Originally Posted by lab fairy

Teaching is not for the faint of heart. You do not get your summers off (people just think you do because you are most often required to take classes, write curriculum, etc. w/o pay) and there is no 8-3 (I got to campus at 6 am and left after 5:30 everyday).

I think the grass is greener to many people. I think social work is noble but grossly underpaid and overworked. The burnout rate is higher than what is found in education. No one talks about the fact that most teachers only teach 5 years or less.

I suggest you research interests, pay levels (you will have to repay student loans somehow unless you are lucky enough to have everything paid by scholarships and grants, but very few are that lucky), and working environments. Check with university programs, ask if you can meet with directors of those programs, ask to talk to their intern coordinators, see if you can visit workplaces, etc. That is all part of data gathering and it really pays off in the end.