CarbonBasedLifeForm

I'm am not far along in the sciences, but I am curious to what extent a career in biology / life science requires someone to experiment on animals. Although I understand this is an important part of medical and scientific research, I'm not sure I'd be happy if my job personally involved animal testing. Do biochemistry, microbiology and genetics escape the need to experiment with animals? Thanks in advance.

I'm 31. I received my Poli Sci B.A. at a public university (top 5 with honors for what it's worth) nine years ago. Right after undergrad I went to a top 50 law school. I've been practicing law since I graduated, but I'm interested in getting a Political Science PhD. Any advice regarding the following would be greatly appreciated. I'm less interested in getting into an uber-elite program than I am with not accumulating a huge amount of debt. Does anyone recommend any books about applying to Political Science PhD programs?Is it a disadvantage to be an older applicant? I went to a huge school nine years ago. How the heck would I get letters of recommendations? Do they have to be from professors? How relevant would a law degree and GPA be to schools? (I don't consider it very relevant.)

I received my Poli Sci B.A. at a public university (top 5 for what it's worth) nine years ago. At that time I was seriously considering a PhD in political science. I was turned off by "tough love" advice similar to that given by The Realist. It was from an Ivy League professor who only in retrospect strikes me as an oddball and not a good source of advice. (I'm not comparing the Realist to that professor.) That advice coupled with the fact that many teaching jobs are in small towns turned me off from even applying to PhD programs. I went to law school instead and I've been practicing for 5 years. The "top 10 or bust" advice is remarkably similar to what can be found on law school admissions boards. There, people will often advise that if you don't go to a Top 15 law school your chances at getting a job are dicey. Now that I've been in the practicing I realize that is mostly hogwash. It's true that if you want to work at one of the most prestigious law firms, it helps to go to a very prestigious school. But most of the attorneys in the world did not go to those schools. A lot of working attorneys went to downright crappy schools. Whether they are happy or not really does not have to do with where they went to school. I rarely think about where I went to law school (Top Tier but not Top 15, again for what it's worth). It's all about whether they actually fit in with the work and like their job. And furthermore, your status is largely derived from your performance after law school. Doesn't this also apply to the tough love advice in this forum? Sure, if you want to teach at Harvard, Stanford or Yale it's probably helpful to go to a top 10 program. But as some posts suggest, many are happy or even happier working at less prestigious schools. I would imagine that many professors around the country did not go to top 10 programs. I imagine that for those that are employed, their job satisfaction depends in large part on whether they fit into academia and like their work and less on where they went to school. Finally, I suspect a PhD's "success" is based in large part on what they've done after their schooling was completed. I'm happy to consider any rebuttals though. I don't pretend to be an expert on the world of political science PhDs. Thanks for everyone's advice btw, including the tough love advice.