Posted on behalf of Sugar Daddy, with a nod to Andy’s recent post As a fifth-year chemical biology graduate student, I sometimes wonder if I’ll know when I’ve been in grad school too long. Maybe I’ll want to finish that last project, or start something anew to pass along to a new student. Maybe a personal life decision is playing a factor in my wanting to leave now or stay longer. Maybe I look around at group meeting and realize that free pizza once per week isn’t as great as it used to be, partially because I know what everyone  … Read more

Posted on behalf of Sugar Daddy There seems to be this mindset among scientists, particularly chemists, that what we do is noble and somehow above the fray. Perhaps it comes from our training as graduate students. We live lives often completely removed from the world around us. We have friends who go home at 5 pm, cook dinner every night, watch TV programs, write books, do crossword puzzles, or other “normal” things. These people don’t “take” the whole weekend off; it is naturally given to them, an unalienable right of living in the “real world”. We are in a research  … Read more