Thank you everyone for your reply. I am confused on my decision because I know this decision will be the ultimate decision. I spoke with a PhD Chemist from a large company (3M, DOW, or Dupont). My old coworker who is a PhD chemist makes about $110-120k with 20 years of experience. He told me if he could do it over again, he would have got a masters in chemical engineering. He told me that PhD’s are needed to become a professor. On the subject of professors, tenure professors make well over 100k. The professor I am working for makes $140k. The school has a public payroll that shows all employee salaries. To be honest, I wouldn't really mine getting a PhD in chemistry if I didn't have to write research papers, grants and fellowship applications. Also, presenting all the time is a not a positive. I talked to several grad students who are about to graduate. Well over 90% of them are doing posdoc or teaching position after graduation. It is very difficult for PhD students to directly go into industry since industry prefers to hire B.S. and M.S. students because they can pay them less.
I do want to get my B.S. in PE then get my masters. The world of chemicals is getting old to me.
Thanks for your perspective.
Thank you everyone for your reply. I am confused on my decision because I know this decision will be the ultimate decision. I spoke with a PhD Chemist from a large company (3M, DOW, or Dupont). My old coworker who is a PhD chemist makes about $110-120k with 20 years of experience. He told me if he could do it over again, he would have got a masters in chemical engineering. He told me that PhD’s are needed to become a professor. On the subject of professors, tenure professors make well over 100k. The professor I am working for makes $140k. The school has a public payroll that shows all employee salaries. To be honest, I wouldn't really mine getting a PhD in chemistry if I didn't have to write research papers, grants and fellowship applications. Also, presenting all the time is a not a positive. I talked to several grad students who are about to graduate. Well over 90% of them are doing posdoc or teaching position after graduation. It is very difficult for PhD students to directly go into industry since industry prefers to hire B.S. and M.S. students because they can pay them less.
I do want to get my B.S. in PE then get my masters. The world of chemicals is getting old to me.
Thanks for your perspective.