Starting over in your 30's, major life direction change

[angus]

Yup, which is why if you know you want to do a PhD, you start doing research as early as possible (often with a couple different labs over the course of the 4 years, unless you stumble upon a great group doing research in field that interests you). The most ideal thing would be if you could find research group that interests you early and stick with it; the longer you spend in one group, the more valuable work you'll actually get done, more likely to contribute to publications and the more responsibility you'll be given.

At a lot of top universities, terminal master's programs will not give you any more time to pursue research, and most who it do it are not there long enough to accomplish much of anything (certainly not more than you could in undergrad, particularly if you stay with one lab for a while). You certainly won't be doing PhD quality work anyway. You will definitely more know by virtue of having gone through the gamut of undergrad classes, but you effectively are doing the first two years of a PhD except that you don't stay when you are done (usually). Then you'll just repeat those same two years when you start your PhD.

A masters program is great if you didn't do research in undergrad, are changing fields, or had some time off. If you are coming out of undergrad with research in the field of the PhD you are applying to, that is ideal. A master's in the same field will not make you substantially more competitive unless you are trying to fix a problem in your background (bad grades, etc).

In his case, I would not recommend it, because the plan is in place from the beginning, so he can approach undergrad with the intention of doing a PhD and start working with a lab from the beginning.

 

[WhiskeyPickleJake]

Very interesting. My family is a bit confused as I've done a mild version of what you're planning: dropped work and started Masters at age 33 while having the whole wife kids house thing.

I too just cannot accept "processing IT tickets" for the next 30 years. I know plenty of people who do and just find their fulfillment elsewhere, and I'm jealous of their mastery of the system.

 

[cwhitey2]

Because 1 in 5 Americans will experience mental illness during their adult lives. My grandfather suffered from Parkinson's and Alzheimer's to the degree that he couldn't remember any of his adult life, nor hold on to anything for more than a few seconds. All of human well-being and suffering ultimately boils down to modulating states of mind and consciousness, and yet we know so little about how it really works. To draw on an analogy by Sam Harris, one need only glance at the list of side effects for any psych med to appreciate that these are terribly blunt instruments. We know how to make bodies live longer, but we hardly know how to make life better. I believe this is one of the most important frontiers of research.

Wow, that was her exact reason as well.

 

[Grindspine]

If you are incredibly unhappy and cannot continue in your current life, then yes, a life change is necessary.

However, unless you have a lot of money saved for school, be prepared to spend the rest of your life in debt.

I always said that I wanted to do something in medicine or in music. But after years of schooling in biology, psychology, anthropology, and finally histology, I was working constantly in medicine and my on-call hours forced me to stop working in radio on the weekends.

I decided to quit that job, went back to part-time radio and part-time guitar tech. Unfortunately, after six months, I ran out of money, and had to go back to working in medicine.

Currently, I work 60 hours a week (16-20 in medicine at a clinic, 40-44 a week as a guitar tech) and will still be paying off my student loans for the next decade.

Career changes are a luxury for the rich, for those who come from supportive, wealthy families. I cannot recommend spending that much time and money going back to school if the likelihood is ending in unplayable debt.

 

[vansinn]

...Career changes are a luxury for the rich, for those who come from supportive, wealthy families.

While there's most certainly unfortunately quite some truth in that, it doesn't have to be true in all cases.

I cannot recommend spending that much time and money going back to school if the likelihood is ending in unplayable debt.

Will likewise too often come true.
However, it is not a simple task to define debt vs value.
A felt-meaningless life can result in debt to oneself for having wasted potential opportunities, and WRT to such things, I could can tell a thing or two..
And still, as I wrote earlier, I'm gearing up for my third career change - and I'm still here. Sortof, 'cause making those changes doesn't always come easy, just like that.
Penalties applies, at least financially. But I'm sure this is also [partly] what you meant

Such balance acts we must dance in this life..
Just never forget the simple phrase of Lennart Bernstein:
"Whatever you do, just put your heart into it, and money will come on it's own"
And Piet Hein (or was it Soren Kierkegaard?) "Remember to life your life while you have it"

And ultimately, not even the greatest always gets it right:
"In the beginning there was nothing.
God said, 'Let there be light!' And there was light.
There was still nothing, but at least you could see it a whole lot better."

Someone needs to go peek'n'poke our neoronic pathways to find out where those blinking lights ends up..

 

[russmuller]

Thanks so much for all the support, advice, and insight. I'm not dissuaded by the harsh realities discussed. There are harsh realities in every field and profession.

I actually never realized that you can go straight to a PhD program after an undergraduate degree. Combine that with the fact that there are paid undergrad research opportunities available through the program I'm hoping to get into, and that's actually very encouraging.

I've also done some research looking at job listings in the field (outside of academia) and there are definitely opportunities out there, even for those with just an undergraduate degree which pay more than I'm making currently, though I'm sure those positions are just as competitive as academic positions.

At this early point, where I'm still developing these plans, I'm using my university library access to read through related journals to see what kind of research interests me and where it's being done. Then comparing that with the kinds of employment opportunities I see, and I'll try to use that data to guide my studies and focus going into school.