That's an interesting question- I think it would be challenging in some respects, which would likely differ during and after school.
During a PhD program, you're not gonna make much money, but you will probably enjoy the classes and research, particularly if you have some money saved up from your current career to help smooth the bumps of living TA paycheck to TA paycheck. I really loved my PhD program, but was also in my early 20s and living like a poor grad student wasn't as big a deal.
As far as long-term career prospects go, I think things are a bit more challenging. There are opportunities to work for state or federal agencies, particularly if you focus on agricultural insect pests. Otherwise it's pretty much academia, and the job prospects there are pretty slim. Unlike other domains where there lots of non-professor jobs, for entomology and related fields, there are far fewer. Labs tend to be fairly small, so the total # of jobs nationally is also pretty small.
My advisor always used to say that he never knew anyone who didn't make it into a tenure-track position, if they were willing to hang on long enough. He also acknowledged that hanging on for a long time can suck! I wanted to start a family and live in a place where I had a community, so I left academia and work as a data scientist for a public transit agency near lots of friends and family.
What I'd say is that if you have a sense of the long-term career you want (agency scientist, ag researcher, tenure-track prof) and can go into grad school with a solid plan, you can make it happen. Entomology isn't a terribly expensive field, so you can do a lot without much funding, and that freedom can be really wonderful! But it's not going to be a particularly lucrative career, and competition for stable tenure track jobs is high, requiring a lot of geographic flexibility.
As you can see, I've got a lot of thoughts on this! If it's something you're seriously considering and want to talk more, let me know and I'd be happy to chat sometime.
During a PhD program, you're not gonna make much money, but you will probably enjoy the classes and research, particularly if you have some money saved up from your current career to help smooth the bumps of living TA paycheck to TA paycheck. I really loved my PhD program, but was also in my early 20s and living like a poor grad student wasn't as big a deal.
As far as long-term career prospects go, I think things are a bit more challenging. There are opportunities to work for state or federal agencies, particularly if you focus on agricultural insect pests. Otherwise it's pretty much academia, and the job prospects there are pretty slim. Unlike other domains where there lots of non-professor jobs, for entomology and related fields, there are far fewer. Labs tend to be fairly small, so the total # of jobs nationally is also pretty small.
My advisor always used to say that he never knew anyone who didn't make it into a tenure-track position, if they were willing to hang on long enough. He also acknowledged that hanging on for a long time can suck! I wanted to start a family and live in a place where I had a community, so I left academia and work as a data scientist for a public transit agency near lots of friends and family.
What I'd say is that if you have a sense of the long-term career you want (agency scientist, ag researcher, tenure-track prof) and can go into grad school with a solid plan, you can make it happen. Entomology isn't a terribly expensive field, so you can do a lot without much funding, and that freedom can be really wonderful! But it's not going to be a particularly lucrative career, and competition for stable tenure track jobs is high, requiring a lot of geographic flexibility.
As you can see, I've got a lot of thoughts on this! If it's something you're seriously considering and want to talk more, let me know and I'd be happy to chat sometime.