4 ms·
I made approximately $30k as a grad student (5 yrs) and ~$50k as a post-doc (2.5 yrs). I probably could've made more in a different industry, but it was plenty
by roadnottaken 12y ago
I made approximately $30k as a grad student (5 yrs) and ~$50k as a post-doc (2.5 yrs). I probably could've made more in a different industry, but it was plenty to live on at the time. It would've been a different story if I'd had kids sooner... anyway, I didn't go into science for the money, I went into it because I like science. I don't disagree with many of the conclusions in the original post, I just wanted to add my anecdotal experience which has been relatively happy and sufficiently-compensated.
- timr 12y agoYou may have been satisfied by what you were making, but that doesn't mean that you were making as much as you could have. I mean, people renounce their belongings and live in ashrams for spiritual reasons, and they're OK with it. But let's not pretend they aren't making a trade-off.
- roadnottaken 12y agoI wasn't trying to pretend. As I said, I went into science because I like science. If I wanted to get paid as much as possible I would've done something else.