Hi all- *note: if you do not want to read all of this, the last two sections will tell you what my main question is.
Let me start off by giving you my background: I have recently graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology. As an undergraduate, I spend about 1 1/2 years in a research lab. The focus was molecular work (so biochemistry, cell culturing, making DNA constructs and using molecular techniques). During my final year as an undergrad, I realized that I was not very interested in such work as a career, and as I tried to decide if I should apply to graduate school for neuroscience ...I sort of psyched myself out. I felt extremely unsure and it felt forced.
5 months later, I am now in a NIH funded research program that allows me to be an apprentice scientist, and encourages my process of getting into a PhD program. At first, I wanted to do the since I more familiar with the research setting and it would give me a bit of time to feel more comfortable making decisions that affect my life; I was sort of lost before I got into this research program, but I knew I had to do it to help me figure out my career/job goals.
This program is great b/c you can work with any faculty member who is willing to take you on, and after 2 months of doing more molecular work, I knew I had to change labs. I Asked around and I realized that I needed to stay away from molecular labs (so they don't give me another molecular project) and that I needed to do something that directly relates to humans (such as collecting interesting data from people such as ERPs and how people respond to stuff). Finally, I switched into a psycholinguistics lab. I feel significantly better here and I feel hopeful about the directions I can go in.
Lots of undergrads in the lab are preparing to go to SLP master's programs (a few want to go to graduate school for linguistic studies). I very much love the idea of interacting with patients and taking the time to help them out (I do not have much experience with it and have not done observations yet), but I like helping people in general and understanding their issues.
I am extremely interested in obtaining a PhD AND getting my liscensure for speech therapy along the way. The reason being is that I do want to be able to focus my career on topics that interest me, like autism or child language disorders. I am still new to the field, so I really want thoughts from those who have a PhD, but can still see patients.
What is your favorite and least favorite part of your job?
Let me start off by giving you my background: I have recently graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology. As an undergraduate, I spend about 1 1/2 years in a research lab. The focus was molecular work (so biochemistry, cell culturing, making DNA constructs and using molecular techniques). During my final year as an undergrad, I realized that I was not very interested in such work as a career, and as I tried to decide if I should apply to graduate school for neuroscience ...I sort of psyched myself out. I felt extremely unsure and it felt forced.
5 months later, I am now in a NIH funded research program that allows me to be an apprentice scientist, and encourages my process of getting into a PhD program. At first, I wanted to do the since I more familiar with the research setting and it would give me a bit of time to feel more comfortable making decisions that affect my life; I was sort of lost before I got into this research program, but I knew I had to do it to help me figure out my career/job goals.
This program is great b/c you can work with any faculty member who is willing to take you on, and after 2 months of doing more molecular work, I knew I had to change labs. I Asked around and I realized that I needed to stay away from molecular labs (so they don't give me another molecular project) and that I needed to do something that directly relates to humans (such as collecting interesting data from people such as ERPs and how people respond to stuff). Finally, I switched into a psycholinguistics lab. I feel significantly better here and I feel hopeful about the directions I can go in.
Lots of undergrads in the lab are preparing to go to SLP master's programs (a few want to go to graduate school for linguistic studies). I very much love the idea of interacting with patients and taking the time to help them out (I do not have much experience with it and have not done observations yet), but I like helping people in general and understanding their issues.
I am extremely interested in obtaining a PhD AND getting my liscensure for speech therapy along the way. The reason being is that I do want to be able to focus my career on topics that interest me, like autism or child language disorders. I am still new to the field, so I really want thoughts from those who have a PhD, but can still see patients.
What is your favorite and least favorite part of your job?