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Oh, the places you will go with a PhD in biology!

by Maitreyi Das

How can we empower students and postdocs to cope with the scarcity of academic jobs by embarking on other careers where their skills are needed?

When I first came to the United States in 2006 as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Miami, I was struck by how many of my colleagues had been working as postdocs for years. Being somewhat naïve, I had assumed that a typical postdoc experience lasts for about three to four years, after which one would transition to a faculty position or move to industry. Unfortunately, in reality things are a lot different. For most postdocs, a faculty position is a distant dream. There are very few jobs and too many postdocs. This has led some to suggest that the postdoctoral system is a pyramid scheme. 1 Lab heads recruit postdocs to do research, publish papers, and help get funding. But there aren’t nearly enough faculty opportunities for the number of postdocs. So how should we address this problem? Should we stop recruiting postdocs? Or worse, not train as many graduate students? While I have heard that argument in some circles, I do not agree with it. In our current environment, where science is greeted with much skepticism, we need more people trained in the scientific method and possessing scientific expertise.

Not Enough Jobs?

In the United States, about 12,500 students obtained a PhD degree in 2014. 2 While in the 1970s more than 50% of PhDs in biology successfully transitioned to a faculty position, this number currently is less than 15%. Just because we are graduating more PhD students each year does not mean that universities will grow their departments and faculty accordingly. Outside of jobs in academia, trainees can consider working in industry. But even here, there aren’t enough jobs for the majority of PhD graduates.

Most students who obtain a PhD degree do not follow a traditional career path in academia. Given the broad range of skills doctoral students acquire during their training, this should come as no surprise. Our students are not trained just to design experiments and test hypotheses; they are trained in skills that are very easily transferred to other fields of work. The way I describe it, a graduate student practices and perfects over five to six years what students pursuing a master of business administration degree learn in only about 18 months. A graduate student is trained to think critically, troubleshoot effectively, manage projects, communicate complex information, train peers and subordinates, work in teams, gather new information, network, and the list goes on. Most importantly, graduate students learn how to learn . This large repertoire of skills is valuable to most industries, and there is no reason why students should limit themselves to academia or research industry positions after graduation.

Changing the Culture

I have heard PIs lament that their trainees are not pursuing careers in academia. Some believe that if you do a PhD and pursue a career outside academia, you are wasting your training. This is a culture that is frankly not helpful to either the trainees or society in general. Insisting that trainees pursue a career in academia contributes to a society where scientists continue to live in their bubbles and fail to interact with the public at large. Some of this skepticism about careers outside academia is understandable. Most PIs are not well informed about such careers. We are not equipped to provide our trainees with useful career advice in other fields. Since academia is all we know, that is what we insist on and push for. Most graduate training programs do not emphasize formally training their students for the nonacademic careers on which most STEM PhD graduates will embark. This dissonance creates ill-prepared students who do not consider nonacademic careers.

An argument against obtaining a PhD to pursue a career outside academia is that a doctoral degree takes longer than other degrees. Thus, PhD graduates starting out in nonacademic careers fall behind in pay in comparison with non-PhD graduates in the same age group. While this may be true in some cases, in several jobs a PhD degree is very valuable and enhances the ability of the individual to excel. For example, science communication, scientific writing, and research development are careers where a PhD degree provides an invaluable advantage. One must also take into consideration the cost of the degree. Most PhD programs pay a stipend and students pay nearly nothing out of pocket for tuition and fees. Almost all other terminal degrees are expensive and often result in significant student debt. A PhD degree is often the only terminal degree that students from humble means can afford.

Professional Development for Graduate Students

We at the Department of Biochemistry & Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, are not immune to these challenges. To improve our students’ preparedness for entering the workforce, we organized a seminar series that featured speakers with PhDs working in diverse fields. This seminar series was funded by the National Science Foundation supplement “Improving Graduate Student Preparedness for Entering the Workforce, Opportunities for Supplemental Support.” We invited speakers with expertise in patent law, scientific writing and editing, start-ups and entrepreneurship, business consulting, science policy, government sector, and pharmaceutical industry. The seminar presentations were designed to introduce students to different careers and familiarize the students with the requirements for each career. For longer-lasting impact, the seminar speakers discussed with departmental faculty how to best prepare our graduate students for a career like theirs. Apart from the valuable information that the students learned, they also got an opportunity to network with the speakers. In some cases, the speakers expressed an interest in extending internships for students interested in their respective careers.

University career services should be more active in helping trainees navigate different career options. We also need to redesign the PhD curriculum to meet the careers goals of the degree recipients. It may be worthwhile to train students in formal project management courses, scientific writing, or other relevant courses. With a changing career landscape for PhD graduates, it is indeed time to modernize the curriculum and optimize it to the students’ needs.

In the past few years, several universities have developed strategies to improve career development for trainees. In addition to the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health has also funded several initiatives to promote career development (www.nigms.nih.gov/training/instpredoc/Pages/car-cur-dev.aspx). There is clearly a change in the culture, and students should feel more empowered now to venture into diverse careers after graduation.

1 Lowe D (January 24, 2013). Too many scientists: A “pyramid scheme.” Science Translational Medicine .

2 Offord C (January 1, 2017). Addressing biomedical science’s PhD problem. The Scientist.

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Possible careers for phds in biomedical sciences.

Posted by Kim Petrie on Friday, December 11, 2020 in Path to Career Resources .

Sometimes it’s just nice to have a list of possibilities. Here’s a terrific list of career paths for PhDs in the biomedical sciences, compiled by Lauren Easterling at Indiana University School of Medicine. It’s nicely arranged by broad theme. See something you’re not familiar with? Check out our Beyond the Lab video and podcast series to see if we have recorded an episode with an alumnus who has pursued that career.

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149 PhD jobs in Biology

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PhD position on CRISPR diagnostics on-chip to improve cervical cancer screening

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PhD position on "On-Chip Separation of Proteins for Single-Cell Proteome Profiling"

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PhD position in X-ray based 3D virtual histopathology for studying metastases evolution in colorectal cancer

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Vacancy for a highly motivated PhD Researcher: “Exploring novel approaches to gas chromatography for pharmaceutical analysis”

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PhD student (f/m/d) – Deep Learning/Computer Vision/Computational Biology for Bioimage Analysis

Location:  ViennaResearch group: Sabine Taschner-Mandl GroupWorking hours: full-timeAre you looking to put your computational skills to the test? Are you fascinated by cancer biology and using multi-omics data to devise new treatment avenues?Then ...

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Three 2-year Postdoctoral Fellowships at the Zukunftskolleg

(Fulltime, E 13 TV-L)Reference No: 2024/114. The preferred start date is April 1st, 2025. Conditionally on the submission of an external grant, the position can be extended for an additional year. In principle, the position can be divided into two...

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Ghent University Global Campus (GUGC) is an integrated campus of Ghent University, Belgium, and the first European university to be part of the Incheon Global Campus (IGC) in Incheon, South Korea. Ghent University Global Campus currently offers Ba...

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10 Great Jobs for People With Biology Degrees—Because You Don’t Have to Be a Biologist

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10 Great Jobs for People With Biology Degrees—Because You Don’t Have to Be a Biologist was originally published on The Muse , a great place to research companies and careers. Click here to search for great jobs and companies near you.

If you have a biology degree—or you’re about to get one—you may feel like there are only a few jobs that you’re suited for, and almost all of them require further schooling. But as a biology major, you’re qualified for a number of jobs both inside and outside of a lab or a hospital—even if you don’t want to attend professional or graduate school.

When you think of yourself strictly as a biologist, you might be unnecessarily limiting what careers you can have, says Josh Henkin, PhD, founder of STEM Career Services . Apart from scientific knowledge and background, “students in the biological sciences have unique skills that make them great employees in any work setting,” says Kasey Johnson, Employer Engagement Coordinator for Career Services at the University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences.

In addition to the traditional lecture classes most majors require, biology majors must take a number of laboratory-based classes. They have experience researching and forming plans, following protocols, troubleshooting problems, working with groups, and analyzing the results of their work in order to successfully perform experiments. This translates into a number of transferable skills , or skills that are valuable across a number of workplaces and employment scenarios, including:

• Problem solving
• Critical thinking
• Adaptability
• Developing, testing, and iterating on a hypothesis
• Literature review
• Data collection and analysis
• Laboratory research and safety techniques
• Understanding and communicating complex scientific and medical topics

What jobs are biology majors qualified for with these skills? Here are 10—and many don’t require any graduate school to land an entry-level role.

Average research associate salary : $53,790

Research associates—also called lab technicians, research assistants, and clinical technicians, among many other titles—conduct tests and experiments in a laboratory setting, often as assistants to research scientists. They can work in academic labs at universities and in medical labs in hospitals, clinics, or other testing facilities. Or they might work for research and pharmaceutical companies; biological, chemical, and food manufacturers; or any other organization that has a laboratory.

