Reply to what should I do after a phd and staying at home for two years? Advice needed.

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[quote=Anonymous]I think a lot of people here are being unfair.  First of all, you are encouraged to stick it out, because chances are having a PhD helps you leverage to do other things.  For example want to do patent law in biotechnology?  Really helps to have a PhD.  If you want to go into policy?  A PhD helps.  If you want to do certain types of scientific writing, it also helps.  It's not always 100% necessary, but if you are towards the end it can keep some doors open.

Also, no one goes to a top PhD program taking out loans, unless she needed some student loans to help out with daycare.  Every PhD worth attending in the sciences is full tuition plus stipend, so people commenting about this know nothing.  They also don't know how rough it is in terms of getting jobs in academia, industry, etc.  The 5-7 years it takes to get a PhD is a long slog, and people change.

A lot of people don't like research, and it has nothing to do with whether or not they would like being an attorney.  I personally know a couple people who have made the transition, and they are happy.  Bench research and being an attorney are completely different skill sets.  Not enjoying doing experiments (and chances are you enjoyed it when you started, but you realized that isn't what you want to do forever) is not uncommon.  As per the work/life balance issues involved in being an attorney, some of those people I know work for boutiques and mid-level firms, and especially if they aren't in litigation seem pretty happy with the work/life balance.  It's not all Big Law or bust.  In fact, a couple have told me that it is 100% better than the work life balance they had in grad school, at least those with really overbearing advisors.[/quote]

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