Job ideas after pre med

[an_older_me]

Not sure if this is the correct forum for this but here it goes... Not too long ago I have decided to give up on becoming a doctor after taking a few gap years after graduating from college. I have made up my mind and am not interested in hearing anyone trying to talk me out of my decision. Instead I am looking for advice in moving forward. Specifically, about different ideas for jobs out there that I can do now or work into. I had always assumed that I would just go to medical school and be assigned my first job when I applied for residency, as such I am completely stumped on how to land a living wage job.

So here are the facts about where I currently stand boiled down into a list...

• Graduated with a degree in biology with a high GPA; I don't doubt that I could get into medical school if I wanted to, I am just choosing not to.
• I am not willing to work as a research assistant (did it before, hated it)
• I have the typical pre med volunteer work... hospitals, clinics, etc.
• I taught taught English abroad during my gap years, and speak said language at a conversational level, although not quite at a business level yet. I don't want to give any more details on that area so I don't accidentally give away my identity.
• I am looking for a job that will allow me to have time on the weekends to myself; I am okay with working overtime during the week but I definitely want time to myself to go skiing, read, travel, etc. (hence the reason why I am not continuing on with medicine )

So, does anybody have any ideas?

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[freak7]

Not sure if this is the correct forum for this but here it goes... Not too long ago I have decided to give up on becoming a doctor after taking a few gap years after graduating from college. I have made up my mind and am not interested in hearing anyone trying to talk me out of my decision. Instead I am looking for advice in moving forward. Specifically, about different ideas for jobs out there that I can do now or work into. I had always assumed that I would just go to medical school and be assigned my first job when I applied for residency, as such I am completely stumped on how to land a living wage job.

So here are the facts about where I currently stand boiled down into a list...

• Graduated with a degree in biology with a high GPA; I don't doubt that I could get into medical school if I wanted to, I am just choosing not to.
• I am not willing to work as a research assistant (did it before, hated it)
• I have the typical pre med volunteer work... hospitals, clinics, etc.
• I taught taught English abroad during my gap years, and speak said language at a conversational level, although not quite at a business level yet. I don't want to give any more details on that area so I don't accidentally give away my identity.
• I am looking for a job that will allow me to have time on the weekends to myself; I am okay with working overtime during the week but I definitely want time to myself to go skiing, read, travel, etc. (hence the reason why I am not continuing on with medicine )

So, does anybody have any ideas?

Do you want to stay in the medical/healthcare field or go a new direction completely?

 

[holycrap]

Not sure if this is the correct forum for this but here it goes... Not too long ago I have decided to give up on becoming a doctor after taking a few gap years after graduating from college. I have made up my mind and am not interested in hearing anyone trying to talk me out of my decision. Instead I am looking for advice in moving forward. Specifically, about different ideas for jobs out there that I can do now or work into. I had always assumed that I would just go to medical school and be assigned my first job when I applied for residency, as such I am completely stumped on how to land a living wage job.

So here are the facts about where I currently stand boiled down into a list...

• Graduated with a degree in biology with a high GPA; I don't doubt that I could get into medical school if I wanted to, I am just choosing not to.
• I am not willing to work as a research assistant (did it before, hated it)
• I have the typical pre med volunteer work... hospitals, clinics, etc.
• I taught taught English abroad during my gap years, and speak said language at a conversational level, although not quite at a business level yet. I don't want to give any more details on that area so I don't accidentally give away my identity.
• I am looking for a job that will allow me to have time on the weekends to myself; I am okay with working overtime during the week but I definitely want time to myself to go skiing, read, travel, etc. (hence the reason why I am not continuing on with medicine )

So, does anybody have any ideas?

Why don't you wanna be a doctor anymore, but I say get a master's because I've heard it's really hard to get a job with a bachelor's in biology, I don't know how true that is but my mentor told me. Get a master's and become a teacher, weekends and summers off plus a few holidays, and you already have teaching experience.

 

[libertyyne]

Why don't you wanna be a doctor anymore, but I say get a master's because I've heard it's really hard to get a job with a bachelor's in biology, I don't know how true that is but my mentor told me. Get a master's and become a teacher, weekends and summers off plus a few holidays, and you already have teaching experience.

Bachelors Degree's in biology are almost fairly useless from a STEM comparison. There area few things that people can do , lab work/ technician work(specimen collection), You could land a job in healthcare admin, start small. Depending on your location you could work for the government.

That being said, dont think of the biology degree as something you have to use. Think of it as an other 4 year degree and use it to apply to jobs that require 4 year degrees.