Biology majors are well suited for these jobs because of the laboratory experience required by your coursework and the knowledge of research techniques and data analysis skills you gained as a result. You’ll also use your problem solving abilities and communication skills to navigate work within a lab since you’re typically working as part of a team and often trying to find new solutions or troubleshoot problems.

Research associates might choose to go back to school and get a PhD or master’s degree so that they can conduct their own research or hold a higher position within a lab, or they might become a lab manager who coordinates the work, maintains supplies and equipment, and sets procedures within a research laboratory.

Find research associate or lab technician jobs on The Muse

Average quality control inspector salary : $54,204 Average quality control analyst salary : $55,336

Quality control inspectors and analysts monitor the manufacturing of products and make sure that procedures and safety regulations are being followed. Biology majors are especially qualified to do this work at companies producing drugs, vaccines, or any other product where the manufacturing process involves chemicals or requires an aseptic environment. Quality control professionals might also be in charge of monitoring and maintaining the equipment needed for the manufacturing or testing processes.

As a bio major, you’re well versed in basic laboratory procedures and “understand the importance of reviewing the regulations which govern the industry,” says DeNea R. Conner, founder of Advice Tank and a former biology major who has worked in operations, quality control, and management for several leading pharmaceutical corporations and who has hired biology majors for a number of positions. While some quality control jobs only require a high school diploma, those that deal with biology or chemistry usually call for a biology, chemistry, or similar degree.

Find quality control inspector or quality control analyst jobs on The Muse

Average manufacturing technician salary : $49,616

In addition to monitoring the production of biological and chemical products such as medications, vaccines, and food components, biology majors are also especially suited to manufacturing them. Biological and chemical items—especially those that go into the human body—often need to be produced in a laboratory and/or a sterile setting, a type of process biology majors are familiar with from their lab classes. Putting together these products—or a chemical component of one—typically involves following laboratory protocols and using a number of experimental techniques biology majors likely learned to do in school.

A biology major can also prepare you to work in the assembly of other products, including cars, tech gadgets, or almost any item you can think of. Right now, manufacturing jobs are some of the hardest jobs for companies to fill, Henkin says. The field is becoming more and more technical, and many assembly workers don’t have the required training, but biology majors do. There are also a number of other jobs in the pharmaceutical and biologic manufacturing industry that you’re suited for as a bio major, such as supply chain management and logistics.

Find manufacturing technician jobs on The Muse

Average medical writer salary : $72,850

Medical and science writers write about healthcare and other scientific topics in advertisements, training manuals, informational pamphlets, articles, and more. They could be writing for a number of audiences, such as doctors and pharmacists, marketers and advertisers, salespeople, manufacturers, or the general public.

For example, as a medical writer, you might write instructions for a piece of laboratory equipment for those who will be using it or a description of the effects of a new drug for a pamphlet for patients. You might work for a pharmaceutical company, a healthcare provider, or a nonprofit organization looking to educate people about a health or science topic. Or you might report and write about health and science for a newspaper, magazine, or another publication (online or in print).

Science and medical writers need to understand complex concepts and communicate them clearly to their intended audience, making this a great job for a bio major with some writing chops.

Find medical writer or science writer jobs on The Muse

Average salary for policy analysts : $59,733

Science and health policy analysts research, analyze, and evaluate outcomes of possible or existing laws or government programs related to health, medicine, the environment, or any other scientific issue, such as a new environmental regulation or a proposed Medicaid expansion. As a policy analyst, you can work for a nonprofit; a science society or other membership-driven organization; the federal, state, or local government; or any organization involved in lobbying. If you’re interested in federal policy, most jobs are in Washington, DC and the surrounding areas.

You may be able to find an entry-level policy position with just a bachelor’s degree in biology (and the federal government and many state and city governments have special programs and fellowships to allow you to do just that), but to move up in your career you might need further schooling.

Find policy analyst jobs on The Muse

Average salary for marketing coordinators : $45,028

Marketing coordinators create or assist in the creation of marketing campaigns. They also conduct market research and analyze results of different marketing initiatives.

Biology majors have the research and analysis skills needed for these positions, but they also have the background knowledge needed to work in marketing specifically in the science, health, and biotechnology spaces. You can work for a marketing agency or for a company that does its own marketing such as a nonprofit, pharmaceutical company, biotech company, telehealth organization, or a health tech startup.

As a biology major, you already “speak their language,” Henkin says. And if you have strong communication skills, you’ll be able to break down complex science topics in a way that makes the company’s products marketable and easy to understand.

Find marketing coordinator jobs on The Muse

Approximate average salary for public health program managers : $67,000 (based on salary info for this similar role, according to a public health careers expert )

Public health program managers design, implement, coordinate, oversee, and evaluate health programs that may seek to increase public awareness of a health topic, provide access to social and community services, or strengthen the overall health of the public. You might work for a government agency, hospital, university, nonprofit, or other NGO (non-governmental organization) to implement programs locally, or if you’d like to help people around the world, you can work for an international health or international development organization.

Program managers need to have good analytical, interpersonal, and organizational skills as well as background knowledge in the subject their programs cover, making this a good fit for biology majors. You might be able to find entry-level program management positions with just a bachelor’s degree in biology, but many entry- or higher-level jobs will require a master’s degree in public health, biology, or similar.

Find public health program manager jobs on The Muse

Average salary for medical device sales representatives : $58,591 Average salary for pharmaceutical sales representatives : $85,394

Pharmaceutical and medical device sales representatives go into doctors’ offices, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities to sell their products to medical professionals.

Biology majors are especially suited to these sales professions because “they understand the science behind the product being sold,” Conner says, which helps them make a stronger case for what they’re selling—for example, a new medication or a type of MRI machine—and ensures that the information they’re sharing with medical professionals is accurate.

If you’re a biology major who wants a job where you get to interact with a lot of people, this is a great choice. Plus, pharmaceutical and medical device sales are two of the highest-paying sales jobs , partially due to the potential to earn commissions and bonuses .

Find pharmaceutical sales and medical device sales jobs on The Muse

Average salary for research scientists : $81,378

Research scientists review past and current research, formulate and test hypotheses, conduct tests and experiments, and analyze and present their findings. Research scientists are responsible for everything from developing new medications and vaccines to combating climate change to tracking and preserving endangered species to creating new technologies. Most research scientists—including biologists, chemists, and pharmacologists—work in a laboratory setting, but for some specialities, such as wildlife biology, ecology, or atmospheric chemistry, large amounts of research happen “in the field.”

Biology majors are especially suited for these careers by design—their classes provide the background knowledge and their lab work teaches them the techniques and procedures they’ll use and build on throughout their careers. However, to become a research scientist, biology majors need to obtain a master’s degree (approximately two years) and a PhD (approximately four to six years) or just a PhD in their chosen area of specialization—for example, neurobiology, instrumental chemistry, biochemistry, or computational biology. To work for a university, post-doctorate programs are usually required and can last from one to five years. Research scientists can also work for private research companies (known as “in industry); for the government; or for museums, zoos, and other educational facilities.

Find research scientist jobs on The Muse

Average salary for doctors in general practice : $154,220 (general practice is just one example; salaries are highly variable based on specialty)

It should come as no surprise that medicine is a top career choice for biology majors. Doctors diagnose and treat patients, perform tests and medical procedures, and stay on top of the latest research in their fields. Depending on their specialties, doctors might also perform surgery, administer anesthesiology and other drugs, or read and interpret scans and test results, among many other responsibilities. Doctors often work long hours, and the job can be extremely stressful.

A biology major provides the background knowledge and most or all of the prerequisite courses needed to take the MCAT and attend medical school. After four years of medical school, doctors must also complete a residency in their desired specialty, which can last from three to seven years, and some choose to do an additional fellowship after residency to further specialize. If you’d like to do clinical research as a medical doctor, you may have to also obtain a PhD or attend a specific MD/PhD program.

Find doctor jobs on The Muse

If none of the jobs on this list speak to you as a biology major, keep in mind that this is just a small sampling and by no means everything you’re qualified for. “We see biology majors graduating and going on to great careers in many different fields,” Johnson says. In addition to these jobs, students also go on to work in “scientific education (at an environmental learning center or science museum), park services, healthcare, forestry, biotechnology, genetic counseling, and more.” You might also choose to attend a professional school to become a physical or occupational therapist, a dentist, or a pharmacist. But really, whatever interests you, Johnson says, you’ll be able to learn the new skills you need on the job or through training because bio majors are adaptable, critical thinkers.

