Inside STAT: Coming to terms with six years in science

(EROS DERVISHI FOR STAT)

Justin Chen spent six years at MIT studying developmental biology. Now, Ph.D. in hand, he's grappling with a difficult question: Was it worth it? He threw himself into learning how an embryo grows, watching under the microscope as the soft architecture of fish and frogs took shape. But the 60- to 90-hour work weeks strained his relationships and left him, at times, deeply fatigued. One detail that stuck with me: He could tell the time of day by the steady stream of headlights as cars left the parking garage outside his window. All the while, the reality set in that there are far more Ph.D. students than tenure-track positions and opportunities to open labs. Chen tries to come to terms with those feelings in a new piece for STAT — read here.