For those college kids looking to maximize their disposable income without fending off disgruntled pedestrians, the pharmaceutical industry is apparently more than happy to oblige.
Molly Brennan, another Fordham senior, participated in sleep studies to make some extra money a few years ago. A fruitless Internet search for plasma donation centers led her to Clinilabs, an independent research facility for sleep research on the Upper West Side. She filled out an online application and was contacted 20 minutes later.
After completing an initial one-night study, Brennan received another offer.
“They called me about a five-day study,” she explains, “I had to live there, in a dimly-lit room, and sleep while they monitored me. I was thinking there’s no possible way I would do that. It sounded totally insane. It still sounds a little crazy to me. Then they told me how much it was paid and I thought twice about it.”
Brennan eventually decided to go through with the study. Five days at $500 per day proved too lucrative to refuse.
“The clinicians were actually very cool,” she says while explaining that the experience wasn’t as creepy as it sounds, “One of them actually told me that she wished she was able to do the tests herself, as they were an easy way to make money. Sometimes they’d come in and talk about music, books, and movies. Of course, I was able to leave anytime I wanted but I would only receive payment for every day I was there.”
When asked if she would do it all again, Brennan answers with the authority of someone who’s spent three years on a city campus and has student loans, “I actually think I would. Some people—like my parents—think it’s totally insane. But the experience itself was not that bad.”
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