Finally, I Wrote a Post about Grad School by Abby H. '20

"grad's cool"

April 30, 2020

• in Advice ,
• Life after MIT

I applied for biology Ph.D. programs this past fall and interviewed at several schools in January and February. The process was incredibly familiar ⁠ 01 tbt applying to MIT >4 years ago and yet so different from anything else I’ve done. This post contains some reflections on that, but I also recommend reading echoe’s post from a couple of years ago for those of you who are just now wrapping up undergrad app stress and need ⁠ 02 I know how you guys are something to worry about for the future.

Why did I apply to Ph.D. programs?

It’s the thing you do if you major in life sciences and want to get a good research job.

It’s ~5 years of subsidized training in a field that I appreciate. I’m not one of those people who rambles on about how fascinating biology is. If anything, when I talk about cool biology stuff, it’s an attempt to get my smarter peers interested in it so that they might bring their outside skill sets ⁠ 03 Where would the science be without the development of new techniques and instruments? to the field.

I am not someone who dreamt of being a scientist as a little girl. In elementary school, I wanted to be an artist, the kind that stands at an easel and holds a palette of oil paints and wears a beret. In middle school, and to some extent even now, I wanted to be Nardwuar. In high school, I thought I might want to be an anesthesiologist because they made good money. When I applied to MIT, I said I was interested in Course 10 (Chemical Engineering), but that was mostly because I had taken IB Chem ⁠ 04 funny enough I am a bio major despite my lowest IB score being HL Bio and gotten a 7 my junior year. I thought that numbers like that revealed where I was most competent and therefore what I should study. I didn’t even like chemistry that much. I don’t even think I liked science that much; it was just the area of the pool that “smart” people like me were encouraged ⁠ 05 My parents did not go to college. While they pushed me to pursue college, I did not get much guidance on that besides <em>don't waste your time on a liberal arts degree</em> and <em>you need to go somewhere that will give you a scholarship</em>. I'm going to graduate MIT soon with a science degree and no debt, so I guess everything went according to plan. to swim toward. Going to college did not provide me with a sudden jolt of clarity about what I wanted to do next.

Now that I’ve spent the last few years in “science,” I’m on friendly terms with it. So I applied to grad school to be trained to be a good biologist (and also because I think it would be cool to *~*~*discover*~*~* something). While standing at a lab bench all day is not something I would put at the top of the list of things I am most passionate about (I am, after all, a normal human being), it is something that I like just enough to be okay with doing it for the next five years (and maybe more). Furthermore, I am not incredibly confident in my ability to get a job right now, especially now that the economy/job market has been upended by a pandemic. ⁠ 06 Of course, I didn't know that was going to happen when I applied. This lack of confidence was largely due to unfamiliarity with being “professional” and “corporate” and “wearing blazers,” but now that I’ve dabbled in those a little as a result of Ph.D. interviews, they don’t seem as impossible.  I know (and knew then) that consulting and business stuff do not suit my interests or skills, so why attempt the career fair rat race? Apply to grad school and remain a student… perpetually.

Grad school just felt/feels like the right thing to do right now.

How did you choose your schools?

I admit that I could have planned this part out a little better. At the beginning of last summer, I had no idea where I wanted to apply. There was a vague desire to find a place with decent enough name recognition that people wouldn’t be like “what’s that.” There was also some inkling of wanting to go somewhere that was slightly less traditional, such as a grad program within a medical school or at a university that doesn’t have undergrads. However, one of the biggest things I took into consideration was geography. I knew that I didn’t want to go back to the South. I have complicated feelings about the South. I knew that I wanted out of Boston ASAP. I liked the time that I spent in the Bay Area, but so does every yuppie MIT grad who moves out there. I also enjoyed the time I had spent in New York City. ⁠ 07 Where else would a girl want to spend her twenties? Additionally, I knew I could get really cheap housing there with a friend of mine. I ended up applying to four schools in NYC and two schools in the Bay Area, based off of some recommendations from my PI and the gut feeling that I got from the programs’ websites.

Additionally, I had heard that the best programs to apply to are ones that don’t enforce specialization in the beginning. Umbrella programs, with (at least initially) fluid inter-departmental boundaries, tend to accept more applicants than the specialized programs. Often in bio Ph.D. programs this takes the form of a unified Molecular Biology department with divisions like genetics, biophysics, computational, biochemistry, etc. It makes sense, if you think about it. An immunology program might only have 2 or 3 slots, but an umbrella biology program would have 10-15 or 20-30 slots to fill. I prioritized umbrella programs but applied to a couple of more niche ⁠ 08 BIO PUN ALERT stem cell programs at certain schools.

What was the application process like?

• CV/Resume: A list of things you have done and are in the process of doing. I made mine and then revised it after a meeting with someone at CAPD . It had my three ⁠ 09 My current lab at MIT, the internship I had last summer, and the lab I was with in high school. Yes, I included my high school lab, because the research I did there was somewhat advanced and also because I wanted to make the research section a little longer to balance out the extracurriculars section. I was careful not to emphasize that that was research I did in high school (because really it wasn't! I was at a university working with grad students). research experiences on it and then a long list of various non-school things I do at/not at MIT. Though I have read elsewhere that grad schools generally don’t care that much about your extracurriculars, ⁠ 10 which makes me sad because I'd love to talk to faculty about college radio I still wanted the admissions committees to see what I do when I’m not being a pipette robot.
• Letters of recommendation: Letters from three or four people who are familiar with you and the kind of work you are capable of doing, preferably from the field whose programs you are applying to. The most valuable letters are from research advisors. At some schools, the most competitive applicants will have letters from three different research advisors. Unfortunately, I had only been with one lab since starting at MIT, and I had stayed there the whole time. That gave me one very strong letter… and nothing else. Of course, I had done an internship in industry over the summer, but I was not sure that a letter from my supervisor there would be valuable because my advisor was not faculty at any academic institution and also because I thought I had done a bad job there. I ended up asking her anyway because I had enjoyed my time there and I didn’t have another research advisor I was comfortable asking. My high school research experience seemed irrelevant; though I liked my mentor there, I think it would have come across as a little desperate if he wrote my third letter based on what high school me was like in lab. So I was stuck without a third letter-writer until my Course 7 advisor offered to write one for me. That was a considerable weight off my shoulders, but I still wanted to get a fourth recommendation from someone for those schools where a fourth letter was allowed. I had a professor in Course 9 who had taught me in a small-ish class/complementary CI-M ⁠ 11 Communication Intensive - Major: You have to take at least two of these in your major to graduate. These classes require a significant amount of writing and presentation. write the fourth letter for me, though she had some reservations ⁠ 12 She told me that in her experience on grad admissions committees at MIT, letters from instructors were typically not very useful, but that she would write a letter anyway if I needed her to. about not being able to comment on my research experience. About a month and a half before deadline, I emailed each of my recommenders a copy of my CV, a list of the schools/programs I was planning on applying to and their deadlines, and an explanation of what I thought their perspective ⁠ 13 e.g. my current PI could speak on my research skills, my internship PI could say something about how I adapted to my new research environment in industry, my academic advisor could provide some insight into my academic improvement over the semesters he had advised me since my grades were pretty bad my freshman spring, my professor could also evaluate my academic potential and my ability to communicate could offer for my application.
• GPA/Transcripts/GRE scores: The numbers part of the process. Often there are hard cutoffs here to narrow the pool. I had a 4.5/5.0 GPA by the time I applied. It took a lot of work to get it that high, but even still I was not sure it would be high enough in light of the contents of my transcript. As a small aside, whenever I brought up concerns (to certain people) about my GPA not being high enough, they would be dismissed with a “oh well they’re not going to care if you get a C in Medieval Literature lol” or “that’s actually pretty good for MIT.” The thing is, my C’s aren’t in “fluff” courses. In fact, I’ve always done well in the classes that are considered the least important by highly STEM-focused people. I have C’s in 8.02 ⁠ 14 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism and 7.03(!). ⁠ 15 Genetics I got a B in 7.016. ⁠ 16 Intro to Bio I couldn’t find anything on The Forums about this kind of situation besides a few “yeah that’s not good”s. I was convinced that those grades were going to tank me. The whole time I was writing personal statements I was worried that it was a waste of time because they wouldn’t look at my application after seeing that C in Genetics. It’s all speculation. I have no insight into what happens in those committees. It appears that that C didn’t matter all that much to the majority of schools I applied to who still invited me to campus for an interview (a big caveat here is that it’s a C at MIT , which might make the committees a bit more sympathetic).  GRE scores are important sometimes, too, but I made a conscious decision not to apply to schools that required the GRE general test. Luckily for me, a lot of molecular biology Ph.D. programs have dropped that requirement in recent years. This is not true for every Ph.D. program, but maybe it will be soon. I had previously planned to write a whole rant blog post about standardized testing, but I’ll save you the click: I think the GRE is obsolete as a tool for predicting preparation for graduate studies (as do a lot of other people ); it does not make sense that an exam for entrance into graduate school a.) is best taken early on in your college years when you’re still in SAT mode and have all the math/verbal skills necessary to do well on the exam and b.) relies on formulaic essay-writing and cheap tricks to trip up and stratify test-takers who haven’t spent hundreds of dollars on test prep and aren’t accustomed to the common traps. If the GRE administrators could show me how their formulas actually apply to the work that grad school requires, I would reconsider my position. But currently it looks to me like yet another cog in the machine of social reproduction . This isn’t even coming from some bitter test-taker who got a low score. I’ve always been good at standardized tests, and the GRE was no exception. I took it and did great but came out of the exam feeling deeply unsettled by the whole racket. I hope it mysteriously vanishes and everyone gets their $160 back.
• Personal Statement/Statement of Purpose/Research Statement/Diversity Statement: Almost but not exactly a cover letter for your application. There is not enough of a difference between personal statements and statements of purpose to get bogged down in making them conform to PrepScholar.com’s distinctions. Usually the application will provide a little more detail on what is expected in terms of content and word count. Basically, you introduce yourself and your background, why you’re applying to that program specifically/why do you think the program is a good match, what you want to do with your training, faculty you would be interested in working with, and anything else that would be relevant to a committee member who has decided to give your application a shot. I ended up tailoring each of mine to the schools fairly heavily due to big differences in program affiliations (i.e. my “why grad school here” spiel switched up a bit depending on if that specific program was connected to a medical school or hospital) and in suggested word counts (I was asked for personal statements ranging between 600 and 1500 words). As a side note, I find the “why do you think you would be a good fit here” aspect of these essays irritating. I had never gone to any of those schools to check out the campus and culture or whatever. All I had to go off of was their websites and some encouraging words from my post-doc in lab. ⁠ 17 She's been my direct mentor throughout my time in lab and we happen to both be leaving at MIT at the same time--she got a faculty position offer recently! It seemed a little ridiculous to explain how I fit into a place that I had never experienced, so I focused more heavily on discussing how my research prepared me for grad school. ⁠ 18 ironically, also something that I can't know for sure until I spend some time in grad school One school I applied to didn’t ask for a personal statement; instead they wanted a Research Statement of up to 750 words describing my most meaningful research experience (the main question, how I approached it experimentally, what results I got and how I interpreted them, what I would do next). That one was actually really hard to write because most of my research boils down to “I put the drugs on the cells and waited to see if it would kill them.” The two California schools I applied to asked for a Diversity Statement, a brief essay on my background and any obstacles I faced in pursuing my education. It’s always been hard for me to write about my ethnic background, ⁠ 19 What Does It Mean To Be Mixed so I talked about sports instead. Anyway, this part was definitely the most time-intensive part of the application process, largely because it feels so unnatural to write in that mode. I like to put jokes in my writing. I like to assume familiarity. I like “personal,” but those essays felt far too formal to leave any imprint of personality.

