What happened to Life Sciences?

I visited the blog pointed to by the first post above. There's a comment at that blog that seems to suggest that the future of life sciences students is not bright:

"i know life sciences may not have such general prospectives as compared to engineering. but u’re doing something u like when and as u graduate. the insecurities and uncertainties about not getting into post med have to be waived. u need to know ur goals and motivate urself. just as i am trying to get into vet sci. if u put ur mund to it, u’ll be fine. just make sure such occurances r possible."

How can that be? It's only be a year or two ago that every smart friend I know wanted to do a life sciences related poly course or uni degree. They all went in with their eyes open, but to come to a stage where the prospects turn from bright to dim so soon and so suddenly is something hard to swallow. I'm not sure how many of them are regretting their ill-informed decisions now.

[Husky]

If they went into life science for the love of it, then eventually they will find something. But if they went in clueless about it, then after the life science bubble burst they will be very very lost.

I had a friend who enrolled in IT during the late 90's simply because he was told dot com is the way to go. He didn't really like his course and had a hard time. By the time he graduated, the dot com bubble burst by then. He then decided to switch to the financial sector. Fast forward another few years, and we have the sub prime crisis. I am not sure what is he doing now. Hope he has found out what he really wants.

Originally Posted by student

I visited the blog pointed to by the first post above.
How can that be? It's only be a year or two ago that every smart friend I know wanted to do a life sciences related poly course or uni degree. They all went in with their eyes open, but to come to a stage where the prospects turn from bright to dim so soon and so suddenly is something hard to swallow. I'm not sure how many of them are regretting their ill-informed decisions now.

[bjhchong]

Then again, let me tell you a tale about pursuing one's passion:

A person I know loves the glamor of artists & illustrators. Despite pressure from his family, he pursue his passion. After graduating from computer engineering with a mediocre grade, he gave up his degree to pursue his dream as a commercial artist... Fast forward 15 years & 2 downturns later, he's right back on his engineering track, chasing a career in R&D & had a masters in science. Why? An artist, not matter how good you are, is first a salesman... and everything PR in between and lastly your skills... in a place where PR/EQ were not emphasised from young, unless you are a natural born crowd pleaser, you just can't cut it. My friend, luckily, realize his lack-of-talent & fell-back on his qualification. Till today, he is still cursing at being misled by his naive ambition in his younger days.

My bottom-line is this: To ingrain in a person to choose smart, not to be persuaded by the "latest fad" nor in one's foolish passion. Now, how do we go about THAT is the ultimate challenge.

[adbie]

Your friend sounds suspiciously like my brother, except he's into music. He plays the piano beautifully. What's exceptional is that after listening to a song, any song, he can reproduce both the melody and accompaniment in perfection and even add in his improvisations! But he couldn't carve a career out of music. He's now just a small-role programmer in a bank (compared to his big talent in music), but he's happy with his rather high income now.

He now plays the piano for leisure and coaches his daughter in music.

Back on topic, it seems that the government is now encouraging the interactive media technology, whatever that means. Chances are it will be just another hype. Let me predict: the mainstream media will talk about media technology repeatedly, schools will start new courses, some small ikan bilis companies will set foot in Singapore (with generous funding from the EDB), and then the bubble will burst.

Originally Posted by bjhchong

Then again, let me tell you a tale about pursuing one's passion:

A person I know loves the glamor of artists & illustrators. Despite pressure from his family, he pursue his passion. After graduating from computer engineering with a mediocre grade, he gave up his degree to pursue his dream as a commercial artist... Fast forward 15 years & 2 downturns later, he's right back on his engineering track, chasing a career in R&D & had a masters in science. Why? An artist, not matter how good you are, is first a salesman... and everything PR in between and lastly your skills... in a place where PR/EQ were not emphasised from young, unless you are a natural born crowd pleaser, you just can't cut it. My friend, luckily, realize his lack-of-talent & fell-back on his qualification. Till today, he is still cursing at being misled by his naive ambition in his younger days.

