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I graduated college like 3 years ago. It has been terrible, graduated with a biology degree which I kind of regret. My gpa is pretty low around 3.15 at a good university. Everything I read its like your gpa is too low to get in, don't bother trying and it has made me depressed. I have taken post bac courses to boost up my gpa but I am just doing average in them with B and couple of As in hard science classes. Not the full 4.0 turn around that I want. Now its like what program should I even do now. I just want a decent living like 80k or something.
I don't know what to do at this point. Healthcare is all I have ever known so I just feel lost.
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Originally Posted by goingbald42
Funny thing is alot of my friends who major in bio are in the same position as me haha. The few who did really well in school are like in medical school and stuff. I just feel like getting a phd or masters is a waste of time when what I really want is just a good job. There has to be a program that would get me accepted?
Quote:
Originally Posted by goingbald42
Well when I say academic program I mean like professional school like pharmacy, PT, PA etc.... which would hopefully land me that stable nice paying job. But yeah I don't know what I want anymore. I feel like I have died inside in a sense. I don't even know. I am ****ing lost. I think getting into a program would make me happy cause it will give me a sense of direction again, but which one where I can get in lol. Getting in is the hard part. As far as getting a job I don't know in what field lol.
Ok, you need to be realistic. You have a BS in Bio with a 3.15. You took post bac courses with Bs and "a couple of As." 1. What program do you think is going to accept you with this academic record? 2. Even if you got accepted, what is the likelihood that you would do well, given your track record?
You said healthcare was all you've ever known. Does that mean that you have a job in the field? What are you doing? You're only 3 years out of college. Why would you expect to be making 80K with a BS in Bio? What makes you qualified? Do you have any skills? If you said engineering or IT, that would be a different story.
You keep mentioning getting into a program that would accept you. Have you taken the GRE general and/or subject tests? MCAT, PCAT, etc? Have you determined if you can even get an acceptable score, because with your GPA, you're fighting an uphill battle.
Your best best might be nursing, rad tech, respiratory tech, or something else along those lines. Those programs are shorter and less intense than grad school, med school, pharmacy school, etc. However, they're also very competitive. Maybe look at programs at community colleges, take your prerequisites there, get straight As (seriously), then apply to those programs. You might be able to apply, just with the credits you have, but getting in might be a problem with those grades. There's also work in research labs and clinical research, but you won't be getting anywhere close to $80K to start.
Tell us what you're actually doing now, workwise and experience-wise, and maybe we can point you in the right direction. There are a lot of options, but they depend on what you're doing now, and what you'd actually like to do.
Well when I say academic program I mean like professional school like pharmacy, PT, PA etc.... which would hopefully land me that stable nice paying job. But yeah I don't know what I want anymore. I feel like I have died inside in a sense. I don't even know. I am ****ing lost. I think getting into a program would make me happy cause it will give me a sense of direction again, but which one where I can get in lol. Getting in is the hard part. As far as getting a job I don't know in what field lol.
In the grand scheme of things 3.15 GPA is NOT BAD unless you're looking into highly competitive grad schools, such as MD. You have a degree. You can easily get a Healthcare Administration job. They eventually make the money you seek.
People with 3.15 GPAs can get into PT school, PA school, Pharmacy, and nursing/nurse practitioner, and certainly MHA, and absolutely get a professional job. That GPA is well above average.
The only fields I know that would be low would be for MD programs and PhD programs.
You can't go to med school, but anything else is open to you. I know plenty of pharmacy students with grades way lower than that. And no one makes 80K right out of school. That's just unreasonable. You have to work and learn and really get good at a field - in the beginning, everyone struggles. You work wherever you can and just get some kind of experience. That's now the working world works. Most young people when I was graduating would work in bars and restaurants, or office, or some kind of low-level work. Then after a few years, when they figured out what they wanted to do, they'd either go back to school or get promoted or look for something else. I think you have unrealistic expectations. How about physical therapy assistant? Easy course and lots of job opportunities right now.
Okay OP, I have a some advise for you because you seem a little lost. And don't worry too much about it, because lots of college grads like you have been LIED to by the education industry to think that getting a degree is the key to eternal happiness.
1. Try to think out of the box. I have met MANY people in my professional career who have degrees completely unrelated to the career they eventually picked. Is there a job that you have been interested in but afraid to try? Would a career in Law Enforcement, such as EPA, Dept of Interior, Park Ranger, interest you. Would a state job in those area's interest you, such as in Forestry Conservation, Wild Land Management.
