<p>I am listless and directionless; I don't know how to proceed. Let me tell you a bit about myself, and maybe you can afford me some insight.</p>
<p>I will graduate in May '14 with a BS in biology (focused in molecular biology) from a 2nd tier university. My GPA is 3.15. My GRE percentiles are 81%, 43% and 45% (Respectively: verbal, quantitative and writing). I took it with a fever of 102 and intend to retake it.</p>
<p>I have some useful skills. I've spent the last five years tutoring a variety of subjects for several schools at every grade level. I don't want to teach, but at least my communication is well developed. My only professional experience in a lab was a summer internship under an entomologist, but I understand the most important biotech procedures (SDS-PAGE, western blotting, PCR). Finally, I'm extremely computer literate. I know Excel; I've built PCs and coded a bit in MatLab and Python.</p>
<p>All this in mind, I don't know what my best options are. I want to work in science and be as close to the cutting edge as I can get, preferably in industry. I'd happily move anywhere in the country -- I've been eying San Diego and Seattle. Discouragingly though, I've heard that jobs at the BS and MS level are rare in biotech, but my performance precludes me from a PhD program. I might enter into a masters program, but I don't know if I should pursue a MS in biotechnology or some complementary field like computer science, or if I can get into a graduate program at all.</p>
<p>I feel like I have useful skills, but I'm having trouble spotting a niche that will let me translate them into a career. I'm regretting going to college. I've invested $25,000 in debt, wasted countless thousands from not having held full-time work, and there's no obvious way to turn this into a fulfilling, profitable career.</p>
<p>Love the tl;dr line. What I’m seeing is the potential to do some very creative resume building. Having a background in biology AND computer coding tells me that you have the chance to work at pharmaceutical or medical device company as a researcher.</p>
<p>What kind of coding experience do you have?</p>
<p>If I were you, I would list out everything that I have done, from courses taken to programming done to extra curriculars involved in to jobs held. Try to find a common theme, which may tell you where your interests really lie, and then go to a career counselor to get some advice. You are thinking about jobs at the exact right time; while the fall recruiting season may not include jobs that invigorate you, it’s good that you are aware of things now.</p>
<p>Since you don’t know what you want to do, definitely head over to career fairs at school, and find out when companies are coming on recruiting visits. It will be worthwhile to go to information sessions and to speak with the people who show up - the people most valuable to you are the first and second year employees, who have basically no pull but who can give you a good idea about what they do every day.</p>
<p>If you think you might like to go to grad school at some point soon, (I’m guessing you were at least considering this since you took the GRE), you might consider finding a position as a tech in an academic research lab. The pay is not spectacular, but you could survive on it while you assess where to go. A position like this would let you figure out if you want to continue in the research direction or possibly take another route while at the same time giving you great research experience if you decide you do want to go to grad school. This actually seems to be a fairly common route to take.
Since you seem to be quite tech savvy, brushing up the programming skills would also be a great boost to your resume. Matlab seems to be the primary language used in a lot of research, with Python as the up-and-coming language, and C++ as the old-school workhorse. A lot of bio people seem to be intimidated by the tech side, so this could be a definite bonus for you.</p>
<p>I could graduate in a year and I have no idea what I’m going to do. I’m at a small community college right now and I’m undecided on my major and I really don’t want a liberal arts degree. I have several interests, but everyone keeps telling me that I can’t make a career out of any of them.
I’ve been looking for a job since I was 17, now I’m 22 and still nothing yet. I have no plans for a career, I’m a loner outcast no matter what school I attend, and I’m going to end up completely alone.</p>