Does staying in a Master's program for too long look bad on PhD applications? I am currently a (USA) Master's student studying biochemistry. I intend to get a PhD after my Master's but I am doing a Master's first because my husband is going to finish his PhD and want to move to another city before I would be able to finish a PhD at my current university (this was planned from the beginning, I applied to the Master's program, not the PhD program).

Normally, people in my program graduate in 1.5-2 years. I could graduate in that time frame and find a tech job in the area or I could continue my research in my program until my husband finishes (~3.5 years from the time I started). Given where we live, I think the job I could find would be a job that will help me develop additional lab skills, but probably not result in publications.

My advisor is happy for me to stick around and it would be convenient for me to do so, but I'm concerned that it will look on a resume/PhD application like I was either lazy so it took so long or just bailed from a PhD and dropped to a Master's. 
I understand that if I had a fantastic publication record it might make up for the long Master's program, but I expect my publication record to be average. 

In summary, does it look bad on PhD applications to extend the length of my Master's program instead of getting a job as a technician for 2 years?
It seems to me that the strongest argument in favor of a 3.5 year master's degree you mustered was "it would be convenient for me to do so."  You said yourself that you don't think the extra time spent will pay sufficient academic dividends; rather, you are hoping to break even but worried that it will look bad.  I think your worries on this are plausible: 3.5 years is a long time to spend in a master's program.  The explanation of wanting to stay in the same city as your husband is certainly reasonable from the greater perspective of life, but I have a hard time seeing how your advisor could swing that in a really positive way in a recommendation letter.  

Why don't you want to spend a year or two working at a "real job," presumably making real money, and (bonus) developing skills that you could then use in a PhD program? 

Pro Tip: staying in grad school because it's easy, or because you're vague on the alternatives, is pretty much never a good idea.  The time dilation experienced by an insufficiently motivated grad student is amazing: it is not an exaggeration to say that many grad students spend a year doing what a really passionate (and capable, and well-trained) student could do in a month or even a week.  Again, that is not an exaggeration: I've seen plenty of instances.  The thing you're allowing a 2:1 (or 12:1 or 50:1) time dilation on is in fact (a big part of) your life.

Of course, the flip side of all of that is: tell us again why you can't do good or great work rather than average work?  And also talk to your advisor about it:


  My advisor is happy for me to stick around...


Not great or even good.  She either has an overly self-centered attitude to student mentorship or somehow has gotten the impression that you're not a very serious student.  But you could be if you wanted to, right?  And if you're really not...then just finish up your degree and move on.