tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post7180859272286618061..comments2024-03-27T21:23:40.339-04:00Comments on Chemjobber: Gluts happen to other fields, tooChemjobberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15932113680515602275noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-70165627126378053072012-05-30T09:01:00.756-04:002012-05-30T09:01:00.756-04:00Let it not be said that universities don't res...Let it not be said that universities don't respond to market forces. When demand is high it's easy to justify expansion. When the inevitable oversupply occurs, however, students should prepare themselves for "the point of university education is not to train you for employment" speeches from administration.Jameshttp://masterorganicchemistry.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-9976423052984065672012-05-25T08:45:52.264-04:002012-05-25T08:45:52.264-04:00Be known in economics since 1928 as the "pork...Be known in economics since 1928 as the "pork cycle."<br /><br />Straight from Wiki: "Nicholas Kaldor proposed a model of fluctuations in agricultural markets called the cobweb model, based on production lags and adaptive expectations. In his model, when prices are high more investments are made. Their effect, however, is delayed due to the breeding time. Then the market becomes saturated which leads to a decline in prices. As a result of this, production is reduced but the effects take a long time to be noticed but then lead to increased demand and again increased prices. This procedure repeats itself cyclically. The resulting supply-demand graph resembles a cobweb.<br /><br />This type of model has also been applied in certain labour sectors: high salaries in a particular sector lead to an increased number of students studying the relevant subject. When all these students after several years start looking for a job at the same time their job prospects are much worse which then in turn deters students from studying this subject."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-78988118152551201562012-05-25T00:49:20.791-04:002012-05-25T00:49:20.791-04:00That's all you have to do? No getting up in th...That's all you have to do? No getting up in the middle of the night to do critical experiments. Your drugs don't suddenly decompose after seven steps. Nor do you have to purify them?! And you get to meet people!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-39850392674088567322012-05-24T23:29:44.974-04:002012-05-24T23:29:44.974-04:00Summarizing some patterns in Gluts/Bubbles:
Tenur...Summarizing some patterns in Gluts/Bubbles:<br /><br />Tenured elites claim compelling need for resource/outcome <br />(Help the family farm, renewable energy, ownership society, train more scientists, engineers...)<br />Initiative is created to fulfill that "need"<br />(Crop subsidies, solar subsidies, educational loans, RO1 grants)<br />People get taxed to subsidize it<br />(IRS...)<br />Too many people get involved<br />(Everyone grows corn, Solyndra, super labs are created, foreign post-docs invade)<br />They get screwed<br />(Farm Bailouts, solar tariffs, "alternative careers", foreclosure, move back in with parents)<br />Elites retire with public pension<br /><br />Society suckered by new set of elites and repeats process<br /><br />Moral of the story? If someone is forcing society to pay for it, be really skeptical about getting involved...unless you are doing the forcing =DAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-2276573429321193502012-05-24T23:10:08.132-04:002012-05-24T23:10:08.132-04:00Sign me up, baby! (especially the haggling part - ...Sign me up, baby! (especially the haggling part - yes!)Chemjobberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15932113680515602275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-73407233179107485902012-05-24T22:08:51.937-04:002012-05-24T22:08:51.937-04:00I hope you have time to read this: http://www.nbe...I hope you have time to read this: http://www.nber.org/~peat/PapersFolder/Papers/SG/NSF.html<br />Personally, I will have a PhD in a Biomedical fieldy very shortly. My department is 55% international graduate students and 85% international postdocs. Meanwhile MD Anderson's graduate school brings in 100 graduate students a year...pretty sure they aren't hiring that many PhD faculty a year. On the biological side we see discrepancies a bit closer because often work along side MD fellows in the lab. People with NO lab skills (and justifiably...they weren't trained to do this stuff) and are more of a hassle, yet make 50-80k a year(as a trainee!).<br />I picked the wrong field...