Second Bachelors or M.S.?

Graduate School
1

<p>Hello All,</p>

<p>I wanted to first provide some background into my situation. I obtained my B.A. in Political Science from Temple University in May of 2011 and have been working in a Sales/Marketing capacity for a supplier of generic pharmaceuticals to the US market for approximately 1 ½ years. Given the nature of my work I wear multiple hats.</p>

<p>I’ve done some clicking around the internet and this site, and felt my situation was somewhat unique (I think) as a majority of people interested in advancing from a BA to an MS or pursuing a degree that is not parallel to their undergraduate studies, were generally interested in changing from one field of work to another. I, on the other hand, am currently gaining experience in a field that I enjoy, but was not trained in at the undergraduate level. (a knowledge-drive industry by nature)</p>

<p>Additional technical knowledge and background would help in the long run. I was particularly interested in an advanced degree related to drug design, pharmaceutical systems management, etc. My technical background is relatively limited to the advanced programs that I would be pursuing in the future and I have only taken some preliminary science courses to fulfill my undergraduate requirements.</p>

<p>I am considering going back to my local community college and pursuing an A.S. in chemistry or biotechnology to brush up on my fundamentals and get a solid base under me. From there, would I be better served going back for an additional Bachelors, or will I be competitive enough given my experience to enroll in an M.S. program?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance to all that can provide some insight! Perhaps someone on here has been in a similar situation.</p>

2

<p>Take the following with a grain of salt: In my opinion, I don’t think a MS is necessary for sales/marketing; the clients you deal with are probably either not knowledgeable at that level, or they don’t care. In addition, I don’t believe chemistry has much overlap with genetics or pharmaceuticals, if any at all. Bio eng will probably help the most, but a large portion of that degree will be geared towards biorenewables, not pharmaceuticals. Overall, I think getting an extra degree would be completely redundant for a sales guy. I’m a chem e, and I think my degree is versatile enough to be able to handle the technical stuff that goes on with sales in genetic pharmaceuticals. You job should have provided all the training courses you need. If you really want to understand, organic chemistry will help you a lot, not because it has any pharmaceutical case studies or anything, but because it lays out the basis for thinking about your process at a molecular level.</p>

3

<p>Well, it depends on what you want to do. Do you want to stay in sales and marketing? If so, then you likely don’t need a science degree at all - you would probably be better served by an MBA or an MS in marketing. Do you want to go into more of the actual product side, maybe do some R&D work, stuff like that? Then you would be far better served by taking the prerequisite classes (you don’t need to enroll for an AS) and then getting an MS in a field that will help you.</p>

<p>Look at the people who are doing now what you want to do in 5-10 years. What degrees do they have?</p>