I know i am frustrated....It's been 3 years and i don't know when i'll get done. Maybe another 2-3 Years.
I feel like quiting my PhD and find a job or do something else.

This Biology PhD is just killing me. Now i have realized i chosed the wrong path.

I google some of my friends who finished undergraduate with me and are making pretty good money with just Bachelors or Masters Degree. I am stuck here looking at insects all day in my lab.


Are you frsustrated as well ?

What else can i do?

After reading so many comments and suggestions, I decide to jot down some words. First of all, you cant compare yourself with others in any anything. If the comparison gives you an inspiration and motivation to do something, it's okay otherwise dont do that. When you look somebody else's life, you are looking superficially. It dosnot tell you whole a lot about the person and his way of life style. If you whole motive is to make money and if you think that will make you happy, then PhD may not be a good option.  It's your life and your the one who decide what to do next. Even if you dont want to finish up your PhD, your in a far better position. 

One last thing I would like to add is: you may not be making a lot of money in academia but dont forget you are getting paid for 8 months. Especially for immigrants like us, you can take a trip back home every other year if you want to. Also, if you planning to raise your kids, they will go to school for free which is a big savings for you. 

 What do you guys have to say about getting a PhD ( say in Biology) followed by an MBA? WIll that make the transition from academia to industry easier? What could be the pros and cons of doing that?

Sparrow

@Jacksparrow
Phd in Biology is the worst thing you can do in your life and i mean it ! It's a harsh comment but i have seen many people not happy with what they achieved. They have PhD in Biology but its worst.

I would just get Masters degree in some other discipline and get an MBA (dual major).

Like someone else said, in this country you don't have to be really smart: You've to go with the Flow !

One of my friend was doing PhD and after 2-3 years he went thru Masters route and got his Masters Degree and quit the program and now he has a really nice job (after some training-which we all do ) and he's really really happy with the job.
He said he couldn't have go the same job if he had received PHD.

1 out of 10 PhD in Biology maybe considered Extraordinary and become real scientists. Few work in academia after several years of doing postdoc which i don't think is worth it.

phd is phd
see you will be called dr throughout the life, and that cannot be only reason to do phd, u must hv clear vision wht u will be doing after that, if its a professor then it can be rewaarding as u will have 3 months off after few yrs

and to those who are making 125k , i have seen ppl making 13k a month and looking for very cheap store, try to live 5 dollars a day for whole family,their attitude is so so CHEAP, may be their 3rd not 2nd generation will try to live as true american

not to mentioned mitt romney wife also calculate 5 dollars a day for each person for family members, she has 30 plus member in the family and shops in costco, tries to save a lot dspite her husband being multi millionaire.

 I felt like writing comment again. I don't know where people got their idea from that person after PHD does not make good money. I know one dai who had his PHD in physics and was making 75k right after he finished his PHD. So it depends, where you get the job, what position, your luck and your people skill. And also I know one person in IT who make 18 an hour. You won't find a lot of nepalese people making 125k in this country until they are doctors or dentist. Our accounting professor who used to teach me while I was doing my MBA reveal his secret that he was making 120k (he used to drive 20 years old car, he knew how investment works). On top of it, like Kesar commented, you get 3 months off which will give plenty of time to explore other side businesses and investment and go different countries rather than being clock puncher all year round. 

Guy_Tensed, you have all your life to make money. Please complete it whatever you have started since if you have invested all that time already. 

 Thank you all for your comments !

Let me be honest. I am not a very smart guy who can be a well known scientist even if i finish my PhD. Honestly, i wasn't even thinking i would do PhD few years ago. But when i finished my undergraduate, i saw few of my friends going for PhD then i also felt that i'll have to follow them.

But now i realized that it was the wrong choice, especially with PhD in Life Science (Biology, Meat science, food science  or similar subjects). PhD in other fields such as Economics ,Finance is very good but not just Life science (in my opinion).

Most people here say i'll get respect and all that but that's not just what i want. My goal is to make money. I have seen some folks doing PhD and they work as researcher or something and make very less money compared to some other folks in IT or technical field. Money does matter after all.

Academia is not my interest. I do not want to be Professor. The more i indulge in this the more frustrated i become. Working as a post doc is just a joke, you get 45K salary after so many years of hard work. So, we're looking at about  12-15 years of study (5 years bachelor + 5 years phD + 2-3 years for Post Doc) and that's when you get frustrated when you don't have money or anything whereas your'e friends have a nice job, house etc and are able to take care of their family in Nepal.

I think i'll get my Masters Degree and quit the program or may go different route such as getting a degree in Bioinformatics etc.

Thanks.

 This is a sad thing that Most of us study science (Biology or Physics) back home and are inclined towards it even after we come to US. We just think it's so cool to study Science but infact it isn't unless you want to go study Medicine. Options after Bachelors in Life science is that either you work as a lab technician ($15/hr) or go to Medical School or last option is continue doing PhD (thinking one day you'll become scientist and your friends and family will be proud of you )...That aint right !

Sometimes your PhD in life science is not worth more than scooping an Animal Poop, washing test tubes or loading electrophoresis gel all day and you'll get about 50k for doing all that....This is the reality. Will you be happy with that ? Certainly not !

Those bagholders (PhD in biology or life science) will say anything now, they'll say oh how much i love science and all that BS..That's just a BS.

Unless you're extraordinary, your road will be rough with PhD in Biology. Keep in mind, we're only talking about PhD in Biology or life science degrees. There are some fields where PhD is a must and is well rewarded such as PhD in Statistics, Biostatistics...People in this field good money and job is not as hectic as PhD in Biology.

Decision is yours !

@Guy_tensed: I think you're better off terminating your program and going through different route! 
If you want a PhD for the money, or you can't thik of anything better to do, then yes, its a stupid life choice.