What were interviews like?

I was far too stressed to enjoy my interview weekends. There’s some more detail on that in my post from February. ⁠ 20 it was a much simpler time, many years ago... The schools tended to use the time as both recruitment and refinement. So they’re feeding you the finest wine ⁠ 21 you know it's good stuff when the choices are simply <em>Red</em> or <em>White...</em> who am I kidding I am just a child with no taste who will never be able to discern between good and bad and cheese while also sitting you at tables with faculty who might be judging your etiquette. I felt watched all the time. Were they taking note of how I slipped off to the bathroom for twenty minutes to avoid the third mandatory mingle session of the day? Is this current grad student evaluating whether or not they would want to be friends with me? Will I be judged for not eating this godawful chicken that’s covered in cinnamon? Why is this faculty member asking me about my favorite bands to emerge from the post-9/11 NYC music scene? Is this optional pub night with students really optional? Am I asking smart questions? Mix all of that doubt in with a couple of interviews that went awry and assignments that were due regardless of my little interviews and you’ve got E X H A U S T I O N. I was so tired that I skipped several semi-mandatory events just to rest.

me and Martha Stewart @ Mount Sinai

The interviews themselves weren’t even as terrifying as I was expecting. My post-doc had warned me that some faculty can be pretty ruthless in their questioning, almost as if they’re trying to make you slip up. She recommended reading at least two papers from each faculty interviewer’s lab to become familiar with their research because they could ask me about it. I did not have time to do this. On the day of my first set of interviews, I was in a room with several other applicants who were getting some last minute studying in before their interviews. I looked over and saw a girl who had printed out a faculty member’s CV and annotated it. The interviews were only thirty minutes long; I hadn’t even considered studying peoples’ CVs. And it turns out that I didn’t really need to. Most of the preparation I needed was reviewing the papers I had co-authored and writing summaries of my research. The most background research I did on any faculty was to read the research summaries on their websites.

a Sol LeWitt (the color room guy) piece @ Weill Cornell

More technically: Getting to interview is a big deal. If you make it to this stage, the school has already made a favorable preliminary judgment about you and wants to see if you would fit in well with the program in person. The faculty who interview you are chosen either by you or by an administrator matching you based on your interests. I had 3-5 interviewers for each school, 30-40 minutes each, but I have heard that some other places do wild stuff like 12 interviews at 20 minutes each, spread over 2 days. I did not do any group interviews, but then again the whole thing felt like a group interview anyway. The basic anatomy of an interview was something like this:

Interviewer: Tell me about yourself. Me: [insert short biography] Interviewer: [says something about themselves that relates to my background] Interviewer: Tell me about your current research. Me: [describes my two years of research in the Walker lab at MIT] Interviewer: [asks question about the subject] AND/OR [points out a similarity between our areas of research] Me: [attempts to answer question] AND/OR [remarks on the similarity] Interviewer: Let me tell you about my research. [tells] Interviewer: Any questions? About this or about the program? Me: 1. Why did you choose to work here? 2. How did you end up studying what you study? Interviewer: [talks about their scientific journey] Interviewer/Me: Time for next interview! Thanks for talking to me!

It wasn’t too bad unless the interviewer got persistent about a question that I didn’t really know the answer to. It’s hard to defend a project that is not wholly yours; however, I can see how “um that’s just how my post-doc does it” is an unsatisfying reply. The whiplash of going from one nice and successful interview to the next scary and unproductive interview is something that left a bad taste in my mouth at one school in particular. My worst interview was with an older faculty member who wasn’t very conversational. He asked what I wanted to do after my Ph.D. and I confidently ⁠ 22 There has long been a kind of stigma attached to Ph.D. students who sell out and go into non-academic fields; this was at an institution that repeatedly stressed to us that it wasn't like that there and that faculty have friendly ties to industry. told him “probably industry.” He told me that I should reconsider because academia would be best. No smile or sarcastic intonation. Just “you’re wrong.” I found myself struggling to come up with questions to ask him because he wouldn’t give any more detail than was explicitly asked of him. I asked him if he got many Ph.D. rotation students in his lab and he said “No, not American ones. They usually leave.” I asked him why he chose to work at that school and he said “Because they offered for me to be the director of [sub-program not specified here for the sake of anonymity].” I have no idea why this guy was interviewing prospective students. The other interviewers I had were very similar to my MIT interviewer from back in December 2015: interested in having a conversation.

the view from the stem cell building at UCSF (architecturally a very interesting structure)

I also feel the need to add that because I applied to a couple of smaller programs, I ended up going to faculty members’ actual homes for dinner. At some places, these dinners would be before the interviews; other places would schedule them the same day or the day after. In all cases, the faculty would say that the dinners were not meant to be part of the interview process, but I can’t help but think they inform their decision in a major way. Can’t make small talk with the other applicants? You’re probably not a good fit. Showing visible signs of exhaustion after a full day of travel and recruitment programming? Doesn’t look good. I’m not a very conversational person, so this is kind of stuff is one of my circles of hell.

a cool bird @ Berkeley

What happens next?

One or two weeks after interviews, you get a decision. I like that part better than undergrad admissions; the turnaround time on those is understandable yet unbearable. I also liked that I could generally get a read on whether or not my interviews went well enough for me to be admitted, so I knew what decision to expect. It’s a weird kind of intuition that you just don’t get out of the black box of college admission decisions. Around the same time ⁠ 23 Yet another way that this part is different from undergrad admissions: all the interview invites get sent out weeks or sometimes a month before the rejection emails. So if it's February and everyone at The Grad Cafe got their invites the first week of January, you know that you're not getting that invite. that I was getting these decisions, a couple of schools finally got back to me to let me know that Regretfully We Cannot Offer You Admission . It felt a lot like last summer when I was several weeks into my internship and got an email out of the blue from some random company Regretfully Informing You That We Cannot Offer You A Position and Join Our Job Network To Apply For Other Postings .

