Postdoc fellow vs doctoral student

The differences between postdoc fellows and doctoral students can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a postdoc fellow has an average salary of $58,376, which is higher than the $56,000 average annual salary of a doctoral student.

The top three skills for a postdoc fellow include molecular biology, data analysis and CRISPR. The most important skills for a doctoral student are C++, python, and java.

Postdoc fellow vs doctoral student overview

	Postdoc Fellow	Doctoral Student
Yearly salary	$58,376	$56,000
Hourly rate	$28.07	$26.92
Growth rate	17%	17%
Number of jobs	8,499	15,502
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Doctoral Degree, 58%	Bachelor's Degree, 53%
Average age	41	44
Years of experience	4	-

Postdoc fellow vs doctoral student salary

Postdoc fellows and doctoral students have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Postdoc Fellow	Doctoral Student
Average salary	$58,376	$56,000
Salary range	Between $42,000 And $80,000	Between $39,000 And $78,000
Highest paying City	Burlingame, CA	-
Highest paying state	Hawaii	-
Best paying company	TRI-AD	-
Best paying industry	Professional	-

Differences between postdoc fellow and doctoral student education

There are a few differences between a postdoc fellow and a doctoral student in terms of educational background:

	Postdoc Fellow	Doctoral Student
Most common degree	Doctoral Degree, 58%	Bachelor's Degree, 53%
Most common major	Chemistry	Biology
Most common college	University of Southern California	Stanford University

Postdoc fellow vs doctoral student demographics

Here are the differences between postdoc fellows' and doctoral students' demographics:

	Postdoc Fellow	Doctoral Student
Average age	41	44
Gender ratio	Male, 71.1% Female, 28.9%	Male, 52.9% Female, 47.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 4.4% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 7.3% Asian, 45.5% White, 39.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black or African American, 11.0% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.6% Asian, 11.8% White, 53.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%
LGBT Percentage	8%	6%

Differences between postdoc fellow and doctoral student duties and responsibilities

Postdoc fellow example responsibilities.

Collaborate with software engineers to automate identification of 15N- and 13C- labele LC-MS features.
Perform expression profiling on primary promyelocyte samples and identify candidate genes that may be involve in SCN pathogenesis and malignant transformation.
Investigate chromatid orientation through immunofluorescence.

Doctoral student example responsibilities.

Manage multiple collaborative projects peripheral to dissertation that leverage experience in characterization and inorganic synthesis.
Lead the in-vitro biophysical and biochemical characterization of homologous recombination and investigate structure-function effects of mutant enzymes.
Used RT-PCR, ELISA, western blot, culture of establish cell lines, and immunohistochemistry.
Apply NMR techniques to assess the effect of a health supplement on neurological changes in Alzheimer s disease.
Analyze the molecular structures by NMR and FR-IR, determine the molecular weight and polymerization kinetics by GPC.
Develop complex ELISA and western blot methods to study and characterize the host immune response to intracellular parasitism.

Postdoc fellow vs doctoral student skills

Common postdoc fellow skills

Molecular Biology, 15%
Data Analysis, 10%
CRISPR, 9%
Python, 9%
Chemistry, 8%
Conduct Research, 7%

Common doctoral student skills

C++, 15%
Python, 11%
Java, 10%
Cell Culture, 6%
Chemistry, 6%
Data Analysis, 5%

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Postdoc Fellow
Postdoc Fellow vs Doctoral Student

Updated January 8, 2025

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