*irked*

[moonwise]

I seem to have read a lot of articles like this one about how the number of foreign grad students is declining yet again. Numerous factors are cited, which I won't get into. In short, research programs in the US depend on students from China, India, and Russia.

I agree that this is a problem, yes! But how about this for a change: WHY AREN'T DOMESTIC STUDENTS MAKING UP THE GAP?

I'll tell you why.

Because my sister-in-law, who works in insurance and who has never graduated from college, makes 15K more than I do.

Because my cousin, who works for an investment firm and who double-majored in history and English, the latter of which (do pardon me here) I could have done in my sleep, is making THREE TIMES what I do.

Do I grudge them their salaries? No, but I do find it frustrating. I went to school for six years post-grad, got a PhD, and there's no monetary reward at the end of it. Sure, I have a pretty sheepskin on the wall, but the fact remains that there is no financial incentive to go into science. You're doing it for the love of the field and not because you're going to be compensated for it.

Meanwhile, all your friends who went into finance or computers are sitting pretty, because they didn't spend years in school and have experience and seniority and all that. You can't make up the years you spent in grad school while everyone else was working, so you have to live with being on the short end of the stick.

So who's the schmuck? Not my cousin or my sister-in-law. Me.

So there's your reason for the shortfall. The underlying problem isn't just that foreign student enrollment is dropping, it's that universities are dependent on them to get the research done. They're dependent on the foreign students because they're far more likely to put up with the lack of pay and long hours that grad school requires. To solve the root of the problem, it's time to bring some respect - and reward - back to the scientific profession.

Comments

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

It's not just the US. Britain has exactly the same problem too, and then bemoans the fact that fewer of the kids are going into the sciences.

Not that knowing the same shit happens elsewhere will make you feel any better about it :-(

[arafel.livejournal.com]

I didn't know it was going on in England too. How depressing.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

You can always sign up with a biotech company. I hear there's good money in biological weapons...[/cynical]

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

If it violates an international treaty, Bush will want it to go live in three months.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

I think you'll have a stable financial future - the greying of the American population means that pharma will be alive and well, anyway, if the lawyers don't bleed it dry - but you and I will have to accept that people with a tenth of our skill will get paid ten times as much to do stupid shit we could do in our sleep. Not that I am bitter.

[wpl510.livejournal.com]

And speaking of pay...

If I make $100k every year, and work for 50 years, I've calclated that I will make:

...Slightly less than a basketball player can make for a 15-second shoe commercial.

Blegh.

[athex.livejournal.com]

Sucks, don't it.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

Yes. Because putting a ball in a basket is SO much more impressive than searching for a cure for cancer. >_

[athex.livejournal.com]

All it is, is that society values the basketball player more.

[athex.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately that is the way it is in some areas, but on average people that go to college do do better over their lifetimes. I am an engineer, and I will say I get paid well for my age and everything.

I think the best thing to do now days is to start your own business, unforuntately I don't have the idea but I have the education!

[arafel.livejournal.com]

Yay engineers!

I get paid well, and one of the reason's my salary's depressed is that it's a postdoc's salary and not a full scientist position, but it still pisses me off to hear that someone who didn't even finish college and who is younger than me is making 15K more and feels she should be making 30K more. Good grief.

[ssilverfish.livejournal.com]

True, true, and true. It sucks. My brother-in-law was absolutely shocked to find that his salary (as a company computer guy) was almost more than my and my husband's salary combined. That's not true anymore since I've gotten a raise or two, but still... he's one person, and he doesn't have a higher degree, and Brian and I both have PhD's. He's tremendously talented at what he does, no doubt, but... it's still frustrating.

Word on the streets around NIH is that the science budget is going to get cut significantly this next time around. That's not going to help.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

Husband and I very much share that frustration, believe me... and you're in a worse situation because you're in academia, which generally pays less than industry.

Word on the streets around NIH is that the science budget is going to get cut significantly this next time around. That's not going to help.

Oh, and is that courtesy of our Fearless Leader again? Thanks, Georgie!

[wickedorin.livejournal.com]

Dammit. Why can't I be a lucky idiot and stuble upon an easy job making hundreds of thousands a year...