Hi, Y'all
I am a happy PhD dropout after a semester :) I think I saved 5-10 years of doing nothing or re-researching somebody's research, staying broke and kissing professor's a$$. But still trying to find a way out of this f**kin'  F1 status.

 Cheers..i am also in same boat, same compartment.

Okay guys,
I have decided to end my program and get Masters Degree and move on.

Thank you.

good luck with your future endeavors.

It's really depends on what your preference is, whether money is your final goal or not and whether you consider quest for knowledge and recogniition as a scholar as important or not. Phd does not guarantee you a job or good pay, but at the same time the jobs in academia as much more relaxed compared to job with 40hrs a week deal, dealing with program deadlines, unreasonable managers.. And yes, if you to go other regular places to work after Phd, experience is all that matters, not so much the Phd, unless your Phd is directly your work related. Phd is a just a degree that one can get by working in ideal world of school for so many years, while others working outside do not get that degree but gets the experience that keeps the rest of the world rolling. But again without Phd moving ahead in academic career is out of question. There are researchers working for big name companies with millions of $$$ funding, who would make professors look like clowns. But then very often they do not get to direct credits of their research outside of their employing company, very often they are required to sign the agreement that employing/funding company will own the research/patent. In academic world it's different that you own the credit for your work and get recognitiion for it in the outside world very often.

So it's really a matter of one's personal preference. There is no right or wrong way. You make a decision and stick to it. Rolling stones do not gather moss.

eMero pani yeso upakar garidinu paryo sajha bashi harru....---> i am almost getting my undergrad degree with chem n bio (dual) major, have a decent GPA n GRE, has great research experience (poster/presentations/ couple of papers) and ready to apply for a Phd program in chem. I dont think i fit for academia and was hoping to enter into industry with a PhD degree. But, yeha kasai le master degree liyerau jau bhanne kura garchan! is Master degree worth it? 

people say all the time that PhD is not important; it's waste of time. masters would do just fine and what really matters is your talent and skills, not your degree. that might be true, but in other areas besides science. if you're looking for a research based career (academic or industrial), you'll be better off with a PhD. if you are in the engineering field or want a 9-5 job as a lab tech, go get a masters degree.

i sense people in biomedical and chemistry related fields taking PhD as a burden. if you don't like it and you're doing it just because you think you have to, you probably chose a wrong career.

PHD test your patience. Patience for experiment, result, life etc. You work on your own project developed by you.
Masters work for others project and result produced by you will be others. No credit to you besides your salary.

PhD requires a lot of hard work, time, and patience.  I am not sure how many of all these PhD students actually have inner desire to pursue PhD and do research.  My understanding is, PhD is a must for someone who wish to pursue career in the field of natural sciences.  Also, having PhD does not make one smart.  Having PhD would definitely make one knowledgeable in his/her research field though.  If someone is looking for a job in an industry, PhD is not always easy to sell unless it is natural science field or some research and development industries.  People in the industry generally look for suitable candidates rather than technically best/sound candidates.  ALso, having a PhD does not mean he/she will be outstanding contributor in the industry.  Please note that industry are generally much faster paced environemnt compared to university's research labs.  Also, companies are more interested in producing results rather than the best posible results spending enormous man hours.  Generally PhD students and masters student take simialr courses during the school in the same field.  Only major difference is masters students geneally complete a project or thesis (generally not comprehensive)  while PhD students perform comprehensive research and publish a couple of papers.  To be honest, having four years of experience in real world probably teach you way more than spending four years doing one research in a lab.  Again, there are certain jobs which require PhD and it is worth getting PhD for such jobs.  Based on my experience PhD not necessarily makes one critical thinker, decision maker, or smart in his field.   Also, most of the jobs are 8-5, so there is nothing wrong in doing 8-5 jobs.  I would much rather take 8-5 job in the field my interest and plan my time rather than spending long hours doing research thinking I may get sometime off in summer.  Again,

In addition, if someone is really interested in doing cutting edge research and end up in some four year college or end up becoming more of a teaching only professor, his/her career development may be not great.  However, in the industry, one has to brush up skills to be in demand which also helps in career development.

I always wanted to do PHD but now I think I should do MBA if I have a natural sc degree.
Does anyone has expereince regarding bachelors degree and MBA coz my ccompnay is willing to pay for my education and preferably I will do MBA, but I have no idea,

anyone with exp and in the same situation?

 There was another thread similar to this so bumping !
i have decided to quit my phd as well 

त्यो धोतिहरुको नामको पछाडी त कति वोटा degree हुदो रहेछ कसरि मात्र पदछ होला Mr. Ravi Deshpandey ME, MBA, LLB, MLB, MS, MD

Everyone who goes through PhD has to overcome fraustration and depression. It applies to every genious or average people like you and me. My professor says that the PhD is all about learing to be able to  overcome these obstacles in our life by being focused, dedicated and acquiring a critical thinking. Persoanlly, I don't care whether I will be a great scientist  in my field or not. I think u should know what you want to do in ur future. Will this degree helps somehow or not? If it doesn't at all, then you are wasting your time writing a thread. You should quit it.

Personally, sometime I feel like being a Monk but that is not the solution to what I want to be in my life. I can be a good teacher and I can sell myself with what I achieve. It's all about what is your exectation out of PhD. If you have high expectation about GC, house in US, BMW and bla bla bla. Those are all pushing you back. My roommate garduated and got a job that pays 90-100K per year( we had the same major). If I keep thinking about that and what I have at the moment, I will never be able to focus on what I want in my future. So, I keep pushing myself to the point I can take it. It's been 2 and half years already :) and as you are I don't know when I will graduate.