<p>Well, I don’t know if I would categorically declare that these deals aren’t worth it. I think that depends on the individual People have to make the determination for themselves whether it’s worth it or not, depending on their personal circumstances. The guys that I was referring to basically made the decision that they know they want to be Merck researchers, and have no interest in doing something else, like becoming college professors. Obviously if they wanted to become profs, then taking the sponsorship would be a bad choice for, among other reasons, they are obligated to go back to Merck. </p>
<p>So let’s look at the relevant situation. You’re a college senior. You just got admitted to the best doctoral program in the country. On the other hand, you also got a job offer at Merck, and Merck has also declared that they are willing to sponsor you for your doctorate, with salary, at some no-name school. What do you choose? Well, that depends on what you want to do. If you think you might want to work at Merck after you finish your doctorate, then I definitely could see that taking the sponsorship deal could be better. Why not? You’d be getting a solid paycheck while getting your doctorate, unlike other doctoral students who are living on Ramen. Yeah, your doctorate will be from a no-name school, which would hurt you if you wanted to go into academia, but since you’re going back to Merck anyway, who cares? And the fact is, after you’ve worked for awhile (say ~3-5 years, which is about the time that the Merck sponsorship locks you up), nobody in the corporate world will care about what school you went to. The only thing they will care about is what your job performance was. </p>
<p>Come on, Im_blue, you gotta admit, for some people, these sponsorship deals are a great deal. Why take the vow of doctoral-student poverty if you don’t have to?</p>