<p>“which lists the median for biochem PhDs as 85K. Granted industry average is 103K, but the age at which this is attained is probably mid 40s. And I was mostly focusing on starting salaries.”</p>
<p>Well, here you go… if the median is $85k, you clearly have tones of jobs that pay >$100k…</p>
<p>(that’s a good link though)</p>
<p>But likewise it means that half of all people with PhD in biochem make less than 85K. I don’t know if it is reasonable to assume that I would be in the top half of PhD earners so it makes sense to focus only on the median.</p>
<p>ColoradoMomof2, arguing with the OP is useless. My mom thought my concentration on schoolwork was a job too. When he graduates from Yale, he will realize what he thought in high school was naive and unrealistic.</p>
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<p>No I would severely disagree. Being a student isn’t a real job, mostly it is recreational talking interspersed with some learning. A job is a 9-5 that requires work. I worked at target for two summers serving food and that was a real job. I didn’t like going and the 8 hours were terrible, all I did was look at the clock. In school you get to socialize and learn things that are interesting and get to test your knowledge, the two are not nearly comparable.</p>
<p>And I completed the entire admission process on my own, financial aid included, and that was not work. Doing something to ensure your future so that you don’t have to work at target is not work. It is an investment in your own future and if more children had this concept of school then I think the country would be better off. It is a privilege to go to school and get the opportunities that we have in this country and to see school in any other way than a blessing is simply naive.</p>
<p>Not that I have been looking for a good reason to agree with Dbate, but LOL being a parent is “work” and not a “job”…there are days I have to admit when I prefer going to the job…</p>
<p>Dbate, you can find a way to support a decent lifestyle with a Ph.D. in biochem from a top school. Payscale shows average Yale grads making $120K at mid-career. That’s for an average salaried college grad with no advanced degree. With a doctorate in a physical science, you should be able to improve on that. </p>
<p>However, the process of finding your niche usually is not like plotting a trip from point A to point B in Mapquest. For many people it is more like being dropped into a wilderness area with some supplies, some goals, and a timetable. Then you explore your way out in the alloted time. The map may be wrong and the compass a little off but you can still be systematic about finding (or making) a path. Alternately, you can hope for a tourist bus to take you straight through. The ride might be smoother but the experience not so rich.</p>
<p>^^^ I like tk21769’s wilderness analogy. In fact, that’s the way life works for most people.</p>
<p>I think you’re right, tenisghs. Probably not a good thing to continue to make the point, is it? :)</p>
<p>I live in Seattle and I make about $120k/yr give or take. I’d consider myself upper middle class but not wealthy simply because of the cost of living and the expenses of the city. Plus almost every household makes $100k+. Yet, I live a very comfortable life.</p>
<p>I live in Seattle too.
It might seem like every household is * spending* $100K, but most household income is lower than $100,000, even before taxes.
[Washington</a> locations by per capita income - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_locations_by_per_capita_income]Washington”>List of Washington locations by per capita income - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>A good paying job is one that lets you pay all your bills, save for retirement and save for emergencies without carrying any debt (mortgage allowed). </p>
<p>Some people need $150,000 to live like that. Some people need $40,000. It’s all relative. You can’t define “good paying” with one finite price.</p>
<p>“Payscale shows average Yale grads making $120K at mid-career.”</p>
<p>The methodology that produced this number is extremely suspect. Unless I am misreading something, the calculation is based upon those who completed the Payscale survey. I would suspect that those who completed the survey would tend to have higher salaries than the population of Yale grads as a whole.</p>
<p>I was actually thinking it’s the other way around - those who completed the survey would ten to have lower salaries.</p>
<p>Everyone off the top of my head that I know IRL who went to an Ivy for undergrad then went to grad school, so would this $120K be * before* loan payments or * after*?</p>
<p>Dbate, you don’t know where life is going to take you. You may take a class at Yale that you are taking for distribution requirements only and discover that you love that field and want to switch majors. You may meet a wonderful girl and she has a job that requires her to live in a part of the country that you hadn’t planned on or to relocate frequently. You may start out in Job A and discover when you’re there that you really have a taste for Job B. Planning is good, I’m a planner myself, but don’t be so bound to the plan that you fail to see what’s around you.</p>
<p>Dbate, CC parents have given you tons of great advice. They have more experience (life experience, to be more exact) than you do. Stop being a know-it-all and accept that your plans may change in the future. My undergraduate AND graduate school plans changed all the time. I learned a long time ago that it’s best to be flexible and open-minded. I would have never thought 5 years ago I would be studying my current field.</p>
<p>ek, my husband didn’t have any loans from grad school (Biophysics PhD), but according to this board he’s not making enough money. (He hates, hates, hates that he loses money from his grants for lab research if he asks for a raise.)</p>