Traowyn

Thanks for the responses! Actually there is a Microbiology masters program that I am very interested in applying to. I had the same thought, that working on a Masters would give me more research experience and potentially open doors to something more down the line. I won't have any problem getting an employer reference, but I'm going to need to work on getting in touch with a few of my old professors. I'm feeling a bit strange about that though, just because its been so long. But, I guess professors must be used to that sort of thing.

I don't want to bore everyone with all the details here, so this is just a synopsis of my situation: I graduated in 2000 from a major East Coast university, but with less than stellar grades. I also failed to make any real connections with professors I'd had while I was in school. I went to work within 4 months of graduating in the field of microbiology and I'm still working as a Microbiologist, just in a different corner of the industry. I have been trying for the last several years to develop a plan that will give me the best chance possible (for me) to get into a graduate program in Microbiology. I have taken a few undergraduate level courses since completing my degree at two different universities and have done exceptionally well. But I'm not sure of what else I can do to improve my odds. I'm not sure how I can go about cultivating relationships with professors at this stage of the game. Maybe I can try and take a graduate level course in Microbiology and go and talk to the professor about my situation. I know I'm starting with a few major disadvantages here, but one up side to this is that I'm not giving myself a strict timetable here. I am also not planning to target the most competitive schools. I realize I need to do some backtracking...and I'm going to allow myself the time to get where I need to be, but I really just need some advice to help put me on the right track...