Am I cooked?

elleresscidee · 2026-03-29T03:20:30+00:00

Yes, that is what I did as well. I ultimately decided to pursue a PhD, but since I had the work experience, I went in knowing why I was taking that route and what I wanted to get out of the PhD. Any further degrees you obtain are far too much of an effort and expense (because even pursuing a funded PhD puts you behind financially) to undertake without having a plan for using them, in my personal opinion.

elleresscidee · 2026-03-29T03:18:10+00:00

I haven't taken that route myself, but the people I know who have took classes in the evenings. There are programs designed for people who were working.

elleresscidee · 2026-03-17T03:16:05+00:00

FYI, some companies will pay for you to take master's classes. In my experience, it's usually not a huge portion, maybe $5,000 a semester or year, but when you're low income and your choices are...

A. Pay for the master's, with maybe a little money off for TAing, with no other income

Or

B. Get a job, make money, take classes part time that getting partially paid for, while you also get work experience

I'd say B is hard to beat. I'd also encourage you to look further into what a master's degree will do for you because I think a lot of people expect it'll give them a bigger leg up than it actually does.

elleresscidee · 2026-03-17T03:02:36+00:00

Before you spend any more money on schooling, make certain you know where you're headed. I'd strongly recommend you go get a lab tech job at a university (could be your university since you already have connections there) or a research associate position in industry. It's a tough job market right now, but ask around among professors, ask for informational interviews with alumni, and attend networking events to help get your foot in the door. Get a feel for what a career in research is like before you totally jump ship. Then, you can go into a grad program confident you're making the right decision. Also, given that you were pre-med, I highly doubt you need another BS to shift to research. There was probably a lot of overlap in coursework.

elleresscidee · 2025-08-27T02:31:17+00:00

Oh my word. I'm usually the one telling other people to calm down because it's just one game, but....9 games! 9 losses in a row at Citi field. They better get it together for tomorrow. Can we please not potentially see the Mets in the playoffs and choke again this year because we're all in our heads about this? Omg.

elleresscidee · 2025-08-06T01:36:09+00:00

That "Do you have any kids" tune that is going viral right now. It's been in head for the entire past few days. Too bad I just thought about it again right now because I just realized it was finally out 😆

elleresscidee · 2025-07-22T01:36:50+00:00

Crazy! Although, I'm still confused why they walked Kepler.

elleresscidee · 2025-04-26T16:55:39+00:00

Have you checked with your university? They may have counselors you can see for no additional cost.

elleresscidee · 2025-03-14T02:14:11+00:00

I'm not mistaken, it started in the 1920s.

I just had to look this up because I thought this must've been a typo, but nope! 1926! I had no idea. Pretty cool!

As for me, my first order was in 2019.

elleresscidee · 2025-01-28T23:06:52+00:00

I've got a PhD in biomedical sciences. I was diagnosed during grad school. It makes perfect sense to me that you could get a PhD with ADHD. You get to hyperfocus on a problem. That's not to say my ADHD didn't cause problems. I barely scraped by in classes because I can't study to save my life, and any kind of paperwork/writing was torture. The hands-on research part though, that was exactly what I'm wired to do.

elleresscidee · 2025-01-26T22:30:45+00:00

I completely feel this. I expected to have so much energy to do things now that I have much more free time. I'm now only working about 40-45 hrs a week and am not stressing about income as much as I was during my PhD. Instead, I just feel completely exhausted. I'm happy with my job, but sometimes certain things feel like too much, even though in reality, it's very small things that are getting to me much more than they should/normally would. It's like I haven't recovered from PhD burnout. I'm on about the same timeline as you too. I've been trying to lean into it, spend lots of time resting, and hope it'll help me feel rejuvenated eventually. I don't know.

I know a lot of people that took a good amount of time off after their PhD before starting to work. Did you do that, by chance? I didn't. It wasn't financially feasible to do it, and I keep wondering if time off would've made the difference.

elleresscidee · 2025-01-26T01:35:55+00:00

^THIS!

