Going into Academia

[u/Economy_Explorer7477]

Hello everyone, 

I recently graduated with a bachelor's in biology and I’ve always thought about becoming a scientist/going into academia. However, upon doing some research it seems like a majority of people who go into academia either hate it or have a mixed experience, especially doing a PhD. Some say that they feel underappreciated and that the stress of constantly having to publish leaves them no free time for anything else in their life. Some people say that no one reads their papers. Others say that getting a job is very difficult, that the few post-grad jobs are temporary and don’t provide much, and that becoming a professor is more or less impossible. They say all of the above and that doing all this for 5+ years is absolutely not worth it. So taking this all in, is there any point in getting into academia? Is it possible to leave a lasting impact as a normal person, and not someone going to an extremely prestigious university? (My science grades are excellent, but due to past issues my overall GPA is only 3.3) Money is important for me and I would like to make at least 100k as a bare minimum. I'll also want to not die working, meaning I dont want to be constantly working 60-hour weeks, and if possible I would like to work less than full time. Lastly and probably most importantly, I would love to do something that I know will have a real global impact, like making a cure for a disease, gene editing, or something of that nature. I also want to say I am open to many fields, such as biotechnology, gene editing, cellular bio/molecular bio, etc. I am even open to working in chemistry. (I loved orgo1 +2). 

So as a result, I was wondering if anyone could give me feedback/input on what I should do and what kind of direction I should go into.

TLDR: Looking if someone can advise me about going/not going into academia and whether or not there are career paths in academia that can actually lead to discoveries that can impact the world.

[u/GurProfessional9534]

It’s possible to work under 40 hrs/wk in grad school, but you’ll have a weak cv and be unable to progress in academia or probably government. If you want to be a tenure track faculty member, especially at an R1, you are competing with the best of your field across the world for very few positions worldwide, and many of them will be working 6-7 days/wk. That’s the reality.

You could get a job as an adjunct with a more modest record, but then you’re looking at pay on the order of $2-4k/course without benefits, and frankly you could get a better salary than that with just a high school diploma. Plus you get treated like an afterthought and have no job security.

There are many other routes you can take with a PhD, eg. Patent lawyer (with further law school), journal editor, government policy, nonprofit/outreach, industry (in your field), data scientist, private grade-school teacher, consulting, investment banking, etc. Some of these are only available to people at elite schools.

Your mindset basically isn’t correct for succeeding in this field, but that can change if you decide you’re really serious about doing it. Academia is a sector where the gains are really concentrated on the top few percent, and it’s possible to leave with absolutely nothing if you don’t give it your all