I was recently offered a prestigious postdoc in Boston. For those not familiar, most scientists do a 2-4 year postdoc after PhD graduation.
It is everything I could ask for - fantastic lab, elite institution, and will certainly open some doors in my future.
Downside: Salary is 40K/yr and I will pay over 600/mo for family healthcare(med/vis/dent). Boston is one of the most expensive cities in the US.
I have a wife, a two year old, a newborn and two dogs. It seems possible, but not guaranteed to get a 1500/mo 1 or 2 bedroom in reasonable commute to work.
So here is my math problem: 40K/12 - 600 = 2733 gross or ~2200/mo after taxes.
2200 - 1500(rent) - 500(groceries for 4) - 90(T-pass for 2) - ~200(utilities) - 70(pet food) - 60(monthly vet fee) = -220/month. And I am certainly underestimating costs.
My wife could try and find a job(teacher). In our current state her take home is ~4000/month. If she works, our two kids have to be in daycare and nearly every person I have talked to in Boston pays ~20K/year for childcare for a single child, or 40K/yr for two children. It is hard to justify the wife working 50 hours a week, being away for the children for an additional 600/month. And she has more or less told me she is not working for 600 bucks a month. My role as a postdoc(70+ hrs/week) would make it almost impossible for her to work part-time in the evenings or weekend.
Now throw in that we have a mortgage in our current state that is ~20K more than the house is worth. We do have ~60K in retirement that we could use (~40K after taxes) to supplement.
Is taking this opportunity irresponsible and unfair to my family?
Should I look for less prestigious alternatives?
it is more important to publish well during your post doc then to come from a prestigious institute. Sounds like you will go into debt/take money from your retirement in order to finance your postdoc and in my opinion, its not worth it.
As somebody who is finishing up their PhD and looking for postdocs/jobs I understand your predicament (and kudos to you for juggling a family at the same time, couldn’t imagine having a family on a PhD stipend). The only way I could take the postdoc in your shoes was if I was able to obtain a fellowship and the PI was willing to pay me extra on top of it. I know a couple of people who have gotten an extra $6-10,000 from their PI’s by getting a fellowship. I don’t know anything about you or the lab you have the postdoc offer from, but unless he is doing something nobody else is or it is absolutely crucial in your mind that you work for this PI because you are very passionate about his work, there’s no sense in leveraging your future over it. IMO, just because he’s a big name at a great institution doesn’t guarantee you success (but as you said could help open some doors). Also would help to know if you are looking towards academia (where your publication list weighs heavily) or industry as your long term goal. Boston has a very strong biotech presence and would be great for networking, which would be a pro for taking it.
I just finished making my potential list of places to postdoc and cost of living weighed heavily into it. I live in the NYC area now and I’m tired of the expensive living and low wage of being a budding scientist.
Is there anything your wife can do part time that would be from home on her hours? If the post-doc is going to open more doors that not doing it it might be worth tapping into your retirement but then you really have very little emergency money.
Where is located? Which institution? Whitehead Institute, MIT
What is your future earnings after the postdoc? 90+K
Do you have other post-doc options? Where?** Informal interviews for an industrial postdoc in San Francisco (55K/year) and an Industry job in Cambridge/Boston (70-80K/year). Should know what is going on with these opportunities in **
If you opted not for a post-doc, could you get a job, how much would it pay? See above. If I pushed hard I could probably get a job in the 75K range, but nothing lined up.
Could you rent out your current house? We moved in with my in-laws in September in anticipation of a move and to save money. The house has renters in it till September 2012. But if we go multiple months in between tenants, or something breaks, we are screwed. We also lose 100/mo renting (1100 rent, 1200 mortgage).
Where are you currently located? Columbus, OH
On the one hand, I feel I could be equally happy in academics or industry. Only the MIT postdoc would lead to an academic job. On the other hand, I feel like I have spent the last 5 years doing everything right - nearly 10 publications, 2 fellowships, many awards, and networked my ass off. I feel pressured (mostly by myself) to live up to my graduate school and do the prestigious postdoc and see where it takes me. But it is a very dangerous line. If I choose career over family now, what is stopping me from justifying it in the future? Is the short term sacrifice going to long term benefit the family, or are there other routes that provide equally well long term? These are the answers I am struggling to find.
You have answered your own question. If you cannot make the numbers work, then you cannot take the position. Things are always more expensive than you anticipate, and you are cutting it way too close.
I’d skip the post-doc and get a real job. Maybe I’m just jaded after my 1st year of post-doccing.
It’s really the quality of the paper that you think you might get out of the MIT position that’s worthwhile, not the lab. If you think you can squeeze a 1st author pub in Nature, Cell or Science article out of the post-doc then it might be worthwhile.
Can you borrow some money from parents to try to make it work?
