My son is graduating college having majored in Biology. His initial though when he started college was that he'd go on to med school, but somewhere along the line he switched to thinking to being a Physician Assistant (PA). I guess the two year grad school seemed less daunting.

As part of the PA pre-req, he needed 500+ hours of clinical time in direct patient care before he could enter the program. He got that as a nursing assistant in our hospital during our hospitals largest and most severe covid surge. Now he now feels healthcare isn't for him. I am saddened because I think he's just seen the worst of it, and got burned out/soured on it.

[the rest of the story] - His girlfriend is entering med school this summer. He's decided instead of PA school, he wants to follow her wherever she goes and "work in a lab". He's thinking the cost-saving, helping her with housing and whatnot and dreaming that one day they'll marry and live happily ever after.

Leaving aside the risk of that not working out and him having abandoned years that are ideal for finishing his training/path, I'm just thinking that he knows nothing of working in a lab. Nor do I.

Do lab jobs require a 4 year degree? He has it(or will). I just worry that these are two year degree jobs, or certificate, and thus perhaps pay less than other jobs he could get, and that this is where he'll track the rest of his career? What jobs can a guy with a Bio undergrad get without a graduate degree too?

If you know of lab work, really anything else you can share is welcome.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: r0gue,

A "lab" is a very general term. I would suggest getting into Biotech. In biotech with an undergrad degree he won't want to get into a research lab. In the research field the progression is from research assistant to Principal Scientist. You won't be a scientist without a grad level degree.

Manufacturing, either commercial product or clinical trial material is the way to go with great growth opportunities for management.

Some of the types of jobs in biotech listed below and we are all hurting for qualified applicants...

Quality Control: Testing of drug products, intermediates, environmental monitoring, etc.

Quality Assurance: Reviewing batch records, investigating deviations, change controls, all sorts of stuff.

Manufacturing: On the floor manufacturing tech all the way to Director of Manufacturing.

Training: Developing training for processes.

Documentation: Writing and updating SOPs.

That's just a few off the top of my head. The pay is good. Not doctor level pay but it's getting higher these days and new college grads are asking for close to 100K to start. Not sure they are getting quite that much but it's definitely a growing payscale.

Have him check out an environmental lab. There are over 1100 across the U.S., from large private firms to the local county and state labs. I retired from one a couple years ago (my second career). A college degree is preferred, depending on the specialty within the lab, but not required. An environmental lab tests primarily soil and water for toxic pollutants such as metals (arsenic, mercury, lead etc.), pesticides, herbicides, and other organic chemicals, and also general (wet) chemistry parameters like alkalinity, biological oxygen demand and such. It can be routine on my occasions but at least you have a variety of projects to work on and the instrumentation is very sophisticated and, well, kinda cool. He should try to run an instrument of some sort. Mine was what they call an ICP, an instrument that is able to run soil or water through it and detect damn near any “metal” you want at unbelievably small detection limits. The money can be so-so at first but, as in anything, the longer you stay and develop expertise, the more you will make.
He could eventually progress to a project manager position if desired.

In short: For clinical lab work, hospital, doctor office, etc. there is often licensing requirements that vary at the state level, with places like NY and CA being more stringent/restrictive, no surprise there. The license requirements are based upon type of course work taken and a clinical rotation. I’d suggest you google and visit the American Society of Clinical Pathologists site (ASCP) for more in depth information on the clinical field field, there are one of the larger regulatory/educational organizations in the field. Beyond actual clinical testing work there is also research labs, pharmaceutical jobs, technical support, sales and other positions for lab technologists (now referred to as Clinical Laboratory Scientists). His previous training/degree maybe considered toward licensure depending on the state regulations, he may need to take some classes to fill any gap.

Good luck to you and him!

Like stated above, lab is a very generic term.

My oldest daughter has two BS degrees, two MS degrees, and a PHD. She works as a senior chemist in a research lab. She is also a Professional Engineer (PE).

I run a small biotech in NC (Raleigh / Durham area) but before that I did a lot of life sciences lab work as part of grad school and then post-grad fellowships.

Yes, 4-year degree required. Where he finds a job obviously will depend on where his GF matriculates for med school...but most med schools have a lot of research labs associated with them. They need technicians and right now the job market is very good for prospective employees.

