What should I do now?
This morning, after some good work at the bench, two people working with me wanted to discuss something. This wasn't the regular, I'm not sure how to do this experiment, or have those flies arrived?, or can I take the day off ? This was one of those sombre sit downs. First, they both asked for time off. I thought to myself "Phew... That was easy." I was happy to get going from there, but a heavy question followed. One of them said they wanted to pursue a PhD in cancer biology. "OK, they are leaving this group I guess.". But then one of them spoke about how much they want to do a PhD and nothing has panned out in many many years and that it was too late, and that they are dependent on their fiancé, and how much that is a burden on their conscience, and they've tried many different fields, and they want to stay in academics and not go to industry... The stream of thought was unbroken, and gained strength like their tears. Finally they asked "What