No real comment, just an interesting comparison. I think the graded dues would be something I'd like to see for ACS. Also, getting undergrads in for free seems like a good idea for chemical engineers (a lot fewer of those than for chemists, I'll bet.)
I think a bigger problem I've found, regardless of the cost, is that as a young scientist I have seen zero benefit to paying my dues except getting reduced admission to national meetings (in truth, that's the only reason I've been a paid member for so much of graduate school). They try to provide webinars and this-and-that career development material, but I stopped doing those ages ago because I just found them underwhelming and largely missing the point. Heck, I don't even get the "anniversary" freebies anymore for whatever reason, so as far as I'm concerned, the next time my dues come up and I don't have a national meeting to go to, I'll just be passing on ACS membership for that year.
ReplyDeleteThe ability to watch many national meeting presentations is a value-add, I feel. ($150 worth? Dunno.)
DeleteIt would also be nice to have a Postdoc category similar to the young professional. Maybe up to 3 years of reduced dues somewhere between full membership and grad student membership fee.
ReplyDelete