A question to those who work in any science field.

Justin Horne,Mammuthus hit it one the head. Grant money is hard to come by. On average, only about 20% of grant sumissions are approved. However, your first grant application will probably be accepted (first time researchers are kept separate from other applicants), but if subsequent grants don't make the cut you are fighting an uphill battle.I have a BA in Zoology and am a self taught protein chemist of sorts (with some biochem thrown in). I work in a research lab as a technician. IOW, I let my boss worry about funding. If you want a glamorous lifestyle and a big paycheck, go into plastic surgery or movie acting. A technician's salary is about the same as a teacher's, so nothing too exciting there. There are exceptions, but the rule of thumb is that you would make more money joining the pipefitter's union than working in the sciences. However, for science junkies we wouldn't want to be doing anything else.My advice would be to look into molecular biology, which stresses genetic manipulation of organisms and DNA technologies. This field is just booming, both in academia and within the industries. As far as the basic sciences, this is the one I would lean towards. With a molecular biology PhD (and sometiems Masters) you can work in forensics, industrial labs, research labs, food science labs, epidemiology, and the list goes on. We are slowly moving from the Industrial Age to the DNA Age, and I think this is where the jobs are at the moment. The best part is that if you are accepted to a grad school your tuition is paid for and you also get a stipend (otherwise known as slave wages). However, if you play your cards right, grad school won't cost you a dime, just four years of your life.Hope this helps. Feel free to ask about any specifics.

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How is it that tuition will be paid just by being accepted?I like that idea.

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Tuition waivers come from the grants of the professors in the graduate school program. The school still gets paid, but it doesn't come out of your pocket. And as Pinky mentioned, you also get a stipend from the professor that you work under. It really is a win/win situation. I still can't understand why I haven't gone through with it. Stubborn I guess. Either that or I don't want to go through the stress of writing grants. I already help with writing publications, so that is not a problem. It is just the stress of waiting 3-6 months to see if your grant has been accepted or not.

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Yeah, I kinda figured that the part of getting grats would be extremely hard. I like the way you do it and simply let the boss deal with all the money issues. That seems better because then you actually get to focus on the work.

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I am luckier than most techs. I actually get to design my own experiments. My boss just gives me an idea of what he wants to find, and I design the methodologies and assays to find it. I have already done enough work for 2 PhD's, so I keep kicking myself for not going into grad school 4 years ago. Oh well.

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So melecualr biology is a little better huh? Im assuming they are similar, just more specialized. If that's a better area, I wil llook into that one too. Thanfulyl I have got 3 more years of HS, so no decisions for sure yet.

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If I were to go back to school that is what I would go into. Just remember that it isn't for everyone, and you may find something different that you like better. You might want to talk to a science teacher at school. They would be more than happy to sit down with you and discuss the different fields that you could go into. In fact, some might even allow you to design and run some experiments on the side if you show enough interest. High school budgets can be low, but you may be able to design your own thermocycler and run your own PCR's. That would be a great high school science project in the realm of molecular biology.

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Do you work at a university with a grad program?

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Nope, at a Veteran's Administration Medical Center. We do infectious disease research with an emphasis in clinical relevance. My boss, however, is adjunct faculty at both Univ of Wash and Univ of Idaho. The tough part is that the closest grad program in micro or mol bio is about four hours away. I could try and do my grad work here in Boise, in fact there is a grad student in our lab doing just that. It would be a pain in the ass, but might be worth it in the long run. On the other hand, I would like to work in a different research area. Expand my horizons you might say. If I were to do that, I might as well go to a grad school with a strong micro or immuno program such as WashU in St. Louis.Thanks for the encouragement. My boss has has given me the same encouragement, but alas, here I remain.