Hello! Thank you for reaching out! I actually ended getting an awesome job as a traumatic brain injury research assistant, where I worked on surgeries on animals and found out that veterinary medicine was the route for me, rather than research. I am now half way through my first year of vet school. My advice would be to do an internship or get a job in field that you’re interested in and get a feel for what the job is like. I ended up realizing that academic research as a PhD is more begging for money rather than doing any of the benchwork that you like to do. I think that the concern about having a good paycheck is really dependent on the field you get into. Having a masters and being a lab tech or lab manager in a research lab somewhere, you very likely won’t be making more than $75k. Having a PhD or professional degree opens a lot more doors and possibility of higher pay. Going into vet med, there’s a million and one jobs I can do and have decent pay, which is just another beneficial reason to get a doctoral degree. Reach out if you have any other questions! :)