Best route to Astrobiology research

[thebreath]

Unusual background: I have a BA in Music from a top liberal arts college (2005) and intend to get into research on astrobiology and the origin of life. I was a bio minor so right now I'm loading up the other course requirements I need to apply to grad school. Of course most programs won't look at an application from a BA Music with no research experience so I'm angling for CSU East Bay's Biotechnology Certificate Program (BCP), which offers the coursework for an MS Biology with an option for thesis research upon completion. I have been working in science fields and am aggressively looking for work as a lab tech. (Literally going to office hours and labs with files in hand. Not my favorite.)

I am wondering if anyone knows anyone who either:

1) Got into a nice PhD program in biology or microbiology after being in a masters program at a CSU

2) Started with a non-science BA and got into research another way.

If the BCP is the best way forward I apply in Spring 2018. I have liked research coming out of the Scripps Institute, U Arkansas, U Washington, Santa Fe Institute, Carl Sagan Center at SETI, and U Illinois, among others.

Any well-intended suggestions are appreciated.

My GRE score is tops, GPA 3.0 from aforementioned rad college, current make-up coursework mostly As.

[Rothman]

Hi thebreath,

I've got some similarities with your background, and here's what I know from personal experience:

1. I got a BS in Biotech, and a MS in Biology from the CSU, and the Unis that I applied to for a Microbiology PhD didn't look down on that.

2. Astrobiology is a tough field to get into, but if you're interested in it, try to apply to Unis that have a link to NASA. UC Merced and UC Riverside (my school, which I really enjoy) both have NASA MIRO funding, which can definitely be used for grad students. I got a 2-year fellowship through NASA to work in microbiology. It looks good on a CV to have NASA funding if you want to work for them in the future!

Good luck!

 

[thebreath]

Thanks Rothman! That's super encouraging. Who was your thesis advisor at CSU? (East Bay?)

Did you know you wanted to go for a PhD before you went to CSU?

[Rothman]

Hi thebreath,

I went to CSU (Cal Poly) Pomona and my field was Cell and Molecular Biology for both my BS and MS. I didn't know that I wanted to get a PhD until I had left my MS (I worked for a few years between MS/PhD). I applied for a PhD in Microbiology because I was interested in moving into a different field in biology.

Go get 'em!

[TakeruK]

Astrobiology can also be explored via the planetary science programs at various schools. Caltech has a big link to NASA (Caltech administers and runs NASA JPL). Geobiology could be a good angle too if your astrobiology interests are on extremophiles or finding Earth analogues to extraterrestrial life. 

One more thing: Astrobiology is a very multidisciplinary field. At top schools, one good strategy is to pick one aspect of astrobiology and excel at that. This will help you get into a good program. It sounds like you want to enter the program via a biology degree, which is a great idea. I know people who study astrobiology with Math degrees, Biophysics degrees, Astronomy degrees, Chemistry degrees and Geology degrees. There's a lot of ways to do it!