Master's Program or Second Bachelor's

<p>I have a bit of a conundrum:</p>

<p>I graduated UC Davis in 07 with a bachelor's in history. I have been spending the last year and a half gearing myself up to apply for a second bachelor's in fall of '09. But now it looks like CSUs will likely be rejecting all second bachelor's and UCs already barely admit any. The other option would be to go out of state, but financial aid for second bachelor's is rare, and I don't think I can afford it.</p>

<p>I completed 16 quarter units of upper division science credits at UC Davis, including 2/3 of the biology series and one half of the lower-division organic chemistry series. By the end of this year I will have completed the lower division calculus, biology, and chemistry series, as well as calculus-based physics. </p>

<p>My question is do you think I have enough of a profile to apply for a master's program? Or should I go for a second bachelor's. If I apply for a master's program and I can take the summer and fall to study for the GREs and maybe take a microbiology or anatomy course at a JC to beef up my academic profile.</p>

<p>My two fears are that I will find myself way behind as a bio grad student with a history degree and that I might not be able to get into a quality institution. </p>

<p>Thanks to everyone in advance for your help!</p>

<p>Why did you graduate in the first place if you knew you wanted to a double major? And, last I check there are several UC schools that accept second majors. If your master is radically different from your undergraduate study, I think its best to get a second degree.</p>

<p>Davis has a strict unit cap. I appealed them to let me exceed the cap, but was rejected.</p>

<p>The only UCs that take second bachelor's in biology are Berkeley, Riverside, Irvine, and Santa Cruz. Berkeley is out of my league, I already talked to Irvine and they said they will probably not have (m)any second bachelor's. Which leaves Santa Cruz and Riverside.</p>

<p>What about biological engineering? I know as an engineering student at Davis, there are no credit limit.</p>

<p>I think you should talk to the master's program admissions office that you want to go to. They can tell you the requirements that you need. I don't think a second bachelor's would be worth it. But there are CSUs/UCs that are accepting second bachelor's as of right now.</p>

<p>I'm generally against the idea of earning a second bachelor's degree, even if your field is radically different. Master's degrees will open you up to more job categories and will, on average, make you more money. I also don't see the point of earning a second bachelor's when in about the same amount of time (maybe a little more), you can earn a higher degree. There is not a lot of funding to help with getting a second bachelor's, but a lot of master's degrees in the natural sciences are funded (not true in other fields, but true in the natural sciences, especially if you go to a 3-year thesis option program).</p>

<p>The only time I advocate second bachelor's is when those second bachelor's are in some kind of specialized field, like engineering, nursing, education, etc. That's because a BA/BS in the field is generally required before entering graduate school, plus the career opportunities are already pretty wide and good without a master's.</p>

<p>I think you also need to think about your goals for your degree, whichever one it is. Why are you going back to school to get another degree in a field radically different from the field you previously earned your first degree in? Are you simply interested in biology, or is there a specific job that you want to get? Is there a possibility you'll continue on to a Ph.D program later? Do you want to get involved in biological research, or do you want to do some kind of applied work? What would be better for your situation? What do you have money for?</p>

<p>Do this. Go to the websites of the master's programs to which you would like to apply and look at the prerequisites for the program. See how close you are to those prerequisites. I know that most biology master's programs do require a lot of hours in biology, but it sounds like you might be quite close to the prereqs. If you can prove that you are working on completing them a lot of programs will admit you conditionally and you will complete all of them during your first year of the program.</p>

<p>BTW, forgot to mention I'm going for a degree in biochemistry and molecular biology.</p>

<p>A second bachelor's degree is completely unnecessary unless you're going into two radically different fields (humanities to engineering). Still, if you already have a bachelor's degree, why don't you take undergraduate courses at your local university to makeup the lack of technical courses in your original major? A master's degree is the shorter and better option.</p>

<p>Hmm, you are in a bind. You should realize that grad schools have minimal course requirements in the sciences. For something like biochemistry/molecular, you will need gen chem, organic chem, physical chem, biology, biochem, molecular biology and probably a few other courses just to have your application considered. If you already took these classes (and check with the programs bc they may have different course requirements), then you are in good shape. </p>

<p>If not, a good option would be to get a lab tech job at a school for a couple of years. This would allow you to 1)get research experience 2)gain exposure to the field 3)take the remaining courses without paying tuition. Best of luck</p>

<p>I second the lab technician suggestion; it really is a good way to boost your chances of admissions to grad school. However, a lot of times those lab tech jobs have similar course requirements to graduate school admissions, simply because you have to have background knowledge in the area before you can start tinkering around in the lab. It looks like you have enough classes to be competitive for those jobs, though.</p>