My bottom-line is this: To ingrain in a person to choose smart, not to be persuaded by the "latest fad" nor in one's foolish passion. Now, how do we go about THAT is the ultimate challenge.

[Husky]

That is very true also. Passion doesn't put food on the table. Ideally everyone would like to work in a job that they love and pays well.

Originally Posted by bjhchong

Then again, let me tell you a tale about pursuing one's passion:

A person I know loves the glamor of artists & illustrators. Despite pressure from his family, he pursue his passion. After graduating from computer engineering with a mediocre grade, he gave up his degree to pursue his dream as a commercial artist... Fast forward 15 years & 2 downturns later, he's right back on his engineering track, chasing a career in R&D & had a masters in science. Why? An artist, not matter how good you are, is first a salesman... and everything PR in between and lastly your skills... in a place where PR/EQ were not emphasised from young, unless you are a natural born crowd pleaser, you just can't cut it. My friend, luckily, realize his lack-of-talent & fell-back on his qualification. Till today, he is still cursing at being misled by his naive ambition in his younger days.

My bottom-line is this: To ingrain in a person to choose smart, not to be persuaded by the "latest fad" nor in one's foolish passion. Now, how do we go about THAT is the ultimate challenge.

[adbie]

Originally Posted by Husky

That is very true also. Passion doesn't put food on the table. Ideally everyone would like to work in a job that they love and pays well.

I quite like my job, but hate the general sense of being tied to a corporate culture. No matter how good your bosses are, you are still expected to do certain things, behave in a certain way, follow certain rules and are subject to the idiosyncrasies and funny ideas that some senior people think up.

So I tell myself to work hard, save up and ultimately venture out to be THE boss who comes up with expectations, rules, idiosyncrasies and funny ideas that OTHER people (ie. my employees) have to deal with.

[Husky]

My job isn't that bad. Being in a SME, there are not much protocols/rule to follow. But my boss is a real PITA, always coming up with nonsensical ideas. I spend most of my time and energy thinking of ways to humour him.

I have always wondered if I myself will be any better when I become the boss. Will I become the nit picking, misery and annoying boss that I dislike so much.

Originally Posted by adbie

I quite like my job, but hate the general sense of being tied to a corporate culture. No matter how good your bosses are, you are still expected to do certain things, behave in a certain way, follow certain rules and are subject to the idiosyncrasies and funny ideas that some senior people think up.

So I tell myself to work hard, save up and ultimately venture out to be THE boss who comes up with expectations, rules, idiosyncrasies and funny ideas that OTHER people (ie. my employees) have to deal with.

[adbie]

Originally Posted by Husky

Will I become the nit picking, misery and annoying boss that I dislike so much.

It's definitely a possibility. That is why I'd rather not be at the receiving end.

And that's why so many people yearn so much to be their own bosses...

Well, the media talking ad nauseam back then did not promise big bucks, gleaming sports cars or luxury condos. If that particular fellow did not select his or her course of study base on their genuine interest, they have only themselves to blame. ‘Cleaning test tubes’ isn’t that bad a thing so long it aligns with your interest, ya?

By the way, I personally feel that an undergraduate degree no longer works like a licensure or somewhat in today’s context; it can only be seen as training for one’s fundamental intellectuality i.e. to read, write, speak and argue (rhetorically).

Less than 10% of most undergraduates (prob the ‘good’ honours grads’) make it through life very comfortably (in terms of remuneration) without a postgraduate education…. What’s everyone else’s take?

[Husky]

Personally, I think most of the time, your degree only matters in the very beginning. Once you worked for a couple of years, you can literally throw that piece of paper away.

A good honours degree will prob help to open some doors and in some cases allow you to start on a slightly higher platform. But how far and fast you can climb after that is dependent on your work abilities.

*work abilities include skills like knowing how to get recognition for your work and managing your bosses well.

Originally Posted by Ah Keong

Less than 10% of most undergraduates (prob the ‘good’ honours grads’) make it through life very comfortably (in terms of remuneration) without a postgraduate education…. What’s everyone else’s take?