How did you choose where to go?

I asked this question to most of my faculty interviewers. They gave great answers, but one of them was honest enough to say “Well, there isn’t exactly a surplus of academic jobs currently, so getting an offer from a place like this was great. I learned to love it after I got here.” Now that I’m done with the process, I feel a similar way. I didn’t apply to so many places that it would be a tough to narrow it down. I also didn’t apply anywhere that I couldn’t see myself going, so any choice I made (if I had any choice to make at all) would probably be a good one. A girl at a couple of my interviews applied to twelve top programs and had gotten interview invites from nearly all of them. I have no idea where she’s going to end up, but her choice was almost definitely much harder than mine.

After interviewing at my first school, I was convinced that I would probably get in and enroll and be plenty satisfied there, to the point of almost cancelling the other interviews. Good thing I didn’t: I’ve officially committed to the very last school I interviewed at. I’ll be starting my Ph.D. at Berkeley this fall.

The blogs always stress how important “fit” and “the people” are when it comes to making these difficult decisions. I think the technical term “vibes” encompasses both of those and is the best description of what guided my choice. I enjoyed interviewing at Berkeley, even though I had already mentally committed to a school in New York. After I spent some time there, I just knew.

Lightning Round!

Not every discipline is like biology when it comes to grad school best practices. I can only sign off on the above so far as it relates specifically to my experience applying to bio-related programs. Med school is very different. Your experience may be very different.

I shouldn’t have applied to stem cell programs. I don’t have any stem cell background really; I just think they’re neat. ⁠ 24 This is not a good reason to give your interviewers. It would have been better to have stuck to applying to the larger programs.

Maybe I regret not going the M.D./Ph.D. route. I’m the kind of person who reads Wikipedia pages on rare diseases and looks at medical oddities for fun. The human body is disgusting and awe-inspiring, and M.D./Ph.D. programs provide you with an extensive background on what these assemblages of flesh do. They’re also subsidized. ⁠ 25 The thought of six figures of medical school debt terrifies me. There’s a reason they’re highly selective.

Observations?

• I’ve run the numbers on three data points and found that faculty who work in mitochondrial biology are great interviewers.
• A lot of bio grad programs have some ethically dubious billionaire names tied to them.
• It’s weird how schools will play up their strengths by comparing themselves to other schools. At the medical school-affiliated programs I applied to, there was heavy emphasis on how great it is for translational research to have a hospital on campus. At Berkeley (which conspicuously lacks a medical school), the virtues of basic science ⁠ 26 I am reminded of a Concourse freshman seminar in which the discussion question was something like why do we pursue knowledge. Most people answered the same way: to solve problems in the world. I, of course, had to come up with something different and not basic, so even though I am largely of the mindset that yes, we learn so we can solve, I said that sometimes the goal of knowledge is simply to know more, to understand better. The TA liked my incredibly profound and unique answer, one that surely no one else has ever thought of ever. And yes, everyone on the bus stood up and clapped for me, including Obama, who was listening the whole time. were lauded as a major strength; projects do not necessarily need to be translational as long as they expand our understanding of The Science.
• More research advisors = more connections = more people who have a buddy at the school you’re interested in who might be willing to talk to you about the school. As much as I hate the economy of connections, it’s real and it could make a world of difference for you.
• If you like to have a lot of choices, apply to a lot of programs. I applied to six, which is on the low end; I ultimately got offers from two of those after interviewing at four. You can’t really predict what your rejected:interviewed:accepted ratio will be, so don’t die trying.
• Don’t email potential research advisors out of the blue unless you have been referred to them by someone who knows them. I have been given a lot of conflicting advice on this subject. Someone will probably email me telling me this is bad advice. On forums for Ph.D. programs in other areas, ⁠ 27 mostly humanities I have seen things like “I will not accept a student unless they reached out to me before applying.” The biology faculty I have discussed this with, however, generally agree that they have too many emails to read in a day to be dealing with inquiries from over-eager undergrads. ⁠ 28 This is not a contradiction of the above point about reaching out to people your PI knows. Those emails are good to send. The emails that I'm talking about here are more along the lines of Here Is My CV. I Liked Your Lab Website. Should I Apply? which is usually met with either no response or a quick <em>i</em><em>dk apply and see what happens</em>. You are a stranger, after all. That faculty member may not even be a part of the admissions committee. It’s really discouraging to type up a long email to someone only to have them reply with a couple of links to the grad admissions FAQs for their school.
• It is perfectly fine to take time off after undergrad before applying to grad school. Plenty of people do Master’s programs, research tech positions/postbacs, or something entirely different before applying to Ph.D. programs. Some programs actually prefer ⁠ 29 It makes sense if you think about the kind of investment that the school is putting into you. Who would be more likely to drop out of the program: someone who has done two years of full-time, independent research already or some kid applying as a senior in college who has never worked full-time in research? that you have done a Master’s before applying. For a while, I considered getting a technician job for a year or two before applying. Most of the people I talked to on these interview weekends were working or finishing up Master’s degrees. I am too debt-averse to consider applying to Master’s programs when I know I want to do a Ph.D. anyway, so I went ahead and applied as an undergrad.
• On the subject of finances, it’s always a good idea to save up any money you can. Application fees can add up. The interview weekends are typically paid for, but often the payment comes in the form of a reimbursement check that gets sent to you a month afterward. You will likely have to front a lot of the costs yourself. Even now, I’m dreading the amount of money I will spend on moving expenses and apartment deposits, but I’ve been saving all along, so it won’t be too much of a shock.

That was a lot of anecdotal information, but I hope it is (will be) helpful to one of you dear readers (someday).

Post Tagged

• #grad school
• tbt applying to MIT >4 years ago ⁠ back to text ↑
• I know how you guys are ⁠ back to text ↑
• Where would the science be without the development of new techniques and instruments? ⁠ back to text ↑
• funny enough I am a bio major despite my lowest IB score being HL Bio ⁠ back to text ↑
• My parents did not go to college. While they pushed me to pursue college, I did not get much guidance on that besides don't waste your time on a liberal arts degree and you need to go somewhere that will give you a scholarship . I'm going to graduate MIT soon with a science degree and no debt, so I guess everything went according to plan. ⁠ back to text ↑
• Of course, I didn't know that was going to happen when I applied. ⁠ back to text ↑
• Where else would a girl want to spend her twenties? ⁠ back to text ↑
• BIO PUN ALERT ⁠ back to text ↑
• My current lab at MIT, the internship I had last summer, and the lab I was with in high school. Yes, I included my high school lab, because the research I did there was somewhat advanced and also because I wanted to make the research section a little longer to balance out the extracurriculars section. I was careful not to emphasize that that was research I did in high school (because really it wasn't! I was at a university working with grad students). ⁠ back to text ↑
• which makes me sad because I'd love to talk to faculty about college radio ⁠ back to text ↑
• Communication Intensive - Major: You have to take at least two of these in your major to graduate. These classes require a significant amount of writing and presentation. ⁠ back to text ↑
• She told me that in her experience on grad admissions committees at MIT, letters from instructors were typically not very useful, but that she would write a letter anyway if I needed her to. ⁠ back to text ↑
• e.g. my current PI could speak on my research skills, my internship PI could say something about how I adapted to my new research environment in industry, my academic advisor could provide some insight into my academic improvement over the semesters he had advised me since my grades were pretty bad my freshman spring, my professor could also evaluate my academic potential and my ability to communicate ⁠ back to text ↑
• Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism ⁠ back to text ↑
• Genetics ⁠ back to text ↑
• Intro to Bio ⁠ back to text ↑
• She's been my direct mentor throughout my time in lab and we happen to both be leaving at MIT at the same time--she got a faculty position offer recently! ⁠ back to text ↑
• ironically, also something that I can't know for sure until I spend some time in grad school ⁠ back to text ↑
• What Does It Mean To Be Mixed ⁠ back to text ↑
• it was a much simpler time, many years ago... ⁠ back to text ↑
• you know it's good stuff when the choices are simply Red or White... who am I kidding I am just a child with no taste who will never be able to discern between good and bad ⁠ back to text ↑
• There has long been a kind of stigma attached to Ph.D. students who sell out and go into non-academic fields; this was at an institution that repeatedly stressed to us that it wasn't like that there and that faculty have friendly ties to industry. ⁠ back to text ↑
• Yet another way that this part is different from undergrad admissions: all the interview invites get sent out weeks or sometimes a month before the rejection emails. So if it's February and everyone at The Grad Cafe got their invites the first week of January, you know that you're not getting that invite. ⁠ back to text ↑
• This is not a good reason to give your interviewers. ⁠ back to text ↑
• The thought of six figures of medical school debt terrifies me. ⁠ back to text ↑
• I am reminded of a Concourse freshman seminar in which the discussion question was something like why do we pursue knowledge. Most people answered the same way: to solve problems in the world. I, of course, had to come up with something different and not basic, so even though I am largely of the mindset that yes, we learn so we can solve, I said that sometimes the goal of knowledge is simply to know more, to understand better. The TA liked my incredibly profound and unique answer, one that surely no one else has ever thought of ever. And yes, everyone on the bus stood up and clapped for me, including Obama, who was listening the whole time. ⁠ back to text ↑
• mostly humanities ⁠ back to text ↑
• This is not a contradiction of the above point about reaching out to people your PI knows. Those emails are good to send. The emails that I'm talking about here are more along the lines of Here Is My CV. I Liked Your Lab Website. Should I Apply? which is usually met with either no response or a quick i dk apply and see what happens . You are a stranger, after all. ⁠ back to text ↑
• It makes sense if you think about the kind of investment that the school is putting into you. Who would be more likely to drop out of the program: someone who has done two years of full-time, independent research already or some kid applying as a senior in college who has never worked full-time in research? ⁠ back to text ↑

