Not sure what to do at university (with my life)

[scaredandconfused]

age: 20

education: diploma in biotech (life sciences) gpa: 3.6

work experience: NIL

my sob story:

hey guys, i will be heading off to uni next year as i have missed all the intake for this year. I graduated in feb and have not gotten a job since due to social anxiety issues.

I would be going overseas for uni but i am not sure what course to take. If i continue in the sciences i can get my degree with honors in 2years for uk, or 3 years in australia. problem is, if i stay in the sciences i will probably never see 100k in my life. so i'm thinking of doing econs or something like that. i'm not very good at math and science is the only thing i know, so i am quite scared to make the switch.

also i dont know if i will be able to work well in an office. my teenage years were hell, no friends, no life, very awkward, don't know how to talk to people, even my grandmother thinks i am a loser (i agree). I dont want to waste my 20s like i did with my teens. please help

Honestly, you can close you eyes and pick any course and it'll be a better choice than life science.

Judging from your description, the life of a researcher actually suits you very well. It is not true that if you carry on in Science, you will never hit 100k per annum ceiling in your life. Personally, I'm a Life Science graduate and 3 years into my working life, I'm hitting mid 70k per annum. Give me 3- 5 years more and I'll hit >100k per annum (though I will be considered slow when compared to other peers in high end finance industry etc).

Since you're going to study overseas, my suggestion will be to do sci, then further your studies to do PhD. Once you graduate, go do Post-Doc in one of the ivy leagues university for a few years, publish in good journals, and you can then try for tenure at universities. By then, your starting salary per month would have hit 5 figures already.

You won't need to work in office, you'll face your experiments more than anything, and you can be working on what you're good at.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Judging from your description, the life of a researcher actually suits you very well. It is not true that if you carry on in Science, you will never hit 100k per annum ceiling in your life. Personally, I'm a Life Science graduate and 3 years into my working life, I'm hitting mid 70k per annum. Give me 3- 5 years more and I'll hit >100k per annum (though I will be considered slow when compared to other peers in high end finance industry etc).

Since you're going to study overseas, my suggestion will be to do sci, then further your studies to do PhD. Once you graduate, go do Post-Doc in one of the ivy leagues university for a few years, publish in good journals, and you can then try for tenure at universities. By then, your starting salary per month would have hit 5 figures already.

You won't need to work in office, you'll face your experiments more than anything, and you can be working on what you're good at.

Please don't give false hope. Post-doc in ivy league university is no joke laeve alone getting tenure at universities. There are many PhDs from top US universities who can't attain tenured professorship.

Life is lived on hope - is true but let us hope within limits. Else you will fall too deep from where it will be impossible to come back.

This guy is only good enough to enter a poly and he only managed to get a 3.6 gpa, and you're suggesting that he sets his sights on post doc in an ivy league uni? Lol. You might as well tell him to set his sights on becoming the next bill gates or something

Originally Posted by Unregistered

This guy is only good enough to enter a poly and he only managed to get a 3.6 gpa, and you're suggesting that he sets his sights on post doc in an ivy league uni? Lol. You might as well tell him to set his sights on becoming the next bill gates or something

you must still be living in a well to think that ppl who go poly are those who didnt do well in O lvl. so many single pointers in poly now and competition is so tense, 3.6 is a very good gpa already.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

you must still be living in a well to think that ppl who go poly are those who didnt do well in O lvl. so many single pointers in poly now and competition is so tense, 3.6 is a very good gpa already.

Im sorry. I doubt 3.6 is good at all. 3.6 can only barely get you into NUS. Just barely. Some with 3.6 cant even get in. NTU still can. 3.6 in A level terms is like a BCC/B. Can get you in, but probably cant get you into any of the good courses. Why do you think OP wants to go overseas. If 3.6 is very good, it can get you into any course in the 3 big local unis. But it cant. 3.6 cant even get into biz/acct. Not to mention biz/acct is considered the bottom end of the prestigious courses. Still have medicine, dentistry, law, architecture, NTU REP, pharmacy that confirm cant get in. Cant even get into double degree programs. 3.6 is pretty much just an average GPA.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Please don't give false hope. Post-doc in ivy league university is no joke laeve alone getting tenure at universities. There are many PhDs from top US universities who can't attain tenured professorship.

Life is lived on hope - is true but let us hope within limits. Else you will fall too deep from where it will be impossible to come back.

When you're doing graduate studies, academics no longer matter that much especially if you're in the field of research. It is not impossible to do a Post-doc in an ivy league university. If you really set your mind that, choose an appropriate field with a prof you already set your mind on working for. Then try to work under profs who've worked under that desired prof you want to work for during your post doctorate - that'll set up the connections first.

Most importantly, your research findings must be good and interesting. Publish in top tier journals such as Science, Cell, and Nature etc. I'm sure if you have more than 5 such journals under your belt during your post-graduate studies, it'll be much easier to find a post-doctorate position in an ivy-league university.

[scaredandconfused]

will it be difficult to go into commerce with a life science degree? would it be a waste of money to get an MBA after my BSc (life science)? I can only get credit exemptions if i stay within the same course. I don't plan on doing a full 4 years, that would be way too expensive.

[warning]

Originally Posted by scaredandconfused

will it be difficult to go into commerce with a life science degree?

yes. read this
https://forums.salary.sg/education-pe...ead-first.html

no point doing a life science degree if you don't want a life science career.