Change Career: Second Undergrad Degree or Grad School

alchemE
Thu, 17 Oct 2013 23:00:42 +0000

I’ll be finished with this almost exact situation in 8 weeks. I obtained a BS degree from a D1 state school in the Midwest. The degree was in Biochemistry with a minor in chemistry.

I had no idea what to do with just a BS in Biochemistry, but was fortunate to obtain an internship with a company in the same city. They offered me a job, and with zero other prospects I accepted at a salary of…$35,300.

Meanwhile, I was always jealous listening to my engineer friends talk about their salaries obtained. My father was an engineer as well, and I enjoyed hearing about their schooling, so I gave myself a time frame of 2 years as to whether or not I would return to get a degree in Chemical Engineering at the same school as before.

I told my managers at my first employer, who treated me immaculately and supported my decision. They allowed me to go part time whenever I needed to try and get this degree finished. It took me 2.5 years of absolute hell of working full-time with part-time chemE school or part-time work with full-time chemE, but I did it and did well.

I obtained an internship this summer at a chemical plant in the midwest, which is exactly where I want to work, and just received a job offer of $70,000 plus a 3k signing bonus, in a very low cost of living midwest area.

After about 5 years at my previous job, my salary was $39,500. So it was well worth it: Higher salary, much better growth potential at this company (or nationally) and greater personal satisfaction.

Personally, I would never suggest to anybody to get a degree in just Chemistry/Biology/Biochemistry after realizing all you can do with a BS in it is just be a glorified lab technician…

Hope this can motivate others.