Showing posts with label pharmaceutical sciences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pharmaceutical sciences. Show all posts
"So what do you want to do with your degree?"
I get asked that question a lot. Rightfully so since when all is said and done I will have spent 9+ years at Purdue studying pharmaceutics (I'm on year 6 for those of you keeping score at home). Well it turns out I have a very specific answer to that question..."I have no frickin' clue!"
Usually I will give a nice overview of my options and explain that during the course of my grad work I hope to be persuaded toward a specific career track. Let's look at the options, shall we?
-Industry. This is biggest and most obvious answer. Within Industry there are many paths such as big pharma companies, small pharma companies, consulting, clinical trials, and sales. Now if I am to go into Industry I believe I would want to work as a Senior Scientist in R&D but honestly at a certain point, any job within the field works for me.
-Academia. Get a post-doctorate position at a University, then apply to become a professor and continue up the academic chain. I really enjoy teaching and I believe I will end up here someday. However, I also believe that the best teachers have some industry/real life experience with pharma companies and I would want that experience as well.
-More school. Yes, believe it or not I have not ruled out the possibility of more school. Most likely Law School to work on patent law with pharmaceuticals, but I wouldn't rule out Med School either (in order to be the top dog of a pharma company, a Ph.D. and M.D. are almost always required). This could be in the form of night school while at a job or a mid-life go back to school "crisis." Regardless, it will be an option for me until I figure out what to do.
All that said, I have really only realized one thing since starting grad school. That is, I am way to interested in so many other things that I can guarantee that I will not get a position right out of school and keep it forever. I enjoy trying new things and exploring areas which I may not be the most suited for (example is the comedy scene that I have been following my friend John around in for the last couple months, as I am not really that strong in the Arts...shout out to him, good luck at the Michiana Contest this weekend)!
Moral of the story, you could ask me, "So what do you want to do with your degree?" every time you see me and I will probably give a different answer.
Usually I will give a nice overview of my options and explain that during the course of my grad work I hope to be persuaded toward a specific career track. Let's look at the options, shall we?
-Industry. This is biggest and most obvious answer. Within Industry there are many paths such as big pharma companies, small pharma companies, consulting, clinical trials, and sales. Now if I am to go into Industry I believe I would want to work as a Senior Scientist in R&D but honestly at a certain point, any job within the field works for me.
-Academia. Get a post-doctorate position at a University, then apply to become a professor and continue up the academic chain. I really enjoy teaching and I believe I will end up here someday. However, I also believe that the best teachers have some industry/real life experience with pharma companies and I would want that experience as well.
-More school. Yes, believe it or not I have not ruled out the possibility of more school. Most likely Law School to work on patent law with pharmaceuticals, but I wouldn't rule out Med School either (in order to be the top dog of a pharma company, a Ph.D. and M.D. are almost always required). This could be in the form of night school while at a job or a mid-life go back to school "crisis." Regardless, it will be an option for me until I figure out what to do.
All that said, I have really only realized one thing since starting grad school. That is, I am way to interested in so many other things that I can guarantee that I will not get a position right out of school and keep it forever. I enjoy trying new things and exploring areas which I may not be the most suited for (example is the comedy scene that I have been following my friend John around in for the last couple months, as I am not really that strong in the Arts...shout out to him, good luck at the Michiana Contest this weekend)!
Moral of the story, you could ask me, "So what do you want to do with your degree?" every time you see me and I will probably give a different answer.
Speed of Sound
Do you ever feel like your life is moving at the speed of sound? Well, the last two weeks or so has been just that for me. My summer was definitely fun but also took patient. Now, everything seems to be happening at once. This is not a bad thing because I function at my best when my plate is full! Call me crazy but seeing my calendar look like two rainbows got busy on top of it just adds to whatever motivation I have at that time.
With that said, here a few new items of mine for you to ponder upon…
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| The NQAD instrument |
Last week was culmination of a few weeks working with a Sales Rep for a new instrument in our lab. The NQAD for HPLC (Nano Quantity Analyte Detector for High Performance Liquid Chromatography) will hopefully allow our lab group to measure micro and nano quanitities within our projects. Well, I arranged for the rep to come give a presentation and assist with the installation of this new instrument. The overall installation process was almost a complete failure. The hardware works fine, but the software needed to actually gather data has been a real pain in my butt to say the least. It has been a week since the rep was here and it is still a work in progress. But, I learned a lot about research through the process. I really appreciated that the sales rep, who is an analytical chemist not an actual sales person, took the time to know me and offer advice for a young graduate student. I learned that as long as you have a passion for what you are doing, the rest will fall into place regardless of where you think it may or may not be going. Not to mention I got a free lunch out of it (thanks again)!
Last Monday marked the beginning of yet another school year here at Purdue University. Here are my observations. The freshman look so young that I keep thinking there might be a middle school field trip on campus. Parking on campus remains to be a complete disaster. And I find myself laughing at people as they walk around campus (chasing busses, being in the wrong classroom, yelling at Robbie Hummel, etc). Even though those things seem to be all negative, I really do enjoy that everyone is back on campus because of the closeness of Purdue (see this link if you need to know what I am talking about).
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Since the school year has started that means call-outs and club meetings have begun again. I am a part of the student chapter of AAPS (American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists) here at Purdue. This year I have been “elected” as the President Elect. Essentially we have a President, Vice President, and President Elect and each year the Vice moves up to President, and the Elect moves up to Vice. I believe that setup is used for consistency within the club. Anyway, my one outlined role in the club right now is to make sure the bulletin board is up to date and looks good. And I thought I had finished with bulletin boards after my Res Life days!?
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| Counter as of Friday (8/26/11) |
Lastly, the Purdue starting QB, Rob Henry, tore his ACL at practice this week. I just want it to be known that I have not torn my ACL yet but I will be taking extra precautions as I train for the Tough Mudder Competition schedule for November. That being said, anyone associated with Purdue should immediately begin wearing knee braces on both legs to be safe!
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