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It's been a hectic 15 months for me, but I've managed to come out intact and I have found myself at a crossroads. After I finish up this 2nd round of college I will most definitely be gunning for another laboratory job, and I just have some questions about how I can maximize my odds of actually landing one. Note: I posted this story on E/N and got directed here, so I apologize in advance for the emo-autobiography style format. Backstory: I mostly hosed off, skipped classes, and partied during my undergraduate days. Somehow, I managed to actually graduate college with a B.S. in Food Science and a 2.7 GPA (This still kind of blows my mind). Right out of college I took the first job offer for an entry level management position at a french-fry plant. It paid pretty well, but it was extremely stressful and there were a couple job duties where I performed substandard (mainly giving difficult assignments to my subordinates and dealing with all the random clusterfucks that would pop up). My boss tried to give me ample coaching and feedback, but after 9 months he determined that I was not a good fit for the position and terminated me. Next job was a QA microbiologist for a creamery. I liked this job infinitely more than the previous one even though it only paid 70% my former wage. After being employed for about 5 months I made two noticeable newbie mistakes in the course of a week and my boss regrettably had to terminate me. If I had to guess I would say that he was pressured by his boss to do so (this was during a period of major turmoil at the company, and it's possible that they were making an example out of me). I have remained on good terms with everyone there and my old boss even wrote me a letter of recommendation for grad school. After this, I spent an entire calendar year living off the dole and looking for another food science job. After losing hope for months on end, I re-enrolled at another state college in order to pursue a second bachelor's degree. This is where I stand now. My questions are as follows... 1.) How useful is having a second Bachelor's degree? All the random biology credits I needed for my food science degree put me about 60% complete for a B.S. in Biology at this school. During my unemployment I applied to several graduate schools but I wasn't accepted anywhere and I came to the conclusion that my lovely grades were poisoning my chances for success. I'm enjoying taking classes again and learning a shitload, but I can't help but be concerned that a second B.S. won't do me any good in the job hunt. I'm hovering at around a 3.5 GPA this time through and I'll be graduating by this time next year. 2.) How useful are minor degrees? I'm 3 credits away from a minor in Chemistry, and I can probably get a minor in computer science (programming) by the time I am due to get my second B.S. Getting this additional training seems intuitively like a good idea to me, but I've also heard from friends and family that minor degrees are basically worthless. 3.) How useful is my TA job? Earlier this year I was able to land a gig as a TA for the chemistry department. I was extremely grateful to close the 1+ year gap on my resume with an actual bonafide job, but I'm worried that potential employers might just dismiss the TA position as something trivial. 4.) How important is it to graduate cum laude? Obviously I know that school performance can have long-term consequences and I dedicate practically every hour I can to studying/projects. However, it's possible that I might have the opportunity to get a 2nd job or overload myself with courses that provide training with cutting edge laboratory techniques. The extra time crunch would definitely have an impact on my grade, and I'm very curious what the objective value of graduating with honors is.
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May 23, 2011 06:33
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| # ¿ May 6, 2024 04:31 |
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