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-32186447235923449072012-05-24T19:39:35.067-04:002012-05-24T19:39:35.067-04:00If you want to work 14 hour shifts, answer the dri...If you want to work 14 hour shifts, answer the drive up window, haggle with people, sell and give vaccinations, welcome to the world of retail chain pharmacy. That's what the pharmacists are saying.Claire Phttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02477579158022843480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-88222638034404194522012-05-24T16:04:17.020-04:002012-05-24T16:04:17.020-04:00Oh, interesting. When I got laid off from my newsp...Oh, interesting. When I got laid off from my newspaper job in 2008, I seriously considered going back to school in pharmacy, and even sent off some applications and attended one interview. Should I be glad I wasn't offered a spot in UCSF's pharmacy school? Dunno, maybe.Lila Gutermannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-60389088429416642832012-05-24T16:03:36.521-04:002012-05-24T16:03:36.521-04:00I was thinking of going back to school for pharmac...I was thinking of going back to school for pharmacy when I got laid off from pharma. After doing some research, I was concerned about the doubling of schools over a 10 year period. I believe this is pure greed from the schools, looking at the tuition the schools charge. <br />Ten years ago, you could count on a 6 figure salary and signing bonus. If one were to work in a rural setting, I'm confident their would be manuy opportunities. The nice thing is it cannot be outsourced to China and India, or H1b'ed, like chemistry. If it wasn't going to put me in $120k in dept, I would take the plunge.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-66855719722530422592012-05-24T14:25:51.283-04:002012-05-24T14:25:51.283-04:00I worked at a hospital where people insisted on we...I worked at a hospital where people insisted on wearing their coats everywhere. The physicians all wore their coats to and from the cafeteria, and most would even wear them outside to the cafe across the street. We weren't just giving young college kids physicals either, we had some patients with autoimmune diseases or who were in late stages of cancer that probably would prefer to keep the pathogens from outside away from them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-68648109990435334182012-05-24T13:42:52.623-04:002012-05-24T13:42:52.623-04:00I have noticed the same pattern. Rural or otherwis...I have noticed the same pattern. Rural or otherwise unpopular places to live for a 20-something recent graduate are always hiring. However, I do think there will be a glut soon, a full blown one, maybe even as bad as the lawyers that I see. Being >$100K in debt and having to take a job chauffeuring may become their reality soon...<br /><br />http://abovethelaw.com/2010/08/ucla-law-offers-most-depressing-job-to-a-law-student-2010-edition/<br /><br />The shortage of doctors will persist longer though, because the cartel...I mean the AMA keeps tight control of supply. Dentists are practically in a glut, I've already seen enough big city grads have to take the rural job.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-9129176439671819032012-05-24T12:53:51.037-04:002012-05-24T12:53:51.037-04:00I've always been weirded out by the lab coat i...I've always been weirded out by the lab coat in public. Knowing what mine touches (and what theirs likely does) in the course of a work day...yuck.See Arr Ohhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-12101918376833894992012-05-24T11:52:53.094-04:002012-05-24T11:52:53.094-04:00There is a shortage of pharmacists (and doctors, a...There is a shortage of pharmacists (and doctors, and dentists, and other occupations requiring some advanced degree) in western KS currently. A few years ago there was a big push within the School of Pharmacy at KU to get recent pharmacy graduates out to western KS and other rural parts of the state. Based on the current shortage, that initiative must not have been too successful.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-20861493231586412622012-05-24T11:28:16.328-04:002012-05-24T11:28:16.328-04:00Conveniently, the picture of Belmont's graduat...Conveniently, the picture of Belmont's graduating class is full of attractive young women wearing skirts. Also conveniently, they happen to be the shortest and therefore, standing right in the front. I'm sure they pride themselves on their strong academics though, they're just trying to fill a need.<br /><br />Side note: I hate how people love wearing the white coat to let the world know they're a doctor.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-84234614087097823632012-05-24T10:32:06.058-04:002012-05-24T10:32:06.058-04:00Even more insidiously: "There's prestige ...Even more insidiously: "There's prestige in offering a doctoral degree and -- perhaps more importantly -- revenue."<br /><br />To my knowledge, chemistry schools have not increased student #s just to raise revenue (though one could argue that the cheap labor they bring is the same).<br /><br />On + side for pharm students, it's a shorter degree (I may be wrong on this).<br /><br />On - side, yee gods! spending your life counting to 30. I'd rather be a patent agent.bbooooooyanoreply@blogger.com