Not sure if this is the correct forum for this but here it goes... Not too long ago I have decided to give up on becoming a doctor after taking a few gap years after graduating from college. I have made up my mind and am not interested in hearing anyone trying to talk me out of my decision. Instead I am looking for advice in moving forward. Specifically, about different ideas for jobs out there that I can do now or work into. I had always assumed that I would just go to medical school and be assigned my first job when I applied for residency, as such I am completely stumped on how to land a living wage job.

So here are the facts about where I currently stand boiled down into a list...

• Graduated with a degree in biology with a high GPA; I don't doubt that I could get into medical school if I wanted to, I am just choosing not to.
• I am not willing to work as a research assistant (did it before, hated it)
• I have the typical pre med volunteer work... hospitals, clinics, etc.
• I taught taught English abroad during my gap years, and speak said language at a conversational level, although not quite at a business level yet. I don't want to give any more details on that area so I don't accidentally give away my identity.
• I am looking for a job that will allow me to have time on the weekends to myself; I am okay with working overtime during the week but I definitely want time to myself to go skiing, read, travel, etc. (hence the reason why I am not continuing on with medicine )

So, does anybody have any ideas?

OP you are behind the ball if you want to do that. Usualy people not in medicine know what they want to do and do some internships during or after college to get some experience and get a food in the door, but its not too late. You need to answer a few questions for yourself.
1. What on earth have you been doing since graduating? Can you continue that? Do you enjoy it ?
2. What skill sets do you have besides the bio lab work stuff? Are you highly analytically? did you learn to program for fun? Are you good with your hands? Do you like talking to people.
3. Go to your undergrad institution's career services/counseling department. Maybe they can help you assess for strengths and weaknesses. This can ultimately help with number 2.
4.Ask friends. They could hook you up.
5. research other carrers and go to their forums.
6.Most employers dont give a **** about your GPA.
7.Goodluck

 

[Mclovin0351]

Take civil service exam, become firefighter, work 2 days a week, profit (6 figures after 3-4 years at least in the major city near me). I know a ton of firefighters and to a man they love it and try to convince everyone around them to do it. Very hard to get into though.

 

[Sardinia]

@an_older_me Go to a job counseling center or a job fair to get a sense of what you're doing. You're attempting to poll an audience in the same boat as you are with one of the worst methods for finding an actually satisfying job.

 

[Turkishking]

Bio degree is useless. Get the masters, and I hope that helps a little.

I put my all my eggs in one basket, and now I'm worried.

I should have just done engineering lol

 

[LizzyM]

Get what color is my parachute? and work through the exercises. There is a reason it has been in print for >30 years.

Sales jobs in industry are one idea. (Not just direct to consumers but also sales rep calling on businesses to carry a specific product line.) Might require some weekends at trade shows but the trade-off is opportunities to travel on the company's dime.

Teaching at any level -- you might need to go on for a masters.

If you are quantitatively oriented, consider a position in data analysis. Great demand, good wages (>70K to start), strictly 9-5. Again, a one-year masters might be helpful.

If you have a head for business consider health care administration or public administration or business administration in higher ed (grants management) ... go on for a MPH or MBA or Master of Public Policy degree after a few years of experience. Hospital admin might require night and weekend work for the first few years as hospitals have overnight administrators and those jobs go to the least experienced.

If you have any interest in health care, you might look into advanced degrees in physical therapy, occupational therapy, or speech therapy.

 

[Sardinia]

@LizzyM Do you find it peculiar that he wants weekends off?

 

[LizzyM]

@LizzyM Do you find it peculiar that he wants weekends off?

Doesn't everyone, given the option? I've worked retail and food service and in patient care settings where it was NOT an option. I've also worked in the academic and non-profits sectors where it was a given. I might bring some paperwork home on weekends but I'm not going to my workplace on weekends.

What's peculiar about wanting weekends off? I once had a job right after college where I worked every other weekend and had 2 days off during the week, Tues Wed or Thurs Friday. It was nice in some ways to be able to have an appointment for the hair stylist or to shop on a weekday without the crowds but it was also weird to be out on Monday night happy that it was the start of "the weekend" and it is hard to have fun with friends when your "weekend" is everyone else's weeknight.

 

[DingoPingo]

Search for entry level job, if you like it, get more education soo you can move up

 

[bananafish94]

Bachelors Degree's in biology are almost fairly useless from a STEM comparison.

I don't know where this myth began or why it has been perpetuated, but it is just simply false. There is a plethora of things you can do with a biology degree. Tons of my college friends with biology degrees have really good, interesting jobs all around the country!

 

[libertyyne]

I don't know where this myth began or why it has been perpetuated, but it is just simply false. There is a plethora of things you can do with a biology degree. Tons of my college friends with biology degrees have really good, interesting jobs all around the country!

