Welcome to WENDYPEDIA – the free encyclopedia that Wendy edits.

WENDYPEDIA CHRONOLOG is a blog that accompanies the WENDYPEDIA wiki. Comments about the wiki can be made here, or you can send WENDYPEDIA an email using this contact form.

This entire site is under construction, so stay tuned – or follow @wendypedia on Twitter!

In his essay A Message to Garcia, American philosopher and writer Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) wrote:

“Every man should have a college education in order to show him how little the thing is really worth.”

Mr. Hubbard would probably say the same thing about graduate school – but if you’re getting a PhD in the biological and biomedical sciences, you get paid to go to school! You also have flexible hours, student discounts, and no dress code – things I sorely miss now that I have entered the world of “business casual.” Still, having a PhD is pretty awesome – even if I have to ration my vacation/sick days and pay full price for movie tickets. I feel especially cool because I can now select the title of “Dr.” instead of “Ms.” when I shop online.

For several years, I published a graduate stipend comparison for PhD programs in the biological and biomedical sciences. However, in the past year or so, various things – namely, having a real job – have prevented me from updating this. Due to popular demand, I have finally updated this site to include academic years 2008-9 and 2009-10. If you would like to share stipend information, please email me at wendychao (AT) post.harvard.edu or use the contact form here.

(from “Piled Higher and Deeper” by Jorge Cham)

In 2007, besides finally getting my PhD (several years behind the above schedule) and being suddenly thrust into the real world, I was under contract with a science publication to bring this comparison to a broader audience. But that project got cut earlier this year for various reasons. With permission, I am finally updating the listing of PhD stipends for the 2007-8 year. See America’s Best Graduate School Stipends – new, improved, and from Dr. Wendy to you.

(from “Piled Higher and Deeper” by Jorge Cham, www.phdcomics.com)

One of the perks of getting a PhD is getting paid to go to school. That’s right – doctoral candidates often get “stipends” to offset living expenses. In the biological sciences, stipends are so high that we can lead frugal and ascetic lives without having to work. Thus, we can focus our time on research, and spend our reproductive years among weird chemicals in the lab.

As a budding young researcher, I have to stay current on the latest scientific discoveries. I also keep an eye on how much other PhD programs pay their hardworking students. I’ve been tracking graduate student salaries for the last few years – so here is the highly-anticipated 2007 Edition of America’s Best Graduate Student Stipends.