Research jobs

[ayoung45]

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Not sure if this is the best area to post this but think there would be people viewing this with perspective on my questions. I would be grateful for your thoughts.
I am a nontraditional student starting to work on med school pre-reqs. I am in my forties and have degrees in economics and math with a near 4 point. I expect to enjoy my pre-req coursework and, along with volunteering and the MCAT, strongly believe I can put together a very competitive application. The one mark against me would be my age.
If my age prevents me from attending med school, do you think my pre-req coursework in chem., bio, physics would qualify me to work at a research lab in some capacity? I live 1 mile from the heart of the Univ of Iowa campus and there are many of these jobs here. I am just sick of working in business. Even if my research work wouldn’t be at a high level, I would love to work in proximity to smart, academically-oriented people. I am kind of a quiet, “grinder” type (nice and empathetic, though, too) and think I would be well-suited to this work.

Are there any drawbacks to this type of work that I may not be aware of? For instance, not to be flippant, but I don’t want to end up with chemical burns on my face. Does this really happen that much?
Compensation level is not an issue. I am older and have my kids almost out of the house. I like living a very simple lifestyle. I have a very, very strong sense of vocation and just want to focus on work for the next 30 or more years.
Thanks so much for your input.

 

[Neuronix]

I think medicine and science are two entirely different areas you need to immerse yourself in if you're going to make the decision about whether you want to make the jump to either of them.

If you want to be a doctor I want you to set your sights on that. Your age won't hold you back if you do well in your post-bacc and on the MCAT. Schools will still open their doors to you. If you work hard you will make it to medical school, so there is no need to ponder a pre-med fallback.

On the research side, a pre-med cirriculum does not prepare you for a career in research, though I'm sure you could hack it if you really tried. Once you start getting experience in a lab (perhaps as a volunteer, perhaps finding a job that pays in the range of 25k/year), you can move to a full-time lab position if you so chose. As a bachelor's in an unrelated field, my estimate is that your pay will be on the order of 35k (+/- 10k) full-time as a lab tech in academia or pharma once you get a year or two of experience.

I don't know you or your current job situation. My guess is you'd make more with the same amount of work doing what you're qualified for now. There's a lot of "failed" pre-meds out there and the job market for scientists is iffy with the NIH budget the way it is. That being said, you don't have to be a "failed" pre-med so my advice is if you're serious go for it. But, you need to start working in a lab before you'll know if you like working in a lab. It's not for everyone, even if you think it's for you. This is one reason why a sizeable chunk of MD/PhDs go on never to do research, even if this is the goal of the MD/PhD program.

If you can find a job at UIowa that pays you in the 20something thousand range as a full-time lab tech while you do your post-bacc, that would be ideal for you if that amount of money will pay the bills. You can take the post-bacc and prepare for the MCAT on top of that. It's one of the typical post-bacc scenarios and will give you the experience you need to decide if you are serious about research and clinical work. Lab jobs are also smiled upon by medical school admissions because for whatever reason top med schools hope you will get involved in research there or later in life.

and serious lab injuries are very rare. That should be the least of your concerns.

 

[ayoung45]

thx