<p>Hey guys!
I am a sophmore biomajor in Stanford Undergrad. I thought myself as premeds for a long time, (canadian citizen) but now I feel like I might want to do something else!
yes, like most of you, i do not know what to do with my life yet.
I have decent GPA, have a lot of shadowing experience and currently involved in neuro lab project. If I do decide to go to med school, I will probably take year off after junior or senior, spending time in China to learn Chinese and try to do some health-related thing to strengthen my resume.. probably I will take MCAT during that year off, for this summer I will be completely occupied with lab work.
But now, I am getting this strong feeling that life as a doctor will be boring. I really want to do some biotech business, so I am thinking about going to graduate school for Bioengineering, (BME or biomechanics) get Ph.D, work in a biotech for a couple of years, get MBA and start my own business and stuff...
But on the other hand, I am confused because career as doctor is much more stable then biotech business.
So, could you guys give me some advice on my plan, some thoughts about future biotech business (too risky, it will flourish or not..), and any alternative plan I can think of?
Please no 'do what you like' type of thing.. I have thought about this for a long time, yet they are both equally appealing to me!
Thanks for reading :) I will wait for your replies!</p>
<p>roll a die or do eenie meenie miney mo</p>
<p>just kidding. i think biotechnology is a great field for you, and it will be more interesting.. you can always switch back later if you change your mind since you have a pretty solid background</p>
<p>oh yeah - and how's stanford? is it hard to maintain a good gpa?</p>
<p>Why not go to med school, get the MD degree THEN go to biotech?</p>
<p>Having an MD degree will always open doors for you. I hate to say it, but a PhD degree is nice for biotech, but an MD will always be more impressive.</p>
<p>However, if you are interested in learning how to do real research (as in most biotech companies) then an MD degree is not the place. If you have the time and desire, an MD/PhD combo is the best for going into pharma/biotech.</p>
<p>By virtue of having the MD degree, you will always be able to support yourself financially and can then take risks (ie like start your own company, join a small biotech, etc). Physicians can moonlight once or twice a month and still make enough to get by -- while still working a full-time day job.</p>