Full-Time Graduate Study

Consider the pros and cons of full-time graduate study and full-time employment 

PRO In-depth knowledge More career choices and enhanced autonomy Financial support Buy time Real-world perspective Income 

CON Study burnout Uncertainty of area of specialization Short-term cost Reduced number of employment positions for those who earn PhDs Technical obsolescence Low probability of returning to school for full-time graduate study 

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Full-Time Graduate Study Full-Time Employment... 

You decided on full-time professional employment rather than full-time graduate school, made the initial transition from the world of study to the world of practice, and are in your first full-time employment situation. Or maybe you are in graduate school. 

Born in London, Paul May grew up in Redditch, Worcestershire. He went on to study at Bristol University, where he graduated with a first class honours in chemistry in 1985. He then joined GEC Hirst Research Centre in Wembley where he worked on semiconductor processing for three years, before returning to Bristol to study for a PhD in plasma etching of semiconductors. His PhD was awarded in 1991, and he then remained at Bristol to co-found the CVD diamond research group. In 1992 he was awarded a Ramsay Memorial Fellowship to continue the diamond work, and after that a Royal Society University Fellowship. In October 1999 he became a full-time lecturer in the School of Chemistry at Bristol. He is currently 36 years old. His scientific interests include diamond films, plasma chemistry, interstellar space dust, the internet and web technology. His recreational interests include table-tennis, science fiction, and heavy metal music. 

The student applicant must be a full-time student working toward a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry and must have completed the second year of graduate study by the time the fellowship period begins. 

Join a pharmaceutical company, and with its help you can cUmb the academic ladder. Such an employer customarily subsidizes the tuition costs of part-time, business-related studies leading to a master s or doctor s degree in chemistry. Sometimes it also underwrites the research needed to complete a doctoral dissertation. Then, it can furnish laboratory space and services, modern instruments and glassware, supplies of chemicals, or advice from experienced industrial researchers who are coworkers. With your doctorate conferred, you can seek an adjunct professor s post. It can allow you to teach part-time at a nearby university even while you pursue full-time research in industry. Employer-subsidized graduate degrees, which are not limited to chemistry but can include business or law, extend their recipient s horizon. They can facilitate advancement or career transitions. 

A Higher National Certificate (HNC) can be taken two years after A level or Ordinary National Certificate in chemistry, physics and mathematics by part-time study only. This is a professional qualification of pass degree standard and of national status. At the same level, somewhat lower than Graduate Membership of the RTC or an honours degree but with a broader basis, is the Higher National Diploma in chemistry or applied chemistry which is usually taken as a three-year sandwich course from A level or ONC, or sometimes as a two-year full-time course. Particulars can be obtained from the Secretary to the Joint Committee for National Certificates in Chemistry, 30 Russell Square, London, W.C.l. 

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