By way of introduction, I am currently a senior at Purdue University in
Molecular Biology and I have followed this newsgroup for about a year now.
I have found so much encouragement and information from all of you, and
I have really enjoyed the discussions.
I need some advice about my further education and career... I am planning
to start in a PhD program next year at the University of Illinois (urbana-
champaign) but with all this talk lately about the overabundance of PhD's
and the scarcity of jobs, I am wondering if this is still a good idea.
I think that I would like to work in industry, so I am wondering if it would
be better to earn a master's, work a little while, and decide later if I
should work towards a PhD. But it seems like a master's isn't all that
valuable, and that it is more efficient to earn a master's by starting
a PhD program and dropping out rather than just starting out in a master's program.
ter's program.
Indeed, it seems that U of Ill. doesn't emphasize their Master's program at
all...in their brochures they describe in detail the PhD programs and on
the last page they basically say, By thw way we also have a master's program
for those who don't want the commitment of a PhD program.
Another question, sparked by a recent post...I am leaning towards industry,
but I am not totally decided yet. It sounds like it would be
ill-advised to mention my interest in industry to advisors, etc. as they
see this as a bad thing. Unfair or not, is this a real problem? Would
people view me differently if I plan on a career in industry?
Finally, I wonder if anyone is aware of any summer job opportunities in
the Urbana-champaign area. I have research experience (yeast molec. genetics)
but would be absolutely willing to try new things. I am just not aware
of any companies near champaign - I would appreciate some names of
companies in this vicinity.
Thanks so much...keep up the recent flow of posts!
Anne Nye
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