<p>Hey everyone, this is my first post on College Confidential. I am currently a High School junior enrolled in Honors Chem (Ap next semester), Honors Calc (AP next semester), Honors English (not taking AP), and ACP History. I really enjoy math and science and really want to go into Biotech. There is a biotech class at my school which I will probably take next year. I was just wondering what are some good biotech programs in the northeast? I have a solid GPA (4.0), but am not great at taking standardized tests (taking sat in january). Thanks for the help, this site has tons of great info.</p>
<p>Hi Joejoejim, welcome to the community. Take my advice with a grain of salt as I only spent a few years working in biotech and there are people out there with a bit more historical perspective that might offer other opinions.</p>
<p>Biotech programs don't generally exist. You major in a biomedical science eg. biochem, genetics, microbiology etc. The key is to get lab experience as an undergrad. I had average grades but had job offers from several companies before I graduated whereas others in my department with no lab experience had to take crappier jobs or couldn't get jobs at all in science. Undergrad lab jobs are a great thing; depending on the setup, you may get paid, you may get credit, you may even have a chance to do independent research. There are other highlights that make the afternoons of autoclaving waste and washing dishes completely worth it, like free tutoring in your science related courses, recommendations etc.</p>
<p>Depending on what aspect of biotech interests you, you might actually want to consider biomedical engineering. These people are often found in medical devices, automation etc. Plus, I believe that engineering programs are a bit more rigorous than non engineering.</p>
<p>Another thought to consider, there are undergrad internships for the summer at biotech/pharma companies. These would be a step in the right direction and may give you a set of contacts before you graduate. Also, there are professional masters degree programs in biotech (these are intended for working professionals with experience in the field). There are also the usual assortment of masters and Phd programs and since there is effectively a glass ceiling for non Phds in management, it might be worth considering.</p>
<p>If you have any other questions, feel free to pm me. Best of luck.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great info belevitt, I really appreciate it! As far as what type of biotech I want to go into, I really want to do something with drug discovery. The whole realm of developing, testing and eventually discovering new drugs is fascinating to me. However, I'm not sure what type of degrees I should be looking at for this type of work. Should I major in chem and then narrow down my schooling for my masters? I am really confused as the lines seemed to be blurred in this area of schooling.</p>
<p>The lines are blurred because there are many ways to get where you want. This is a great thing because it gives you the chance to come at the same problem completely differently than other people would. Let's say for instance that you have a background in chemistry, you might generate chemical libraries and take a high throughput approach whereas somebody with a background in genetics, may look for a synthetic biology strategy. You will take basically the same set of prereq courses until you are an upper classmen, no matter what major you pick so don't let it stress you out yet.</p>
<p>I would suggest that you look into pharmacology rather than chemistry as pharmacology specifically deals with drug development whereas chemistry includes many subfields. </p>
<p>One more thing, if you want to do drug discovery, don't bother with a masters, go ahead and get the PhD. The time commitment is significant (6 or 7 years) but the stipends are livable and tuition is paid by the department.</p>
<p>Check out RIT:</p>
<p>RPI</p>
<p>School</a> of Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute</p>
<p>The biophysics degree at Johns Hopkins sounds like a fit for you if you like math. Any degree that's on the boundary of biology, chemistry, physics and math will prepare you very well for a career at a pharmaceutical company.</p>
<p>Johns</a> Hopkins</p>
<p>Thanks for the recommendations, I'll look into them. My school counselor keeps telling me to develop a list of colleges I am interested in, so I started my search here, thanks!</p>
<p>Do they have to be in the NE? Duke, Stanford and UCSD would be wonderful options in addition to JHU.</p>
<p>Rutgers University has a biotechnology major. I'm not sure how good it is, though.</p>
<p>Definitely take the biotech class at your school next year. I'm taking a biotech class this year, and it's AWESOME.</p>
<p>Ya I would have taken biotech this year, but it just didn't work in my schedule. But I had the biotech teacher for bio and almost every question I asked she ended her reply by saying that if I want to know more about it, I should take biotech. I just shadowed at Pfizer the other day and loved it, so I'm pretty sure this is the right field for me.</p>
<p>hmom5, they don't HAVE to be in the northeast, but I would like to stay close to home (ct) while still getting away a little. I would love going to stamford, but not sure if I have the grades/money lol.</p>
<p>joejoejim- I, too, was planning to take Biotech as a junior, but I couldn't get in (the spots were all filled up by seniors) until this year (senior year). I don't know what it will be like at your school, but at my school Biotech is a lab-based class, which is totally awesome- way better than listening to an hour/hour and a half of lecture with no break (we do have lectures sometimes, but never for the whole time, and it's really interesting). </p>
<p>Also: do you mean Stamford, or StaNford?</p>
<p>The fact that you guys even have a "biotech" course in high school is amazing. What does the course consist of? What topics are covered? Does it involve an internship or job shadowing or something?</p>
<p>If you like labs over your lectures then you will love classes in college. I don't know if all colleges had as many lab courses as mine did, but I had certainly more than a dozen lab classes. They really are some of the most memorable courses.</p>
<p>Yes, I meant Stanford lol. As far as the biotech course, I'm not entirely sure, but I think that it involves some lab work, but definitely a lot of visits to local drug companies. That is one thing I definitely want to do. Go see what the actual workplace looks like. I've already been to pfizers and would love to visit more drug companies in my area...</p>
<p>You may want to distinguish between biotech and pharma. They have a totally different character. Pfizer is a pharmaceutical company, make sure you check out biotech companies too.</p>