Changing Jobs

[Ditto1114]

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Hello Fellow Non-Trads,

I need some advice. I applied last year and am currently sitting on 1 waitlist. I have spent a lot of time making my application better and I am ready to reapply.

My dilemma is as follows: I have been working in a research laboratory for 2 years for a university that since I've been employed has had a university wide pay freeze that is rumored to continue until 2012. A friend of mine works for a local pharmaceutical company and introduced me to her boss who in turn offered me a job that pays A LOT more then I'm making right now. (They don't know about my dream to go to medical school). In my current position I am running my own projects, writing papers and going to conferences. In the new position I would still be running my own projects, but I wouldn't have the opportunity to publish or go to conferences and the work would be more mundane. I would have a chance to learn new things because I'm in a molecular biology lab and the new lab would be more chemistry. I conflicted as to whether I should take the job or not. What would you do? Thanks for your input in advance!

 

[candid]

Well, I believe only and only if you are very keen on learning molecular biology otherwise go ahead and take the job .I 'm sure if you are interested in learning about anything to this field then you'll 've a lot of learning there also. The only caution being you might have to work very hard in here and have less time for anything that you wish to pursue. So get a good knowledge of what you would be expected to do in this new job .Earning more wouldn't hurt I believe but be cautious to make a wise trade-off.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Hello Fellow Non-Trads,

I need some advice. I applied last year and am currently sitting on 1 waitlist. I have spent a lot of time making my application better and I am ready to reapply.

My dilemma is as follows: I have been working in a research laboratory for 2 years for a university that since I've been employed has had a university wide pay freeze that is rumored to continue until 2012. A friend of mine works for a local pharmaceutical company and introduced me to her boss who in turn offered me a job that pays A LOT more then I'm making right now. (They don't know about my dream to go to medical school). In my current position I am running my own projects, writing papers and going to conferences. In the new position I would still be running my own projects, but I wouldn't have the opportunity to publish or go to conferences and the work would be more mundane. I would have a chance to learn new things because I'm in a molecular biology lab and the new lab would be more chemistry. I conflicted as to whether I should take the job or not. What would you do? Thanks for your input in advance!

Go with the higher paying job and keep it under your hat about wanting to leave and go to medical school. It's about you.

 

[kami333]

Ouch on the pay freeze, it was the same for the past 2 years at the university that I worked at. It's kind of stupid considering we get paid from independent grants and aren't really a part of the main budget. My PI was nice enough to get around it by "promoting" me.

I think academic > industry for everything other than pay, both my gf and I have worked in/with industry and like our lower-paying-but-more-exciting academic lab jobs better🙂.

If you've already gotten a first author paper there isn't that much more you can do in academic research to bolster your app (other than cure cancer) and the extra money comes in handy when applying. Though I agree with candid on the downsides, industry jobs usually have less flexibility in terms of scheduling which might be important for interviews. Also you would be starting a new job and be stressed out during interview season, since you are already familiar with the background and techniques of your old job there wouldn't be so much stress.