Question

What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of a career in the health sciences?

Answer 1

While working in science can be very rewarding - intellectually stimulating, allowing contributions to society, generating a possibility of profit - a job in science is not for everyone. Some science jobs require long training (graduate school and beyond), working very long hours, depending on grant funding if working in academia, depending on the success of the product being developed if working in industry, and possibly even working conditions that have an adverse impact on one's health.

While many science jobs require a college degree and possibly a certification, most independent research positions require doctoral training. This means that one truly enters the workforce, in terms of salary and job security, some five to ten years later than one's peers. By many estimates, American universities train almost twice as many PhDs as there are possible job openings. This has led to a longer time spent in postdoctoral jobs with little permanence and relatively low salaries. Given a glut of scientists, even after obtaining a professorship, many scientists find themselves writing proposals rather than doing research and with their research driven by funding opportunities, rather than pursuing avenues necessary to solve important scientific problems.