Why did I sign up for plant biology?

[gnetophyte]

Yeah. I signed up for a Ph.D. program with grand designs of building the next golden rice, have hated every minute of it, and I might just squeak out with a M.S. in Plant Biology in a year and a half. What the heck am I going to do with an M.S. in Plant Biology? I can be a laboratory assistant, but is there any room for advancement in that field? I want to move into biotech, but all those jobs require you to have mammalian cell culture experience. I don't want to work in the agribusiness industry.

I'm only halfway done with the program. Should I just finish? My degree might be useless. Or should I leave and try to enroll in another degree program, and have to explain that half a degree on my record?

[Teelee]

What kind of work are you doing in plant bio? Is it breeding or transgenic? If you have a lot of plant molecular/genome sequencing etc type of experiences, you can get jobs outside of plant/agriculture related jobs (example - working in biotech or human health research labs). Get your masters first then apply to PhD of your choice.

Edited April 15, 2011 by Teelee