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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I started as a PhD scientist with a specialty in organic chemistry.  It was miserable.  So many huge egos.  No HR for students or post docs.  It was legit abusive.  I had to vacuum and dust my advisor's office, pick up his dry cleaning and work as a coat check when he held a party at his home.  I was essentially his slave for $15k/year.  The lab working conditions were also far from safe.  Another student in a next door lab died of chemical burns for lack of safety equipment.  (This was at UCLA.)  I'd never push my kid to go into a lab science.

Now I'm a lawyer.  Law school was cake.  My clerkship was amazing, literally the best job ever.  Biglaw wasn't perfect, but was millions of times better than an academic research lab.  Fewer hours.  Less pressure.  More HR rules.  Less psycho behavior.   I eventually moved in house and love my job.  I think most employed lawyers who complain are whiners.  (Those with big loans and no jobs have a point.)[/quote]

Wow, this is interesting to read. I'm sorry you had that experience, PP. As a counterpoint, I have a friend who is a tenured organic chemistry professor at an Ivy, and he (and his family) all describe his life as charmed. He gets job security, amazing colleagues, intellectual stimulation, and lots of flexibility and work-life balance. He has told me many times that he was driven into the profession by love of chemistry and love of teaching, but he has been so impressed by the unexpectedly excellent quality of life that comes from academia (at least the tenured kind...I suspect it was more stressful up until then). He would recommend the career to everyone, but he does acknowledge it's incredibly hard to even get offered a position, let alone obtain tenure.[/quote]

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