2. Are there any other skills you can develop to assist you?
My sister in law just went through this. She graduated with a BS in Psychology. I tried to warn her that it was a dead end degree but that is what she was interested in. After graduation she spent 2 years trying to get into a PHD, Masters program. Unfortunately she never did anything in college except her classwork, and due to her not volunteering and participating in extracurricular activities she just couldn't compete on paper, even with a 3.8 GPA. (She is also a horrible public speaker and very shy, so she bombed the interviews). She now has an awesome job working with the county in the courts.
Don't give up, and don't be afraid to try something different.
With the option of continuing your education figure out what you want to do and most importantly CAN do. That means to strongly evaluate what your capable of doing with your current college scores, current personality/mindset, and your current drive for success. This may mean that you drop your hopes of being a Pharmacist/Physician Assistant and possibly aligning yourself to something that you can possibly attain such as Physical Therapy, Nurse, Lab Tech, etc... etc... Look into other options if you want to stay within the medical field. There are many other options that could reach your desired salary without having to go to professional school.
The second option is to put together a resume and apply to jobs. You don't necessarily have to apply for biology specific jobs. I have seen biology majors doing engineering type work. Hard to believe but there out there. You will find when you leave college that a majority of the college graduates end up getting jobs that does not relate to there majors. All you have to be successful at doing is selling your skill sets and directly relating it to the position you are applying for.
I have a Master's degree in clinical psych, as well as a Master's in computer science. I've worked in both fields. The education needed to do well in a field depends on the field. In IT/MIS/etc. an undergrad degree is fine, a Master's may help in some higher end positions, a PhD is overkill. In psychology, an undergrad degree is not enough, a Master's is the minimum necessary, a PhD may be overkill depending on what you're trying to do.
Biologically-related fields are more like psychology in this regard than computer science. If you're going to stick with it and want to make $80K a year, you're going to need at least a Master's degree. The profs don't tell you this in school because they either don't have the real world experience to know better, or they're more interested in your tuition money than your future. Just my opinion.
So my advice is: if you want to do something in a biologically related field, figure out what you want to do and get the additional education. If you want to do something else, figure out what you want to do and pursue it. It may require additional training, and will likely mean starting at a lower salary and working up.
But additional training may not need graduate school. The local community college here has two-year programs in a variety of medically-related fields. Some of them are highly competitive, like radiology. But before jumping into a field you'll want to research it.
If you went to a career counselor or coach, you would likely be given a few tests, one of them being the Self-Directed Search. You can take the SDS here for $10:
What it will do is identify career areas you might consider based on your personality. It's a "you might consider these areas" kind of a test. You'll get a detailed report when you're finished that you can download and save. This will list careers for you to consider, and each will have a link to the careers O*NET entry. Here is the O*NET page:
O*NET will give you detailed information about the career, and you can use it whether or not you take the SDS. For example, here is the page for Radiologist:
It gives you plenty of information, including job prospects in the field, education needed, skills used, and it's free. Note that Radiologist requires a PhD. A Radiologic Technician, on the other hand, only requires an Associate's degree but the median salary is $41K:
In my experience, $80K a year is a salary level that usually requires specialized skills, experience and may require a Master's degree. In the construction field, for example, a laborer is listed on O*NET at $31K per year, whereas a construction manager is listed at $80K.
I am kind of where you are, except that I've been in it for a longer time & my case is more complicated (I am hindered from getting a job by many things). So, do something. Lowering your expectation seems like the best choice to me.
I graduated college like 3 years ago. It has been terrible, graduated with a biology degree which I kind of regret. My gpa is pretty low around 3.15 at a good university. Everything I read its like your gpa is too low to get in, don't bother trying and it has made me depressed. I have taken post bac courses to boost up my gpa but I am just doing average in them with B and couple of As in hard science classes. Not the full 4.0 turn around that I want. Now its like what program should I even do now. I just want a decent living like 80k or something.
I don't know what to do at this point. Healthcare is all I have ever known so I just feel lost.
If I were you, I'd go get a master's in nursing.
The science classes you completed will help you in that.
Nurses make 100k a year after they get some experience, which fits your 80k a year criteria.
And how different is it from being a doctor?
You can also get some extra education / training and become a nurse practictioner, which is like a doctor in some states.
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