<p>Lets see Med School 4 years of school + a residency or two and guaranteed 6 figure income.</p>
<p>Science PhD 5-7 years of serfdom working 60+ hours a week for a $25k stipend followed by years or post-docing for the same hours for $35-45k then probably no job and career change or serious poverty perhaps teaching community college part time.</p>
<p>Of course your professors think you should go to grad school because 1. That is what they did, they have no idea of life outside of academia, and they desperately want cheap inteligent labor to work in their labs.</p>
<p>If you really want to do research do a MD + PhD that way if there is no place for you in research you can still practice medicine or teach medicine or be a coroner or there are tons of options for gainful employment.</p>