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Careers in Biology: Where Your Degree Will Take You

So, you’ve decided to major in biology. Your degree offers a staggering array of career options.

Pamela Reynolds

Biology (sometimes called the life sciences) is one of the most popular majors on college campuses today. While some students choose a biology degree as preparation for medical school, many students don’t realize that it can also open doors to many other careers.

Food scientists, science writers, nature conservation officers, medical lab technicians, forensic scientists, and even pharmaceutical sales representatives are all professionals who may have started off their careers with a degree in biology.  

The best thing about a biology degree is that it pairs well with so many other passions.

A biology major can be a steppingstone to a specialized career studying the impact of climate change on food crops, developing a cure for Alzheimer’s, learning the root causes of Autism, or working to clean up the world’s polluted oceans.

If you have an interest in the life sciences but are not sure where a degree in biology will lead you, read on to learn more about potential careers in biology. It turns out you can do a lot more with a biology degree than go to medical school.

What are the best careers in biology?

Biology is the study of living organisms, their processes, and their functions. It’s a broad field that encompasses everything from large plants and animals to tiny microorganisms.

Career options in biology are therefore as varied as the living organisms biologists study.

And the field continues to grow, expanding into areas unheard of a few years ago. Astrobiologists, for instance, study the effects of outer space on living organisms and hunt for extraterrestrial life. Bioclimatologists study how climate affects plants, animals, and humans. Cryobiologists study the effects of low temperatures on living organisms. Bioinformaticians apply their computer skills to solving problems in medicine and the life sciences.

Other popular careers in biology include immunobiology, in which biologists study the immune system, and genomics, in which biologists study genomes.

Where can you work with a biology degree?

Biologists can work almost anywhere, including in the worlds of art, law, business, public health, and education.

What career you choose will depend on your interests and whether you opt for a bachelor’s degree, a master’s, or maybe even an MD or PhD.

If you stop at a bachelor’s degree, you might work as a technician at a biotech firm or hospital. You could become a high school biology teacher or use your degree to become a health educator. You could even build a career as a science content writer or move into sales at a medical device company. 

With additional education, you can use your biology degree to become a nurse, physician, veterinarian, engineer, or senior scientist. An advanced degree in biology can allow you to teach biology at a university or become a senior level manager or researcher at a pharmaceutical, environmental, or biotech firm. You might even decide to start your own company.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there will be almost 114,000 new jobs in the life, physical, and social sciences between 2020 and 2030, meaning that biology and related fields represent a high-growth sector.

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What type of biology is best for your career goals?

Careers in biology can be divided into branches and fields. Each branch offers a different set of career choices. There are dozens of possibilities, but a few broad areas include:

• Biomedical Engineering. This area revolves around applying the problem-solving techniques of engineering to biology and medicine. Someone who has a biology degree might get a graduate degree in engineering to tackle real-world systems that make people healthier. Biomedical engineers design new technologies that include prosthetic devices, imaging systems, medical instruments, diagnostic tools, and biopharmaceuticals. Many biomedical engineers work at biotechnology firms. Some may work for the government to establish safety standards for medical devices. This area is huge and growing and includes a wide range of specialties from biomaterials to stem cell engineering. 
• Chemical and Physical Biology. People working in this area use tools from mathematics, chemistry, and physics to solve problems in the life sciences. Chemists and physical biologists work in research and technical positions in industries like oil, chemicals, food processing, agriculture, biotechnology, and mining. They might work in manufacturing or in diagnostics at a private company, or in quality control, sales, and plant development.
• Ecology and Environmental Biology. Ecologists and environmental biologists study the relationships between living things and their habitats. Within this field, there are many specializations. For instance, aerobiologists study organisms and organic particles in the air. Geobiologists study the interactions between the earth and the biosphere. Many people in this area study specific regional environments to protect wildlife and ecosystems. They might work as a naturalist at a state or national park, or as a consultant or researcher with a government agency, private firm, or non-profit organization.
• Human Evolutionary Biology. Human evolutionary biologists seek to understand how evolutionary forces have shaped our physiology and patterns of behavior. Someone working in this field might work as a researcher in medical science or a professor in medicine, economics, psychology, or the social sciences.
• Molecular and Cellular Biology. Cell biologists study cell structures and their interactions with biological organisms. They usually work in laboratories where they analyze samples, perform experiments, and keep detailed records of their findings. A cell biologist may work for government agencies, in private or public laboratories, as well as teach at colleges or universities.
• Neuroscience.   Neuroscientists study the biology underlying behavior and how our brains process information. They examine the nervous system at every level, from behavior and cognition to cells and molecules. Someone in this area might work in research at a biotech company, become a neuroeconomist, a medical doctor, or a professor at a university.

What careers require an advanced degree in biology?

While it’s possible to find a satisfying career with only a bachelor’s degree in biology, the reality is that as technology and science progresses, there is always more to know.

That makes it increasingly likely that you’ll need a graduate degree in a specific area in the biological sciences. We’ve discussed many of these areas, including cell and molecular biology, biomedical engineering, neurobiology, and chemistry.

An advanced degree is especially necessary for anyone interested in moving into research in academia, private industry or in a government lab. But advanced degrees are also necessary outside of academia and research. Foresters and forensic scientists, environmental scientists, and microbiologists generally have advanced degrees.

Rather than earning a more advanced degree in a specialized area of biology, some students choose to enter a professional school after receiving their bachelor’s degree. They might attend nursing, medical, veterinary, dental or law school. Students who choose this route can find themselves richly rewarded by a fascinating career that offers even more opportunities for specialization.  

Whatever career you choose, the nice thing about getting a degree in biology is that you’ll always have options!

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About the Author

Pamela Reynolds is a Boston-area feature writer and editor whose work appears in numerous publications. She is the author of “Revamp: A Memoir of Travel and Obsessive Renovation.”

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12 Careers for PhD Life Scientists Outside of the Lab

Not everyone who completes a life sciences Ph.D. wants to continue working in a laboratory or in research. If this is the case for you, here are 12 careers for Ph.D. life scientists outside of the lab.

Not everyone who completes a life sciences PhD wants to continue working in a laboratory or in research.

They may just have grown out of it or found that the work isn’t what they thought it was. Or maybe they still love science and would rather find a different way of making a living than conducting academic or commercial research.

With that in mind, here are 12 possible options for Ph.D. life scientists who want careers outside of the laboratory.

12 Careers For Life Scientists Outside of the Lab

1. Technical Writing

Biopharma has an incredible need not only for people with higher degrees who understand technical materials but those who can write as well. There are grants and all the documentation required by regulatory agencies that need to be written.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics states that technical writers had a median annual salary of $78,060 per year in 2021. A caveat to that number—that includes all levels of education and all fields, ranging from IT to engineering to business to life sciences.

In biopharma, where the degree demands may be higher, the pay can often be higher.

Technical Writing Jobs →

2. Business Analysis

Financial analysts provide insight and guidance to businesses and individuals on making investment decisions. For people with life science backgrounds, this often means working with venture capital firms or investment banks.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the median annual salary in 2021 for financial analysts was $81,410 per year. That’s probably completely understating the millions of dollars a successful venture capitalist can make through involvement with a successful biotech startup.

