[Sevii]

I have never heard of ORNL. In general I would assume national labs are low paying and run by PHD researchers, so less upward mobility with my BS. I would rather make more money in an engineering led company. And I personally try to avoid companies with more than 200 employees, since they tend to have too much bureaucracy.

[jpiburn]

The salaries are actually pretty comparable (that's why I mentioned that NLs aren't on the GS scale) no stock options of course but you are correct that PhD researchers run the lab from mid level management on up and traditionally a PhD is expected for upward mobility. I can see where that would potentially be a concern from your perspective.

Thanks for your reply.

[cimmanom]

Seconded on every point.