Are their better paying alternatives that you know you can get?
I’m coming at it from a different profession, but the law school grads who take 1-2 year clerkships for low pay (some less than $40k/yr) are usually more marketable later in their careers than those who don’t clerk. So the short-term sacrifice more than pays off over the course of a decade, especially for the most prestigious clerkships.
You can’t afford to take it. You have a young family to take care of. If it was just you and your wife that would be one situation but you have kids to worry about. You have no way of knowing if this will pay off. An industry job will at least take care of your family and you can carve out a path for yourself there.
I’ve become very pragmatic about work and money after some major financial and employment challenges of my own. Don’t put yourself in over your head it can take many years to get out.
Sorry if that is harsh but the answer seems pretty straightforward to me.
If your wife is behind you 100% then you will find a way to make it work.
The 401k account is your answer–pay the taxes and the penalty and you have the extra money you need to survive in the city for several years on $40k and get out from under your mortgage.
Is your job going to be a typical 9 - 5 deal (sorry, don’t know anything about post-doc stuff)? Can you look for something in the suburbs and commute in? That would reduce the amount you need to pay for rent and will give your family more room. I’m from a small town outside of Boston and the commuter train is pretty good now. I know several people who commute in from Stoughton, Brockton and Bridgewater. Brockton doesn’t have a great reputation, but I have several family members there and it’s a perfectly fine area to live - just avoid the area right around Main Street and you’ll be good. You could probably find a house to rent for less than $1500 there with a relatively easy commute into the city.
As you move an hour outside the city a 1 bedroom apartment can be found for ~200-300 less than somewhere on the T(their subway). Not as significant as one would hope, but for someone fighting for every dollar it seems reasonable.
Unfortunately, the transportation for commuter rail is 100-220 more than a stand alone T-pass, so it almost evens out.
I would be working 6-7 days a week 10-12 hours per day. So adding 2 hours of commute time per day, would mean my family should just stay in Columbus, while I go to Boston alone.
With the resources you have at your disposal, you can get through the post-doc. It won’t be very comfortable for you and your family, but many people do more with less. You’ve already done the legwork to secure a good, professional career when the time comes. If the post-doc thing stretches you beyond your limits, no one is going to fault you for making the proper financial decision.
One thing I’ve learned from experience, is that the academic rat race that you are apart of, is only beneficial to you, if you plan on pursuing an academic career. If you want to go into industry, certainly connections help, and it doesn’t hurt to have this post-doc experience, but really what are you giving up. 4 years of subsistence wages, probably a lot of unneeded stress on your family life. It is going to be tough.
Unless you are planning on going into academia, I’d skip the b.s. of the post-doc, considering an undergrad with a BS probably could make more than you in your post-doc
You already made your choice 5 years ago, when you decided to get a PhD in biochemistry. You were passing up a better financial opportunity at that moment in order to get something, which to YOU was personally fulfilling and motivating enough to work very hard for very little money for 5 years. Your wife was supportive of your financial situation then, and except for the addition of 2 kids and a more expensive city, nothing would really be changing if you were to pursue a postdoc at MIT (and IMO, if you did well enough at your PhD to get the chance to postdoc at MIT, then obviously to you, this additional opportunity to excel will be extremely personally fulfilling, whatever the ultimate financial payback may be). You have some savings to back you up for the time being, and don’t forget that there are numerous foreign postdocs making do on one salary with wife and kids in tow, so it is not an impossible situation. You have also not taken into account possible faculty housing at MIT, the childcare stipend that most universities offer and other benefits of a postdoc position. Is this the best financial decision you could be making, probably not. But generally speaking, a PhD in biochemistry did not go into it for the money.
Your wife has a done a good job defining what to her constitutes reasonable hours worked per money earned. I don’t think you have done the same, as certainly, not all postdocs work the hours you propose (10-12/day, 6-7 days per week). I would have a talk with your PI about the hours, as well as about the availability of additional stipends.
Having said that, doing the postdoc will certainly open doors in academia, but since you are not yet decided on academics/industry, do not forget that it will also open doors for you in industry. Perhaps a stint at a no-name university will not offer much in terms of long term financial benefit, but you can be sure that the HRguy you will be dealing with in a couple of years knows nothing of biochemistry and journal impact factors, but will look at your resume and toss it left or right based on a quick scan.
You are also selling yourself short on your earning potential with a PhD+postdoc+good publishing history. There are a number of jobs in pharma looking for your qualifications paying significantly more, especially if you are willing to work outside the lab. A year or so at MIT will not hire you, but it will surely increase your chances of at least getting that interview down the line.
I say do it for a year, if it doesn’t work out you have gained work experience, a nice resume add-on, and lived in Boston for one year.
Plus, MIT is MIT.