Business Analysis Jobs →

3. Biotech and Pharma Sales

Many people with higher degrees find satisfaction as biopharmaceutical sales reps. If you’re not a “people person,” this probably isn’t right for you, but if you can tie your scientific interests into talking to people about a company’s products, this can be a lucrative area.

According to BioSpace ‘s 2022 US Life Sciences Salary Report , the average salary is $I2I,833.

Sales in Biotechnology Jobs →

4. Health Informatics

Health informatics professionals use their knowledge of life sciences and healthcare, information systems, databases, and IT security to make sense of the enormous amount of data available. Also called data science, although some sources feel they are distinct fields that overlap. It’s a huge area in biopharma.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that Computer and Information Research Scientists had a median annual pay in 2015 of $131,490 per year and from 2014 to 2024 is expected to grow at 11 percent, faster than average.

Health Informatics Jobs →

5. Medical Science Liaison

This is viewed as the highest-paying non-executive biopharma job in the U.S. The Medical Science Liaison Society (MSLS) defines it as “a specific role within the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, CRO and other healthcare industries.

MSLs have advanced scientific training and academic credentials consisting of a doctorate degree (PhD, PharmD, MD) in the life sciences. They concentrate on a specific Therapeutic Area (i.e. Oncology, Cardiology, CNS, Pulmonary, Hematology, Surgery, Women’s Health Care, etc) and disease state.”

A survey by MSLS found that an MSL is likely to make $132,452 per year, with a Senior MSL making $156,928 and a Manager making $187,206.

Medical Science Liaison Jobs →

6. Competitive Industrial Intelligence

This falls into market research analysts. These individuals study market conditions to evaluate the potential sales of a product or service. The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that in 2021, the median pay was $63,920 per year.

Competitive Industrial Intelligence Jobs →

RELATED: Top 12 Biotech Companies Hiring Now

7. fda/reviewer/inspector.

These positions involved inspecting drug manufacturing facilities, following up on adverse reaction reports, and overseeing the regulatory processes involved in drug approvals. In 2021, the annual base salary for an FDA Investigator was $100,806.

FDA/Reviewer/Inspector Jobs →

8. CIA/DoD/DARPA

There are job opportunities for life science PhDs in the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, and the Directorate of Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA). For example, the CIA has positions open for a Technical Researcher in a variety of fields, including Applied Physics, Bioinformatics, Biology, Optics & Electrochemistry and others.

The pay is between $58,638 to $130,692.

Similar Jobs →

9. Quality Control and Assurance (QA/QC)

The biopharma industry has a huge need for specialists in quality control and quality assurance, monitoring manufacturing operations, and ensuring the quality of the drugs that hit the market. According to Payscale.com , the median salary for a QC Chemist is $55,073 a year.

QA and QC Jobs →

10. Regulatory Affairs

Another related area is regulatory affairs, overseeing and managing all the regulatory filings within the U.S. and internationally for pharmaceutical companies. ZipRecruiter reports that the national average for someone in regulatory affairs is $80,159.

Regulatory Affairs Jobs →

11. Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology Marketing Manager

Viewed as a little broader than pharmaceutical sales positions, these jobs develop wider marketing strategies for biopharma products, including print, radio and TV ads, corporate communications and other approaches to marketing. According to BioSpace ‘s 2022 US Life Sciences Salary Report , the average salary is $102,560.

Pharma/Biotech Marketing Jobs →

12. Business Development

Again, these positions can overlap with sales and marketing jobs, as well as medical liaison positions. Part of the job involves developing strategies for expanding business and identifying new markets and approaches to those markets. Glassdoor indicates that the national average salary for a business development manager is $98,881.

Business Development Jobs →

The Takeaway

There are undoubtedly numerous others, especially for PhDs willing to go outside their comfort zones.

Take the time, if you’re interested in working outside the laboratory, to make a list of your broader job skills. It may be more important to downplay the specifics of your degree, focus on your broader interests and abilities and indicate that you are looking for further challenges.

Most importantly, network—especially outside your technical network. You never know the options available to you unless you ask.

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Alternative Careers For Scientists

Want to leave the lab but not sure what alternative career options are available? Our guide can help you decide what to do after hanging up your lab coat.

Published January 28, 2021

Suzanne has a PhD in Microbiology/Immunology from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine .

What happens when you finally get the life sciences degree you worked so long for and then realize you really don’t want to spend the rest of your life in the lab?

Or you get tired of working long hours with few results and low pay, or you succumb to any of the other reasons that might put you off being a scientist.

You may well decide to hang up your lab coat and move into something else… and there are a lot of great options for people with a science background and postgraduate degrees that lead to rewarding and lucrative careers.

15 Alternative Careers for Scientists

In order to help you decide on an alternative career choice, we’ve compiled a list of  15 alternative careers for scientists that might be worth considering if you ever decide it’s time to leave the lab. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it might give you a few ideas.

1. Technical Services

Technical Services support involves interacting with scientists over the phone to troubleshoot problems with products or even to provide a scientific consultation on general experimental strategy and design. As this isn’t a face-to-face role, it makes for an easy transition for an introverted scientist to a more outgoing profession.

Many opportunities exist to grow your career within a company if you want to move up the corporate ladder. Just be prepared to answer the phone 30–40 times a day and, once in a while, be berated by a customer.

2. Product Manager/Marketing

Product managers are responsible for a product from launch to discontinuation. The job has many responsibilities so fits best with people who are highly organized, and can multi-task, and lead teams. The main goal of a product manager is to make money for the company.

You accomplish that goal by numerous marketing activities (advertising, attending scientific conferences, promotional giveaways, etc.), by building new products that people want, and by making sure that every product is in perfect working order when received by the customer.

The salary is generous but be prepared to work 12-hour days and be under constant pressure to increase revenues.

3. Biotech Sales Representative

Who is that person who comes to your door and tries to sell you everything from tips and tubes to kits and instruments for PCR? It’s your friendly neighborhood sales representative. Most, if not all, salespeople in biotech have worked in the lab and some even have PhDs, making it one of the most common alternative careers for scientists.

If you take a minute to talk to your biotech sales rep , you will see that their true purpose is to make sure you have everything you need (from their company!) to be a success. But your success is always paramount to their sale.

Of course, there are those who are under intense pressure to make a sale to the point where they push too hard, and some are too green in their career to understand that they are trying to sell you something you don’t use.

But, overall, they are a bright and hard-working group of people who want to excel at their job by helping you excel in the lab. The income you can make in sales can be very high but so is the pressure to meet the revenue targets assigned to you.

4. Field Application Scientist (FAS)

The FAS role is often a perfect position for academic bench scientists looking to move into industry. The FAS is called in when a customer is interested in purchasing a new product or is having trouble getting an existing one to work.

Working in the customer’s lab, the FAS will demonstrate how well a product works, troubleshoot problems with a product, or teach a lab how to use a complex instrument. The FAS may also install instruments or robotics and maintain their proper function.

The FAS travels frequently because they are assigned large territories and will sometimes need to stay at an account for up to a week. Part of their role is to build solid friendships with the labs they support while helping their company win (or keep) new accounts.

5. Business Development

Business development is a very exciting role that involves growing and shaping the scope of a company’s business approach. This can mean making technical collaborations with other companies, bringing in contract work, or licensing in or out technologies through to deciding on mergers and acquisitions.

Typically, this requires an MBA degree in addition to a science background, but working your way up through the company ranks is another route. Business development requires a strong mix of technical knowledge and marketing experience.

The person should have a good feel for the changes going on in the market and what the next hot technology or area of research might be. Your advice can have a big effect on the decisions a company makes, so expect high stress and pressure.

6. Manufacturing Quality Assurance (QA)/Quality Control (QC)

The process of taking a product from the research phase to market requires the ability to produce it on a large scale. You’ve successfully formulated the buffers and the procedure for a new kit in the lab. Now try building 500 of them and make sure they work exactly as well as the single one from the lab.

Or try scaling up protein expression and purification to make liters of enzyme and keep it soluble. Or making liters of competent cells , bearing in mind that if the efficiency falls below a set number you have to start all over again. You get the picture!

Manufacturing requires precision, perfection, and focus. Manufacturing scientists do everything from production to the QC. Depending on what the product is used for, the QC can involve complex techniques such as real-time PCR, cloning, or enzyme activity assays.

Manufacturing is not a glamorous job but it is critical to the success of a company because if manufacturing can’t keep up, it can cause huge losses in revenue and customers.

7. Technology Transfer

Technology transfer involves finding ways to commercialize technologies developed in the public sector (universities or government agencies). It is like the academic equivalent of business development and requires many of the same skills.

Tech transfer jobs can be found in the public institutions themselves, in companies that routinely commercialize technologies that originate in the public sector, or in non-profit technology transfer organizations.

