motrax

Lived just in the US, only visited this continent aka US, MX, CAN.

Nah, you can still do internships/volunteer in the field of your choice or work in something related and use it as a way to hop toward getting some experiences that would look nice. Anyway, hate to scare you but I personally know homeless/broke PhDs, so the MS/PhD alone isn't going to save your hide from this apocalyptic economy. Do it because that stuff is interesting and ultimately those letters after your name complete you for some odd reason.

Work, pick up an internship/volunteership, coursera/other online things to keep stuff fresh.

Issue with working with small children isn't that they call you mommy and are needy, it's the disease, they're like walking bioweapon factories or something. I keep getting sick like I need a refund on my immune system and it's getting really old, especially two years in.

Even after you graduate there's hope, you can always crawl back into your alma matter and try to get an internship/volunteership with a faculty member you know. MS program is just one option. I know one guy from my school that went overseas to get the xp in an industry position and teach English on the side. Get a little creative, you'll find something that works.

A lot of my family works in agriculture, so the drought and bad economy is making me seriously consider ditching the state. I very likely won't be applying to the UCs since No water is very bad for Xenopus I don't want to get trapped in CA and helping my family on the side.

I'm just getting older and not much to show for it aside from shock out stories and bitterness. Bleh.

This, have a paper yet couldn't land myself even in a MS program (I get data fast but I have little out-of-class research experience, only 3-6mo at the time, now I'm looking at about a year and hopefully in another year I'll be competitive and with another paper and a co-authorship).

^ But still not enough to counter my lack of exp right? Where I live unless you have a MS+relevant experience or better you're not setting foot in a paid position as a tech. Unpaid undergrads still get priority on internships for lab tech, I think I might have to rework my way through the ranks somehow.

I only had about 3-4 mo experience for two different labs when I graduated, my school was super competitive for any internships back as an undergrad. Out of one of the labs I got a contributorship last year (all I did was notice some issues with confounds/controls that slipped through and do lab grunt work). The paper is in a specialist low-impact journal, so I don't think it'll help override my lack of experience. I applied for PhDs and MS programs rejected from all a year ago or so (before that paper). In the mean time, I've been working in education for financial reasons (really enjoy it so far but not as much as lab work). So, if I just get more lab experience I should probably be ok to apply right? I already know labs are hesitant to take on non-attendees. I doubt if I got an education credential I'd have time to play in a biology lab. I'd like to start a PhD program, preferably in neuro or physio, in at least a few years. My gpa was a 3 and gres (need to be retaken due to time) are nothing special. Edit: Forgot to mention my undergrad degree was in neuro.