<p>I'm working towards a biochemistry bachelor's degree right now. I have do not want to become a professor or go into academia so I think a PhD would be no use for me. However, I do like to do research and work in the lab. I think a bachelors degree may limit my options so I do want to pursue some additional schooling such as a masters. But would that offer opportunities for advancement if I were to work with a biotech company? Other than working in industry, what other positions can I get? (Are teaching at community colleges, working in governmental agencies, etc other viable options?)</p>
<p>With a bachelors, you may get a research assistant or research technician position. BUT that depends on whether you know your stuff and have relevant laboratory experience. A master’s won’t do you any good. You’re better off working and getting experience on the job rather than spending another 2 years getting a master’s. Industry couldn’t care less about a master’s.</p>
<p>If you want to do any meaningful research of your own design and eventually take a project leadership position in industry, you NEED to get a PhD. A PhD isn’t just for people who want to go into academia. It’s necessary for ANYONE who wants to do research for any entity (ie academia, government, or industry). That’s just how it is…</p>
<p>But yes there are NON research positions that you can get with your bachelors. </p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>I dont think there is much you can do with a bachelors degree. I’d recommend getting a PhD</p>
<p>If you plan on going into bio-related research (lab work) you have two options:
- Get a PhD.
- Work under someone that has a PhD.</p>
<p>If you truly like research, you’ll soon find that doing some other person’s bidding as a simple lab tech is not nearly as fulfilling as directing a project yourself. The good news is that pretty much all bio phd programs are also paid positions. You really don’t make much less than some bio tech that only has a B.S. anyway - and you leave with a degree too. </p>
<p>Rereading your post though - it seems that you like “science” more than “research”. You can always get some sort of tech-like position in industry labs, but again, probably doing what someone with a PhD tells you to do. You can also teach. If you have some other ability, you can pair it with bio-knowledge to create your own niche. (examples: a graphic designer that likes bio can create representations of molecular events, a writer can do press releases for a biotech company, a computer person could make bio-related apps etc. etc.).</p>
<p>If you were serious when you said you were into research though, there is no way around the PhD.</p>
<p>Even within research universities, there are usually research positions for master’s level researchers. You can work as a lab technician or research associate.</p>
<p>But if you want to go into industry, there are definitely research associate and analyst positions for master’s level researchers. I would say that you do run the risk of hitting a ceiling, eventually - you’ll advance out of lab work unless you get a PhD, but even PhDs don’t usually do the bench science. They direct the projects. You also may be able to adjunct teach at community colleges in low- and medium-supply areas, depending on your field. </p>
<p>I disagree, though, that doing someone else’s bidding is not as fulfilling as directing your own project. It really depends on you as a person. If you go into industry, you may have little to no choice of your research agenda anyway; you may be assigned to projects or topics and have to conduct studies on that. I’m one of those people - although I have broad areas that I prefer, my interests are varied and I am perfectly happy conducting someone else’s project rather than coming up with my own. This is one of the reasons I want industry or government.</p>
<p>In the health care field, there are wonderful research opportunities for nurses. Nurses interact with patients, handle specimens, obtain consent forms, schedule tests, treatments and visits, manage data and prepare findings. They often work as part of a research team, but honestly they are the ones doing the work and actually “doing” the study. If that kind of involvement with patients, rather than pure bench research, is appealing, consider nursing, which can be a bachelor’s or masters degree. Pharmacy is another option that gets involved in research studies.</p>
<p>An Msc in biomedical engineering could probably also land you a good research job in biotech/medical devices</p>
<p>If you like laboratory work you may want to check out medical laboratory science programs. You can get a job at a hospital/reference/biotech lab. In some cases you might end up doing research on assay development. </p>
<p>Of course an MD can participate in research as well, particularly clinical research (which has very good pay and much better job stability than drug discovery. Pharm Ds also can get involved in research.</p>
<p>I don’t know what these other people are on about - there’s a ton of jobs available to you if you have a BS in biochem/chem. Lab tech jobs in any academic, government or private setting, hospital labs, working in industry development, training, sales, etc. A masters will give you a small salary boost in industry and may give you more options for managerial type positions once you get the lab experience under your belt.</p>
<p>Rabbitstew are you actually a graduate of a bio/biochem program or just a student?</p>
<p>A few things: You cannot get a real hospital laboratory job with a bio/biochem degree without enrolling in a 1 year post-bac NAACLS program to work there. You might be able to be a lab set up guy for $12-15/hr, but no way in hell are you going to be a real medical technologist laboratorian for $20+/hr, and your work will be very boring.</p>
<p>Academic labs pay bs grads peanuts–sometimes as low as $10/hr, which makes sense as most work is done by underpaid postdocs.</p>
<p>Industry laboratories can be better, However, the new rage though is to hire their staff as permatemps without benefits with no way to advance up or into management. Pay is typically $15-20/hr which isn’t awful right out of school, but if it doesn’t increase it just sucks. I’ve worked in fortune 500 pharma and this is the norm. There’s a lot of current outsourcing in this industry.</p>
<p>Sales on the other hand can be great $, can never be outsourced, and is stable as you are a necessity to any functioning company. If you want to do this, make sure to get a job/internship (preferably multiple) in sales and rock it. I personally hate sales, but if you have a knack for it get some experience and make sure during your interview to show how awesome you were at selling stuff and how you really helped out your past companies bottom line. The real $$ and stability is in medical devices; lots of pharma reps these days are seen as a joke.</p>
<p>Federal jobs can be good if you can get them, but honestly even most of them are low paid temp jobs. First job out of school: Lab tech for USDA $11.95/hr no benefits. And the government is cutting back.</p>
<p>High school teaching remains a strong option however as well. Also if you want to go to medical/dental school don’t bother getting a bio degree. Being a diverse applicant will work in your favor, and can also allow you to get a more marketable BS to hedge your bets while taking the prerequisites and MCATs/DAT etc…</p>