Can you share a few? Most people I know are underemployed in fields where college degrees are not necessary. They also make less than 45k a year. There just isn't a lot of demand compared to other STEM degrees like engineering where you,d be hard pressed to find an underemployed person , unless Ph.D., or computer science,where they are snatched up by employers pretty quickly. Also the point was that if they are doing interesting stuff it's most likely due to having any college degree compared to a Biology degree

 

[bananafish94]

Can you share a few? Most people I know are underemployed in fields where college degrees are not necessary. They also make less than 45k a year. There just isn't a lot of demand .

Off the top of my head: bioinformatics work at a DNA sequencing company, master brewer at a brewery (I envy this one), working for Epic (the big EMR system), something involving food inspections for the government although I'm foggy on the details, healthcare consulting, and the list goes on. I will say that these people did not see these jobs as backups to medical school or other professional schools. They were either not pre-med at all or only pre-med for a year or so, and as such put in the requisite time to put themselves in the right position for getting a good job.

 

[libertyyne]

Off the top of my head: bioinformatics work at a DNA sequencing company, master brewer at a brewery (I envy this one), working for Epic (the big EMR system), something involving food inspections for the government although I'm foggy on the details, healthcare consulting, and the list goes on. I will say that these people did not see these jobs as backups to medical school or other professional schools. They were either not pre-med at all or only pre-med for a year or so, and as such put in the requisite time to put themselves in the right position for getting a good job.

There is literally a degree in bioinformatics that the company would probably want before a biology bs. There is no relationship between a bio degree and emr design. Healthcare consulting an MBA or a business degree or even a nursing degree would be better suited. The point is if you read the job descriptions for those a pure bio degree provides little to no experience and skill overlap. Those people were just as likely to get those jobs if they had non bio degrees . Food inspection for the government may be the exception, but even for that a public health degree would be more suited. These things become painfully apparent when you are on the hiring side of the equation .

 

[Lawpy]

Not sure if this is the correct forum for this but here it goes... Not too long ago I have decided to give up on becoming a doctor after taking a few gap years after graduating from college. I have made up my mind and am not interested in hearing anyone trying to talk me out of my decision. Instead I am looking for advice in moving forward. Specifically, about different ideas for jobs out there that I can do now or work into. I had always assumed that I would just go to medical school and be assigned my first job when I applied for residency, as such I am completely stumped on how to land a living wage job.

So here are the facts about where I currently stand boiled down into a list...

• Graduated with a degree in biology with a high GPA; I don't doubt that I could get into medical school if I wanted to, I am just choosing not to.
• I am not willing to work as a research assistant (did it before, hated it)
• I have the typical pre med volunteer work... hospitals, clinics, etc.
• I taught taught English abroad during my gap years, and speak said language at a conversational level, although not quite at a business level yet. I don't want to give any more details on that area so I don't accidentally give away my identity.
• I am looking for a job that will allow me to have time on the weekends to myself; I am okay with working overtime during the week but I definitely want time to myself to go skiing, read, travel, etc. (hence the reason why I am not continuing on with medicine )

So, does anybody have any ideas?

Learn programming and work in IT. Or pursue economics/finance/business and work in the business professional world. Or ace the LSAT and go to law school.

 

[LizzyM]

There is literally a degree in bioinformatics that the company would probably want before a biology bs. There is no relationship between a bio degree and emr design. Healthcare consulting an MBA or a business degree or even a nursing degree would be better suited. The point is if you read the job descriptions for those a pure bio degree provides little to no experience and skill overlap. Those people were just as likely to get those jobs if they had non bio degrees . Food inspection for the government may be the exception, but even for that a public health degree would be more suited. These things become painfully apparent when you are on the hiring side of the equation .

Basically biology is one of many liberal arts degrees. It means you have a broad education in how to think and the biology major means that your focus was on one of the natural sciences. There are tons of jobs for people who can think. Employers are not always thinking that undergrad major equals best applicant for the job if you are able to think and reason.

 

[hurtem&healem]

A friend of mine works at a company contracted by all levels of government to collect and test water samples. She primarily works locally in the lab but will also travel for collection occasionally. Earns ~$65k/yr. Her only qualification on top of her biology BS is a scuba diving cert, which is necessary for some of her field work.

There are many other government jobs which would look on it favorably. Think DNR, Park Rangers, EPA, etc.

 

[libertyyne]

Learn programming and work in IT.

