. Because they're all chasing the same limited pool, postdocs are getting longer, and on top, people will now do second postdocs in some fields. One friend of mine quit academia after his postdoc because he needed a second to be considered for anything academic--and his first postdoc was 5 years.
You need to know what is "hot," make the right connections, and know that if your research doesn't have commercial applications, that you're playing a risky game. If you get stuck in a second tier postdoc, that may be the end of the road. Aiming for academia is a big risk. There's a limited supply of tenure track positions, and more research is becoming grant funded. The grant goes away, so does your job. Know what you're willing to do in terms of teaching. Will you consider a teaching heavy job, or not? It all boils down to know the landscape and have a plan--but that's no guarantee. I know people who won the war, and people who didn't, and the ones who didn't didn't necessarily do things "wrong."
Academia is also very risky for frum Jews because you have to go where there's a job. That may or may not be someplace you want to be. Find out where the big programs and jobs are for the field and sub-field you're interested in and look at fields where the jobs are likely to be in good locations. I know someone (non-Jewish) whose field is primarily at universities that also have ag programs. You may not want to be in Ames or West Lafayette.
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amother
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Sun, Aug 31 2014, 11:13 am
Thank you so much for your input! I have decided to proceed! Mille: you really were the one who made me feel the most confident with my decision, although everyone's comments were helpful!
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mille
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Sun, Aug 31 2014, 11:24 am
amother wrote: | Thank you so much for your input! I have decided to proceed! Mille: you really were the one who made me feel the most confident with my decision, although everyone's comments were helpful! |
I'm so glad! I hope it works out for you. I am so so much happier now that I made a career shift into a PhD... It will be quite a while until I'm done, but there's just something awesome about doing something you absolutely LOVE!
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