Hi all,

Essentially am having mini career crisis (or just whinging ;) ). I finished my MSc (cognitive neuroscience + neuropsychology) a couple of years ago. Loved it, wasn't sure if I wanted to do a PhD but then my supervisor encouraged me and I thought hmm well actually I would like to, but I'd missed all the funding deadlines by then.

I did get very close to getting one really interesting project with a late deadline, so thought I'd take a year out and apply later. I didn't get anywhere with research assistant jobs but did get a job in medcomms/medical writing which was pretty lucky and I mostly loved it. I've just moved jobs after 18 months to another medical writing job but in pharma and so far am not enjoying the new job. It's early days so I know I have to give it a bit longer to see how it really is, but it's made me remember that I love brains and wanted to do a PhD and the job was meant to be a short term thing.

Issues are:
1) I feel underqualified and lacking knowledge in science; I feel MSc just scratched the surface
2) I love brains and I want to do more with them (in a scientific rather than zombie way ;) )
3) If I do do a PhD though am not sure what it would lead to if not research? One option is medical writing...but am already doing that! I know there are other possibilities but not sure if you need a PhD for them or if it's worth doing.
4) Expense and if I'm honest not wanting to do the student thing again. This isn't absolute but have to confess now I've been earning money there is a mercenary part of me that doesn't want to be a skint student again.

I realise variations on this probably appear a lot on here and I haven't really asked a question but wondered if anyone had any thoughts?

Hi there,

First, ignore 1). Everybody feels underqualified when they enter a phD ;).
The question is, do you really want to pursue a phD to expand your knowledge or is it just a "the grass is greener on the other side of the pond" kind of thing.

Only you can answer that truly to yourself. If you want to go for the phD, I would think a part time phD is an option here. You have already some experience as a medical writer, so perhaps you can reduce your hours (or find a part time assignment) and do the phD part time, too. Therefore, you wont loose all your income and stay put in a field where you have alreay some experience.

It won't be easy and will eat away a massive chunk of your time for the next years - but its also (at least for me) a lot of fun, intresting things and flexing my creative and intellectual muscles to their limit.

As for what to do after phD: In time, normally more options pop up. Since you have already a job to fall back to, I would just wait and see, where the journey takes you (if you decide to pursue it).

Thanks RinaL! I was wondering about the part time option.

When I said I felt underqualified, I think it was more in general and that the MSc 'isn't enough' - in terms of my own knowledge but also for various careers: I feel like I haven't done enough science (humanities undergrad degree!).

Hence wondering about the PhD for myself but also for opening doors, except I wasn't sure how many it would open.

I think you're asking the right questions. I think especially neurosciences have the problem that there is only limited amount of field related jobs in industry. For instance, in the pharma research they often prefer the medical students for neuro-related applications. You could of course do a PhD just for the PhD's sake and because it is fun but who knows if you can re-enter medical writing afterwards (maybe there is something like overqualification?) ?
1) and 4) are things you can deal with but I am also the more pragmatic type and think that a degree or a PhD should lead to something and at least be a little beneficial for your career. On the other hand, if there is the deep feeling you have to do this, than it will maybe not disappear and you'll regret it later. That is something you have to ask yourself. Is it really something you have to do or is it just something that would be nice. Even if you are not actively involved in research there are ways to occupy yourself with neurosciences without doing a PhD in your freetime (there is more than enough literature on the topic ;) )

Thanks Dunham. I have similar thoughts re wanting it to lead to something, though I don't need to worry about overqualification - most medical writers have PhDs and I am the anomaly there! But I think from that POV the PhD is unnecessary now; many places require it for medical writers but they won't now I've got my foot in the door and there doesn't seem to be a shortage of recruiters.

Problem is, I don't know if just reading is enough! That's how I ended up doing the MSc: reading wasn't enough for me. So a job with more brain stuff would be nice (I'm not wedded to the idea that it has to be a PhD), but then I feel underqualified... Where is the job with training? ;) Wishful thinking, I suspect.

Apologies for the ramble; I think my thoughts are a bit incoherent at the moment, but I welcome others' thoughts to help clarify them.