8. Science Copywriting

Copywriters produce the copy (the written material) for marketing products or ideas. This is a great position for people who like to communicate science through writing. If you work for a biotech company as a copywriter, you would be helping product managers to communicate their message to the market about a product via a print ad, email blast, banner ad, webpage, or flyer.

Copywriters and product managers work together to perfect the message before the copy goes to design for layout and imagery. This position really accentuates your creative side, but be prepared to deal with stressed-out product managers.

9. Medical/Technical Writing

Another type of science writing is technical writing, which includes writing handbooks/product manuals and application notes. This requires less creativity and more of the ability to communicate exactly how something should be done. If a protocol is unclear, it is the problem of the technical writer (and the product manager).

More info on working in medical and technical writing is available here.

10. Science Journalism

Yet another type of science writing is science journalism. Science journalists produce content for newspapers, magazines, and websites (just like I’m doing now). You can work either freelance or as a staff writer , employed directly by the publication. Either way, the competition is tough. The best way in is simply to start writing and trying to get things published.

11. Scientific Illustration

If drawing, rather than writing, is your forte, then scientific illustration may be an option. Although opportunities in this field are limited, they do exist. Breaking into this field is like scientific journalism – you just have to start drawing and try to get your work noticed. Here is a great article on carving out a career in scientific illustration .

12. Recruitment/Head-hunter

Recruiters help companies to find suitable candidates for job openings and can work for independent recruitment consultancies or for a company’s in-house human resources department. This type of job requires an outgoing personality and the ability to develop a great network for candidate searches.

Having a science background will help you know when a candidate’s skills are a good match for an employer, but the competition for good candidates is high and part of the job is being a nudge. Typical recruiters call or email at least 10–15 times before they accept a “no” answer!

13. Teaching

Some people are born teachers and if this is you, high school teaching can be a great option. Aside from the joy of teaching (assuming it is a joy for you), the holidays are great and the pay can be pretty good too. The downside is working with teenage kids, which is an unenviable task if you ask me! Here is a good article on moving from the lab to the classroom.

14. Patent Examiner

Patent examiners are employed by the government to review patent applications and decide whether they should be granted. Typically this involves searching the literature and patent databases to determine if the application is innovative and meets the requirements for a patent to be granted. Get more information on the role of a patent examiner here. 

15. Patent Lawyer/Attorney

Patent lawyers operate at the other end of the patent application process, working for clients who wish to file and maintain patents or who need guidance with any aspect of patent law. This is a very well-paid career, but is also high pressure and requires both scientific and law training.

The level of training required to become a patent lawyer varies from country to country. More details about the qualifications required to become a patent lawyer can be found here.

Do you have any other alternative careers for scientists? Beverage scientist, anyone?  Did this article help you find your next career move? Leave us a comment below!

Originally published January 3, 2008. Reviewed and updated on January 14, 2021.

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36 Comments

I want to be a CEO of a multinational company. for instance, in audi or in google. Does the Ph.D degree needed to become a CEO such this company. I am looking forward to your feedback.Thank you in advance.

I am doing MSc photonics am interested in technical field and marketing field I not interested in research I need make good money within Short time anyone give me a suggestions? about my carrier which one should I choose

I have a PhD in microbiology, did post-doc and started working in industry for the last 2 years. One thing I realize about my self is that as much as I love science, I love and crave interaction with people even more. I am tired of working with scientist, who are introverted, lack communication skills and always have headphones on. I am trying to transition to more “support” and costumer facing roles. Anybody feel the way I do? Tired of unsocial scientists dragging your positive attitude down?

Hey man, Worked with enough scientists to strongly agree with the introversion and lack of communication skills. Considered working in a big CRO or drug discovery biotech? Lot more people interaction and can still keep the love for science intact.

Thanks! Great article and useful comments

Comments are closed.

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More From Forbes

Raygun, the australian breakdancer in the olympics: explained.

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Raygun competes during the Breaking B-Girls Round Robin Group B battle between Logistx and Raygun on ... [+] Day 14 of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at La Concorde on August 9, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Harry Langer/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

Aussie breaker Rachael Gunn , known as B-girl Raygun, took the internet by storm after her brief but memorable time on stage at the Paris 2024 Olympics. In head-to-head battles against b-girls from the USA, France, and Lithuania, she pulled out some unique moves like kangaroo hopping and swimming on the ground.

Some netizens were less than impressed, posting messages like “There’s 27.7 million Australians in the world and that’s who they send to the Olympics for this inaugural event??? C’mon now!” Others expressed doubt about breaking’s inclusion in the Olympics.

While the memes are admittedly funny, there are two misconceptions about breaking and B-girl Raygun that are important to clear up.

Misconception No.1: “This Is What Olympic Breaking Looks Like”

The beauty of breaking lies in its freedom of self-expression. Among all the Olympic sports, breaking has perhaps the most opportunity for creativity. At the same time, there is a sky-high ceiling for physical and technical ability. Look at the performances of the medal winners Ami, Nicka , and 671—you’ll see more gravity-defying, dynamic sequences than you can throw a shoe at.

On the other hand, there’s Raygun’s approach. She herself told reporters , “I was never going to beat these girls on what they do best, the dynamic and the power moves, so I wanted to move differently, be artistic and creative because how many chances do you get that in a lifetime to do that on an international stage.”

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What time is the 2024 olympics closing ceremony in paris, ukraine is determined to flatten khalino air base, situated just 50 miles from the front line of ukraine’s surprise invasion of russia.

She came into the competition with a goal of making her own mark, and in a sense, she accomplished that.

Misconception No.2: “Raygun Should Not Have Qualified For The Olympics”

In the IOC’s own words , “the Olympic Games are the world’s most powerful symbol of unity in all our diversity.” The Olympics include diverse participants from almost every part of the world, which naturally leads to situations where certain athletes are outclassed by others. No country excels in every single sport, and in breaking’s case, Australia is simply not as competitive.

That doesn’t take anything away from the time and effort that it took Raygun to get to the Olympics. She secured a spot by winning the 2023 Oceania Breaking Championship , and she represented Australia at the 2021 and 2022 World Championships. Her style wasn’t enough to pass the group stage in Paris, but she is undoubtedly a qualified representative for her region. The 36-year-old has been breaking since her 20’s and is known as Dr. Gunn when she’s at her day job: lecturing on dance and gender politics at Macquarie University.

At the end of the day, it’s all about positivity:

“It was amazing. Such an amazing experience,” Gunn told Yahoo Sports after the event. “What a stage, what an arena, what a crowd. Music was great. Like, oh, so, so grateful for the opportunity.”

Breaking will take the Paris Olympics stage again on August 10 with the B-Boy (Men’s) event.

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A breaking hero emerges: Meet Australia's Raygun

An australian professor had some breaking moves, and people had thoughts., by nbc staff • published august 9, 2024 • updated on august 9, 2024 at 3:19 pm.

As Dr. Rachel Gunn, she's a 36-year-old lecturer at Macquarie University in Australia . She holds a PhD in cultural science. She researches and lectures on the cultural politics of breaking .

As Raygun, she's an Olympian breaker, competing for Australia.

Raygun lost all three of her matches, against B-Girls named Nicka, Syssy and Logistx. Yes, that sentence is accurate.

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But Raygun had some moves. And people had some thoughts.

What my nephew does after telling all of us to “watch this” pic.twitter.com/366LjIRl4j — Liz Charboneau (@lizchar) August 9, 2024

There has not been an Olympic performance this dominant since Usain Bolt’s 100m sprint at Beijing in 2008. Honestly, the moment Raygun broke out her Kangaroo move this competition was over! Give her the #breakdancing gold 🥇 pic.twitter.com/6q8qAft1BX — Trapper Haskins (@TrapperHaskins) August 9, 2024

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All I can think about when I see this is the hip hop dance teacher from Bob’s Burgers but if instead she was from Australia and was a 36 year old woman named Raygun https://t.co/nUwYVLnrms pic.twitter.com/Wl5FResHw7 — Shereef Sakr (@ShereefKeef) August 9, 2024

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when Raygun hit the kangaroo jawn I couldn't see the screen I was crying so hard pic.twitter.com/jcICfTu11d — Bradford Pearson (@BradfordPearson) August 9, 2024

I think I found the source of inspiration for the Raygun breakdance at the Olympics. https://t.co/t94Iyu1dPZ pic.twitter.com/a7DL9etwRz — Noodson (@noodson) August 9, 2024

Raygun was like pic.twitter.com/KvXVPVGScx — Charles J. Moore (@charles270) August 9, 2024

Raygun did THE SPRINKLER at this breakdance thing, this is the worst thing Australia has ever done. — Luis Paez-Pumar (@lppny) August 9, 2024

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