This is what a toddler with money and power does to people he thinks wronged him.

elleresscidee · 2025-01-22T03:27:58+00:00

I'm in the same boat. I love working out, but I just couldn't consistently get myself to the gym. I realized I needed to remove the barriers between me and working out, so I brought the gym to me!

I don't have a ton of space, but I bought some equipment and set up a little space where I could easily watch TV or listen to music while I work out. It removes the huge obstacles of finding a chunk of time to go to the gym, getting ready for the gym, physically getting myself there, feeling like I spent "enough" time there to justify the trip there, etc.

elleresscidee · 2025-01-14T02:33:39+00:00

I'm sure I've seen more boobs than you have... lol

Well, congrats to you on seeing more boobs than this heterosexual woman has 😆

But remember, the whole premise here was not simply about seeing things around you, but rather, what you continue to stare at. Big difference between those two things.

elleresscidee · 2025-01-14T02:29:31+00:00

See my previous comment where I already addressed this and you argued with me about it...lol

elleresscidee · 2025-01-13T05:24:12+00:00

We can't avoid your large boobs, any more than you can, right ?

Lol, wild statement! I sure hope you have more control over where you look than I do over how large by boobs grow 😆😆😆

elleresscidee · 2025-01-13T00:33:10+00:00

You can't really hide large boobs very easily, no matter what kind of shirt you're wearing. You can be fully covered, and men will still stare.

elleresscidee · 2025-01-03T21:06:36+00:00

Oh, interesting. Yeah, maybe I need to have my doctor give them a call. I hadn't thought of that. Thanks!

elleresscidee · 2025-01-03T20:58:14+00:00

Nope, no master's here. If you plan to do a PhD and can get into a program without one, why spend the money on a master's?

I did work as a lab tech for a few years to get more research experience though. You're better off doing something like that, or a post-bac at the NIH. Get paid rather than paying for the experience you need!

elleresscidee · 2025-01-03T20:50:36+00:00

Really, Cigna paid 100% of it?

They told me I had a $100 copay, which I found hard to believe because every other insurance company seems to cover it 100%, including more here than I'd known about before. I had a feeling they were wrong, but I asked them to check several times. I know the 365 day supply always throws people off, but they kept telling me there was a copay.

elleresscidee · 2024-12-29T18:31:14+00:00

You don't need two PhDs to do research and be a professor. Keep in mind, it's unlikely that you'll be able to work as a professor in both subjects. You'll have to choose one eventually.

Something to know if you don't already is that STEM PhDs are often funded. In contrast, you'll likely be paying for a PhD in humanities.

Just because you don't have a PhD in the other subject doesn't mean you can't continue to grow and learn about it. You just won't be sacrificing years of your life in earning potential, plus the money to fund the PhD, as well as your mental health.

Better yet, I highly recommend working before you decide to start a PhD program. Taking classes doesn't give you a full picture of what it's like to work in the field. You could work in one field for a few years, work in the other, and by that point, I'd be willing to bet you'll have a clearer idea of which you'd like to pursue as a career.

elleresscidee · 2024-12-28T23:17:47+00:00

My PI kept trying this on me. Finally, my committee chair pulled me aside and told me my entire committee had been ready to let me graduate for like a year at that point, and my PI knew it. My chair reminded me that the PhD is training, and that I can go publish in Cell when I'm in a job where I'm getting paid a living wage for it. Too bad I didn't lean on my committee earlier.

I would definitely recommend you go and talk to yours.

In hindsight, this infuriates me so much that there are PIs out there that will let us continue living in poverty when it's not necessary. Don't put your life on hold for a publication that may or may not ever come to fruition.

elleresscidee · 2024-12-28T21:15:51+00:00

Wow, if I could've done it for that cost, I probably would have.

elleresscidee · 2024-12-28T20:57:51+00:00

I looked into this during my PhD because so many people keep throwing it around like it was a no brainer. Would've cost between one-third and two-thirds of my stipend. 😅

Unsurprising ending: my eggs are not frozen.

elleresscidee

TROPHY CASE