Jenny Griffin asked if any women out there raised kids on student
pay, or if the spouse had a higher paying job. In my case, both my
husband and I were graduate students, just starting our Ph.D.'s, when
we had our first child. We bought a "starter" home (thank goodness, as
rents went through the ceiling during the next few years in Fort Collins,
where we were doing our Ph.D.'s).
We ranked where we were going to go for our Ph.D's based on the following
criteria: first choice was where we both got research assistantships,
second choice was where one or the other got the highest paying research
assistantship and the other got accepted to grad school, but perhaps with
no assistantship, third choice where just one was accepted with money. Going
someplace without an assistantship was out of the question - in science,
one should not have to pay for graduate education.
Anyway, we both got assistantships at Colorado State University, so we
went there. We both got post-doc's at CSU as well, and child #2 was born
just after we started post-docing.
So, it's not impossible to both be on grad student salaries and make it
through with a kid in tow. You don't go anywhere for vacation except
your own back yard, however, and you don't get to go out to eat very often,
but you can do it. We lived on peanut butter and jelly for several weeks,
but, we made it. I certainly don't know when else I would ever have had
time for children.
As for the person who asked whether they were the only non-molecular
biologist in this group, no, you aren't. I'm a soil ecologist and
work with bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and mycorrhizae. We
delve into identification of these organisms using molecular ecology
techniques, but it's not the focus of my research.
Elaine Ingham
