Studying aquarium fish? MS? PhD?

I don't know what kind of IT stuff you're doing in particular, but I would think it would be possible to stay in the business world and still manage a pretty big change. Especially if you went into marketing or management. Thats what I like about the business world, its a part of just about everything.
 
True,

But it's not entirely just the "IT Stuff" that is getting me down. Rather, I think it's the environment.

I really need a little more room to breathe. Being in a large organization w/all the beauracracy is frustrating. You can't do what you want to do, there is no tolerance for creativity, and failures are punished while successes are not rewarded.

You get 3 weeks of vacation in a whole year (most of which you use up with dentist appointments and other routine things you can't get done on an evening or weekend). You have to spend 50 hours a week in a cubicle. You have to drive for an hour each way to get to your cubicle. You don't care about what the company does, or how the company does. You just show up to get a paycheck so you can pay your bills. After work you're too tired to do anything else, and on the weekends you're too busy with routine stuff (grocery shopping, oil change, mow the lawn, etc) to do anything fun, take trips, have a hobby, etc. You have to show up at the same time every day. You can't be late, you can't be early, you can't take a 3 hour lunch break, and you don't get paid any overtime or other bonus for working 80 hour weeks... but it's your *** if soemthing doesn't get done for an unreasonable deadline.

See what I'm getting at? Yes, "business" is everywhere. An MBA is universally applicable... but 95% of those jobs are in a large company that basically claims your life and controls everything you do.

I need a job with more leeway.

1) professor / researcher
2) own my own business
3) .... ?


I don't know. And thats what I'm trying to figure out.....
 
Yeah I see where you're coming from. I'm hoping this degree can get me into a job where I can make good money for a while, and then I'd like to open my own business. What that will be, who knows, it seems like I get new ideas every day, but there's time for that. Whatever you end up doing, good luck with it, and if you want any info about Uconn or URI, let me know.
 
If you want to teach, an MS is fine (someone already said this, but I can't remember who). I have an MS in Aquatic Ecology and teach Environmental Biology at a community college. I love it. And, depending on the community college, it can pay decently. (I teach part-time for now, so it doesn't. :rolleyes: ) Going tyo school full-time it would only take you one to three years for a MS. Now, as others have said, you will need some science courses first, which would add to the total time for you. You might just want to take an intro. bio. and/or chem course or two to see how you like it. The other thing it would be good to do before applying is to get some research experience. If you can volunteer in a research lab somewhere that would make you a much better applicant for grad. schools. And joephys is exactly right--graduate school in the sciences is actually pretty nice. They cover all tuition and fees and pay you a stipend on top of it. As he said, if you don't get this offer, decline.
 
pedzola said:
Being in a large organization w/all the beauracracy is frustrating. You can't do what you want to do, there is no tolerance for creativity, and failures are punished while successes are not rewarded.
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That is exactly what it is like working at colleges and universities! If you are trying to get away from that this won't work.
 
Thanks for the input guys.

Sploke - I've wanted to start my own business forever... my friend and I are always brainstorming but nothing we come up withe ver seems feasible.

We're both very technically inclined, and he's convinced we can be internet billionaires if we come up with the right idea... I tend to think a little smaller... haha

Anyway if you've got an idea let me know. ;)


EcoPit - thanks for your comments! It's cool to actually bump into someone who does the "fish thing" as a career.

I think teaching would be awesome... maybe aquatic biology is the wrong choice though. Maybe I could get an MBA and then teach computer stuff at a community college? I dunno... Do you think I could teach with an MBA?

HMMMMMM....

I just want to get my summers off.... ;)
 
rosita said:
My point--US doesn't value Visual Arts, but head for Sciences or Mathematics, and you've got your way paved with gold. Life ain't easy, life ain't fair. No sour grapes, just an observation. Where would we be without the arts?
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As far as funding for graduate school, and "paying" the students to go, I don't think it is because that the US doesn't value visual Arts. The funding for the science stuff usually comes from companies or labratory's that need something research. Basically they pay the school to have the students do the research for them. I don't mean this to sound rude, but I think that artists (or those that claim to be, a lot of the "art" I see at school is really bad) are just too abundent. If there were millions of people out there that thought they were scientists and could do research, then all of those science students wouldn't be funded.
There are lots of other subjects that aren't funded like that either; business, social studies, other humanities etc.
 
Aquaculture

Hi. I don't know if this is too late but just graduated with an AAS in aquaculture technology. 2 year program from an east coast community college. Auburn University has a BS and I believe Masters and Doctorate programs in aquaculture. There are quite a few schools out there that have this program...it just finding them that is hard. Google something like aquaculture education.
 
pedzola
I spent over 15 years in retail sales..I got out of it..while it may be fun to run a LFS you have to consider the BS that comes with it.

I had offers to open my own store..investors..even offers from large corp store(sporting goods) to manage the chains from a regional level.
I got out of it.

you will have to invest long hours and forget about weekends..


many here have posted thier 'Opinions' of this store or that store...how they would do things differently..you would have to field these and smile the whole time(the customer is always right)

if I did anything differently.I would be on the sciene end of marine biology..no money long days but prob worth it.

IMHO
 
First, you don't need an undergraduate degree in biology to get into a bio grad program, but it helps.
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but that depends on where you are applying.

for example, here in Canada, you definately need at least a 4 year bachelors degree in the area of specialization for grad school (with at least 3.0 GPA) to even be considered for grad school.

grad school here in canada is very very competitive, probably because we don't have nearly as many universities as the United States does. For example, the largest grad school in Canada (the University of Toronto where I graduated with an Honous B.Sc in Biology) only takes about 125 new students every year if I recall.

that is not a lot considering the number of applicants.
 
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