You don't even need to learn programming . Getting An A+ or tell a company you love technology and boom IT job for 16$/h

 

[libertyyne]

Basically biology is one of many liberal arts degrees. It means you have a broad education in how to think and the biology major means that your focus was on one of the natural sciences. There are tons of jobs for people who can think. Employers are not always thinking that undergrad major equals best applicant for the job if you are able to think and reason.

I agree, I disagreed with the premise that biology degrees confer special skills or give you skills that employers look for. Those jobs exist but in very narrow niches like lab work. Unfortunately this also means that you don't get preference from employers for having one compared to a degree in history or English or religious studies. There is large demand on the other hand for most other STEM degrees.

 

[bananafish94]

I'm just reporting the facts! I have no idea what goes on beyond the scenes. All I know is that there are bio majors with good jobs out there. Of course, the sample size is small because most of the bio majors that I know are in or are attempting to get into some kind of professional school.

There is literally a degree in bioinformatics that the company would probably want before a biology bs.

There is not at my school.

There is no relationship between a bio degree and emr design. Healthcare consulting an MBA or a business degree or even a nursing degree would be better suited.

I don't know if it's EMR design. And those degrees may very well be better suited, but he did get the job!

Those people were just as likely to get those jobs if they had non bio degrees .

I don't think this is true but we'll have to agree to disagree.

 

[libertyyne]

Here is a proposed preference for hiring.

(Who you know) > Years of experience match > Degree with skills match > Generic Degree > No Degree

 

[Sardinia]

Doesn't everyone, given the option? I've worked retail and food service and in patient care settings where it was NOT an option. I've also worked in the academic and non-profits sectors where it was a given. I might bring some paperwork home on weekends but I'm not going to my workplace on weekends.

What's peculiar about wanting weekends off? I once had a job right after college where I worked every other weekend and had 2 days off during the week, Tues Wed or Thurs Friday. It was nice in some ways to be able to have an appointment for the hair stylist or to shop on a weekday without the crowds but it was also weird to be out on Monday night happy that it was the start of "the weekend" and it is hard to have fun with friends when your "weekend" is everyone else's weeknight.

I thought working weekends was the grease behind the wheels, the extra mile, the line that separates the winner from the losers. You don't have to be a go getter about working on weekends, but I would never say I'd be opposed to working it if it's an employer's market. Maybe I'm too much of a YES-man.

 

[Lawpy]

You don't even need to learn programming . Getting An A+ or tell a company you love technology and boom IT job for 16$/h

True. I personally like having both to expand skills.

 

[LizzyM]

I thought working weekends was the grease behind the wheels, the extra mile, the line that separates the winner from the losers. You don't have to be a go getter about working on weekends, but I would never say I'd be opposed to working it if it's an employer's market. Maybe I'm too much of a YES-man.

This is a conversation among friends, not a job interview.

 

[libertyyne]

I thought working weekends was the grease behind the wheels, the extra mile, the line that separates the winner from the losers. You don't have to be a go getter about working on weekends, but I would never say I'd be opposed to working it if it's an employer's market. Maybe I'm too much of a YES-man.

That's the perception you are supposed to give. Whether people actually do that is up for debate.

 

[Domepiece]

Lots of great advice on this thread.

As someone who has gone through the process with a bio degree, you will find lots of willing players in the research arena (obviously), but there are lots of broadly applicable jobs within this sphere. Most companies, even those not in healthcare/medicine/science have R&D departments where a proven track record of analytical aptitude could be applied. There is also the dichotomy of basic science research vs clinical research. The latter is particularly appealing with the requirements you have outlined - give some look to CRCs, CRA tracks, and other roles in that sphere.

I was also surprised by the applicability of the degree to the food science/nutraceutical sphere which is something I never considered. Biopharma and biotech companies are also within your area of attack and have a variety of different positions. Depending on your area, there may be a number of recruiting companies and placement firms that can assist you when you narrow your search.

Hop on Monster, CareerBuilder, Beyond.com, Startwire, Hireable, etc to help with your job search. Good luck my friend.

 

[Sardinia]

This is a conversation among friends, not a job interview.

All my coworkers are my friends. My job is my family. I love it here!

Spoiler

Did I get the promotion?

 

[libertyyne]

All my coworkers are my friends. My job is my family. I love it here!

Spoiler

Did I get the promotion?

A corollary to this is that most people are not fired for incompetence , rather for what could be considered anti-social behavior or inability to have positive interactions with co-workers.

 

[Sardinia]

A corollary to this is that most people are not fired for incompetence , rather for what could be considered anti-social behavior or inability to have positive interactions with co-workers.

Everyone's a customer. Lacking either quality is honestly a lack of competency. People are just more forgiving for your shortcomings in either work output or social interaction if you excel at one area and not the other.