How can I get into Biotech Grad School after working for 5 years?
July 26, 2011 6:01 PM   Subscribe

I'd like to apply to grad schools for biotechnology after spending 5 years working in Pharma quality and I'd like advice on actually getting into one and how to find the right fit for me.

I graduated with a BS in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineer from a top 15 engineer school with a 3.4 GPA 5 years ago. After working in Pharma quality for 5 years, I've realized that I really, really want to do a more technical job (process engineering/research). Working for a device company in the chicagoland area (largely device centered area) but wanting to work in cell culture, bioreactors, or process engineering, I believe I need to 'rebuild'. Going back to school also seems like a great way to get a restart in the field (learning lots of new things!, nontraditional hours, smart/nerdy company).

My potential areas of interest are biomolecular engineering oriented, but I also think it would be cool to explore synthetic biology and possibly computational biology. That being said, as a way to start over, should I just try to take the GRE and apply to 2nd tier biotechonology/chemical engineer graduate schools immediately so I don't waste anymore time?

Should I try to take additional courses online in my field of interest to get 'back in the swing of things' and have a potential resource for recommendations? Should I try to switch jobs now through a temp agency to try to get closer to my field of interest (even if it involves a pay cut/relocation) to try to make contacts/see if this new line of work is for me? Should I work on both of these items to narrow down my specific graduate school course of study and delay my potential admission to 2013 when I would be *gasp* 29?

That being said, I am also interested as working as a BS engineer in oil manufacturing/research or Pharma research, but I don't believe I have the contacts or location to properly start in either of these areas as 'entry level'. Working as a manufacturing plant device/filling engineer in pharma is often NOT related to chemistry or biology at all, so I don't feel this is a potential avenue for me to expand outwards through. I would work in cell culture manufacturing, but I am not aware of much of this nearby. Additionally, I'd only like to work in pharma manufacturing as a step towards R&D, since manufacturing is very constrained by quality as well. Graduate school seems like the (fastest/most interesting) way to get back to process engineering while learning and growing myself.

Tips on direction? Anyone with a similar story?
posted by Kalmya to Education (2 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Do you have a particular degree in mind? Feel free to ignore my advice if you're thinking a PhD program, but I'm partway through an MS in biotechnology via Johns Hopkins, and they do rolling admission without a requirement of GRE scores (although if you have them, you can submit them to bolster your application). A lot of my fellow students in the online courses also work in industry and are completing the program part-time, but there are on-site courses and plenty of full-timers as well in the RA, bioinformatics & biodefense programs as well as biotech enterprise (my concentration). I'd been away from being a student for 5 years as well, and I didn't find any huge learning curve, although I did try to do a real-time discussion seminar and an asynchronous biochemistry course on top of a 50 hour work week last semester, and regretted it just due to workload. Onsite, they also have a combined MBA/MS program specific to biotechnology, although that doesn't sound exactly like your area of interest.

If you do want to do a PhD, hopefully other folks can come in and guide you better on coming back in from industry. But MeMail me if you want to talk more about the various professional science masters route; sometimes they're the better option if you're really just looking to accelerate a short-term career refocus.
posted by deludingmyself at 8:05 PM on July 26, 2011


I don't have an answer for this myself, but I wanted to suggest trying your question in the Science careers forum (from Science magazine). I've seen tons of biotech career related questions just like yours on there with great answers from established people industry. A lot of the contributors are senior chemical/biochemical engineers (including one of the moderators), so I'm sure you'd get a good response. Good luck!
posted by strekker at 2:33 AM on December 17, 2011


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