Graduate degrees & research?

[Guest wishywish82]

Anyone ever think of getting a grad degree and getting a faculty tenured position??

[Guest shesallDAT]

Heh...yeah, I've thought of it...I'm sure a lot of other people on this board have too.

 

I think it all depends what you want. Research can be very interesting, but I think it is more of a lifestyle committment. You always have to apply for grants, work long hours, etc. But, the pay is pretty decent, and once you're tenured, you do have the job security too. However, the time to getting there is longer (PhD plus post-docs, puts you into early 30's before you're making any real money) and I suspect it's harder to have a family life at the same time.

[Guest wishywish82]

It's definitely opened my eyes, I know at Dal you get 2-3 days a week off to work in clinics. There's an anestiologist in the pharmacology dept who is really good at budgeting his time. He makes 100K from Dal, probably 150-200K from the dept of health and has his own biotech company, but I don't know how well it's doing.

 

He's really lucky b/c he is able to share grad students and they drive his biotech research, wild eh?

 

What makes me think about it is that I'll already have a master's before I get into dent, so if I could do research during the summers which count towards a PhD then I'll probably jump at the idea.

 

Anyway until then I'm playing the waiting game just like everyone else.

[Guest Adversary]

I am curious wishywish82 about your idea of research in the summer counting towards your PhD. How does that work? Is it something available to DAL students? It's the first time I heard of it as I was always told that I can go through Grad School after the completion of my DMD degree.

 

I do know that as a grad student with a professional degree, you will be making $45,000/year and NOT the typical grad student rate of $15,000 - $23,000 (UBC figures). It is also quite interesting to find out that Dental Grad students are typically foreign students. It seems very few Canadian Dental school graduates are interested in pursuing a research career so this does create a niche for anyone interested. I for one am thinking about it.

[Guest wishywish82]

I've talked to the dept of pharmacology about it a little and since I'm already a grad student I think if they let me do it, it would be alot easier for me. I only need to take 2 more classes to get my phd, vs my masters, tho I'd have to take on another new project. I'm putting off any decision until I hear back from dentistry, but I think if I do presue a phd, it will limit my finances for the rest of my life, prof salary vs dentist salary etc.

[Guest Adversary]

Interesting that you have that option. UBC Dentistry requires that you complete your masters/phd before July of the same year you start Dentistry. If you fail to do so,they revoke your spot. I guess they do not want people to use Grad school as a space-filler while they apply to Professional school. You're lucky that option is available though I understand you are not abusing the system and is in it for legit reasons.

 

I was mistaken earlier in that I thought you could start a PhD while in Dental school. I thought that was what you meant. My mistake. I do know there are MD/PhD programs, but I was told there are no DMD(DDS)/PhD programs here in Canada unfortunately. I am looking at 5-6 years of Grad school after my DMD if I wish to pursue research. It's quite a bit more schooling and something I am not entirely keen on committing myself to yet.