Many academic research labs will take a chance on an unexperienced person as a lab tech as long as they have good references and a good positive attitude. There he can train for a few years and make himself more attractive to biotech where the money is better.

What is white hot right now is molecular biology / genomics / bioinformatics. Basically DNA sequencing and the post-sequencing analysis of the data generated. If hes at all a computer person, this would be a really good avenue to pursue.

Feel free to PM me with other questions.

Cheers

JB

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo Jones:
I run a small biotech in NC (Raleigh / Durham area) but before that I did a lot of life sciences lab work as part of grad school and then post-grad fellowships.

Yes, 4-year degree required. Where he finds a job obviously will depend on where his GF matriculates for med school...but most med schools have a lot of research labs associated with them. They need technicians and right now the job market is very good for prospective employees.

Many academic research labs will take a chance on an unexperienced person as a lab tech as long as they have good references and a good positive attitude. There he can train for a few years and make himself more attractive to biotech where the money is better.

What is white hot right now is molecular biology / genomics / bioinformatics. Basically DNA sequencing and the post-sequencing analysis of the data generated. If hes at all a computer person, this would be a really good avenue to pursue.

Feel free to PM me with other questions.

Cheers

JB

This^^
When I graduated college with a BS in biol and a chem/sp double minor, the first job I got straight out of school was working at a water testing lab (Boring-for me). Then I moved across the country and got a job at a major research facility - much more interesting and in-depth. When I moved back I eventually worked at the local U in their med research labs (actually as a JR scientist with only a 4 year degree, but after that I went on to graduate school and worked in another yet another research lab for a few years and found it very rewarding. Oh, also I got my cvt on the side. He has lots of options.. I don’t think I’d be a med lab tech but med research..that was pretty cool, and decent pay.

I worked in a Nuclear Medicine Lab for a while. I was a non technical grunt type and assisted in preparing the meds and then delivering them.
The lab was operated by a husband and wife team who both had advanced degrees in biology and were fully trained and certified as Pharmacists.
The two of them worked their asses off. It was a high demand, fast paced operation.

I shoot every week with a woman who's a retired lab manager/director.

She has a B.S. and an M.S., don't remember what in, but it was some related field.

She did that for most of her working life and said good employees were hard to find.

Most hospital labs require Medical Technology degrees with corresponding licensing, usually MT(ASCP).
There are lesser positions with lesser requirements, but they would pay less.

Back in the mists of time, I double majored in biochem and genetics, planning to go into biotech finance.

I mostly worked in a pathogen lab, as I was interested in phage therapy.

It really depends on the environment, but part of A&M’s process was filtering people to see if they could function at different risk levels.

He needs to not have any bravado, and be very honest about his experience.

As others have said, laboratory is a pretty wide net, below are my experiences.

I worked in an oilfield lab for a year and a half testing for scale and corrosion on the water that came up with the oil so specialty chemical(s) could be sold to protect the down hole equipment.

I worked in an agricultural lab for seven years testing protein, calcium, and phosphorus in fees samples. The lab basically provided nutritional content so fees lots could adjust ingredients to maximize gains.

This was all done in Kansas in the 90's with an associate of arts degree. At the time I was pre-med so there was a heavy emphasis on sciences. A four year degree might have increased pay slightly at the age lab.

In my opinion, unless getting into a research type environment, most laboratory environments will already have established procedures based upon settled science. Read that to say, given an hour or two, most could be taught to perform the testing to be repeated ad nauseam unless the test itself took several hours. So, in my opinion, the work could be done without much more than a high school understanding of chemistry or biology.

As always, your experience may vary, I am just sharing mine.

Wife manages a neuroscience lab. She majored in history. She doesn’t do the science stuff but does everything else so the science folks have what they need to do science. She previously worked in a psych lab.

For the bio labs on campus the knowledge required for new hires is heavily dependent on what each lab does and what each position entails. An undergrad degree is fine for many jobs. More specialized jobs might require advanced degrees. There are a variety of career paths.

If you want to ease your mind and have some free time you might peruse the job postings at the universities his girlfriend might attend for med school. You should be able to search the listings based on department and you’ll get an idea of what’s on the table for work and pay/benefits. Maybe he gets an entry level job and gets inspired. Many take those kinds of job prior to going to grad school. They get experience and a good rec from their PI.

quote:

In my opinion, unless getting into a research type environment, most laboratory environments will already have established procedures based upon settled science. Read that to say, given an hour or two, most could be taught to perform the testing to be repeated ad nauseam unless the test itself took several hours. So, in my opinion, the work could be done without much more than a high school understanding of chemistry or biology.

This is true for most biotech. But as I mentioned, if you go into research you will need a graduate degree to progress your career. While we could teach a kid out of high school, generally a degree is required to get hired, or at least a certificate. Some more examples/options below in biotech field...

A QC analyst may be taking air and surface samples all day in the manufacturing area. Bore city, fast burn out.

On the contrary, an Analytical Development operator may be developing assays and qualifying them for every new drug we put into clinical trials.

We have process development labs that you can get ahead in without graduate degree because you are developing new processes for drugs headed to the clinic. This may be developing feed media for cells, working on bioreactors, growth days, harvest days, purification processes. It can be very interesting.

In reading the replies above, a lot of these options seem like one way street without much upward potential. For instance, testing water would be entry level and apart from management you aren't going to learn much.

In biotech there are 100s of directions you can take and with a science degree you can get your foot in the door easily, work 6 months and see where you want to go and the company will help you get there.

It can be very monotonous work. I could see doing it for a year or so if I knew a promotion or job change was coming for sure. But planning to run an instrument in a lab for a decade or more would drive me insane.

When I got my degree in Biology (same as your kid - I started pre-med and realized I wasn't quite studious enough), I quickly realized that a generic biology degree would get me nowhere.
Went to grad school in environmental science and have been working steady since 1989. I work with labs sometimes and analyze their results/work product - but I don't run tests or lab instruments. I've done haz/rad waste cleanup projects (DOD and DOE mostly) and then for the last 18 years I've worked for State of TN doing permitting and inspections to keep our rivers clean.

quote:

Originally posted by SBrooks:

When I got my degree in Biology (same as your kid - I started pre-med and realized I wasn't quite studious enough), I quickly realized that a generic biology degree would get me nowhere.

I take exception with that statement. My generic biology degree did okay for me. Maybe I could have done better if I wasn’t a loud mouth and if I played to corporate game better. But I make a darn good living with awesome benefits and 7 weeks vacation.

I’ve worked at a government laboratory for the last 11 years. Before that, I worked in the lab at an engineering college. We just hired a guy with an AS for ~70k/year. A lot of it depends on what STEM area we are talking about. I’m not as familiar with the bio/med side of things. I do know that demand is high and that hiring pools generally suck as of late.

I love what I do and would never trade it for an office job. Above all, you have to find a field that you are passionate about!

My wife was a medical lab scientist at Kaiser while we lived in CA and Texas Health in Tx, working in hospitals. Before this career change, she was a project manager in the biotech industry for close to 20 years. She got burned out in biotech and went back to the lab, but later got tired of working hospitals for 8 years. For her lab position, a BS degree, and a medical science certification program were required. One can earn a good salary in this line of work.

She now works for a large medical device company in a QC position and is much happier.

Tons of great info here guys. Thank you! I've got to go through this all and try to make sense of it. I'm obviously back on my heels a little bit here. But I'm trying to stay even-keeled about it. It's his life, and it's not like he dropped out of school. he graduated from the "honors college" program, and did very well. I just need to adapt and help him all I can.

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:

quote:

Originally posted by SBrooks:

When I got my degree in Biology (same as your kid - I started pre-med and realized I wasn't quite studious enough), I quickly realized that a generic biology degree would get me nowhere.

I take exception with that statement. My generic biology degree did okay for me. Maybe I could have done better if I wasn’t a loud mouth and if I played to corporate game better. But I make a darn good living with awesome benefits and 7 weeks vacation.

"would get ME nowhere" I realized later in life that some folks were able to do something with that degree. I've met a few pharm sales guys making a killing with a biology degree. But I'm not a sales type person. I'm too introverted for that type of job...