This has bothered me for the longest time...

Despite my remark, I am genuinely interested to find what any fellow BIMS grads did who didn't go straight to grad/professional school. I have been career searching for a while and don't seem to be much closer than when I started, I'm hoping it would be helpful to find what other's did in my situation.

municipal finance

I graduated BIMS in 2001 and thought I wanted to be a Veterinarian, or a MD. All my experience was centered around vet medicine, so when I didn't get in all I was qualified for was working in vet clinics. I did a lot of management for several different clinics and even was a retail manager for PetSmart for short time. When I would look to make a move out of the veterinary industry, nobody would respect the work I had done. They all seemed to think that all I did was scoop up dog crap all day (they were mostly right!). I had to go to grad school to get my masters in something un-related (Marine Resource Management) before I could break away from the BIMS curse and get a job in another industry. I never made over 37k x year with my BIMS degree. My advice: Go back to school - Med, PA, Vet, Nursing, or something unrelated. BIMS degree is the suck. Also, to continue my rant, the above mentioned school would have been just as happy to accept a student with an ag degree, or something similar as long as the prerequisites were completed. I wish I would have taken ag classes and smoked a bunch of cowboys for a 3.8 instead of competing with all the brainiacs for a 3.1. I'm glad things worked out the way they did though. I like my job and am making money. I realized I didn't want to be a doctor of any sort a few years ago and am glad I am not spending my life in that way. Sorry for long response.

I've been working as an ER tech for pennies for the past year and 3 months. and I've just gotten accepted to nursing school.

[This message has been edited by cheer (edited 5/28/2008 2:14p).]

This is depressing

my ex with a bims degree does medical sales

it is very depressing Cope. that's why I tell fish to not major in BIMS.

I actually make decent money now and love what I do so I'm not depressed anymore

Cheer - it really doesn't help though. When entering I was told to watch out because you can't use it for much and I completely disregarded it because I never imagined that I wouldn't want to do some sort of professional school. Completely ignorant and naive about the future and my future wants.....

I just need to figure out how to convince a business person that I am good at a variety of things and not just memorizing crap.

I was warned too and I thought that the warning applied to everyone else. The lovely BIMS office promised me the moon and kept telling me how great the degree was. There was one particular Son of a _____ named Skip something. I hope he isn't still working there. On second thought, I hope he is still there making 30k x year hustling BIMS students at 45 years old.

Skip is still there

Clinical research is worth a shot.

And what if hatred for that crap is why you aren't going to professional school?

what Cope said. boo research. I did that for a semester, major snooze. I hated it because I have a need to work with people and do something different every day.

If you work in clinical research for a medical or pharma company you are helping execute medical trials, working with sites to stay on protocol, and working within the business unit across all functions.

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I wish I would have taken ag classes and smoked a bunch of cowboys for a 3.8 instead of competing with all the brainiacs for a 3.1

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Some of those Ag classes are pretty hard. Agronomy 301 comes to mind, so does Agronomy 310. Wood Technology and Forest Economics weren't a cakewalk either.

Don't knock the Ag degrees until you have been there.

did you take organic chemistry (not the cowboy chem version), anatomy, physiology, physics, microbiology (5 hour version)?

while nobody is saying that the ag classes aren't difficult, we are talking about another level of pain here.

[This message has been edited by CopeIt (edited 5/30/2008 1:33p).]

Skip Landis

I started vet school in '99...left in '02 to deal with some personal obligations...can't return.

Finished my BIMS degree (sigh) and walked in '04 (class of '01).

Worked as a bioanalytical chemist for 6 months for a CRO and then got the royal screw over there. Have been out of work full-time since. (April '05)

Absolutely agree with what was said above about people not giving you credit for your experience and education. It is really frustrating.

To lighten it up a bit, I really use the stuff I learned in the BIMS degree in my new career, and in life.

Other than that, the BIMS degree is the suck.

I somehow got into software...high tech stuff & ended up in medical devices. It was nice for someone to say in my interview...'wow, biomedical science...you'll be a good fit here'. I made great money, but decided I didn't like it enough to stay, so now I work for myself. There are jobs out there though....medical sales, quality assurance, labs, etc.

My question is how to get that first big break. How do you convince someone to give you a shot? It is obvious that a person with a BIMS degree is above-average intelligence wise...but it seems like people with BIMS have a very difficult time breaking into the general business world.

I have been trying to come up with things outside of science that I can relate my degree to or how to take skills I learned in this major and parallel them with something in the business world.....I haven't made a long list.

Part of the reason I wanted to do BIMS is because I wanted to learn as much as I could about how the body works and other living organisms. That knowledge is pretty important in understanding the world around us and things we interact with daily...BUT it doesn't really help me make money.

[This message has been edited by CopeIt (edited 5/30/2008 2:38p).]

I would suggest compromising pictures of the hiring authority!

My experience has shown that in most things you can do with a BIMS there is only enough money for people who went through the additional schooling (MD, RN, DVM, etc...). Everyone else will never make jack squat and are generally thought of as replaceable dolts. Even when your bosses respect and value the work you are doing and have done, it is not usually in their budget to pay someone smart to do the job of a replaceable dolt. Oh yeah, and medical sales jobs are reserved for only the really hot! Give it up and go get more schooling, once you find out what you want to do.

Use those same skills, and get certified in "nondestructive testing" methods. To rake it in even more, get certified as a hazardous waste operater. Had a buddy with a low gpa in WFSC, academically he thought the certification courses were a joke, but he is raking it in pretty good now.

CopeIt Punch that dwech Skip L. in the mouth for me. I too was duped into believing that BIMS was the cats meow. And that advising office almost ruined my time at A&M lucky enough I changed majors into something I enjoy, now getting a Master's in Entomology and plan on going to Vet School still.

But I think if you are a qualiified individual you can work for pfizer bayer or any other drug corp in lots of depts. with a bims degree.

I wondered what happened to the BIMS majors... man this thread makes me sad for those of you that went through this crap.

Seriously, look into clinical research/clinical trial management - it can be a lucrative career. Also, there are a number of contract research organizations that employ at least 50% morons, so if you are a good representative of A&M you should distinguish yourself and do quite well.

took ochem and physics. I thought agro 301 was hard.

There are a few BIMS majors in my program that didn't want to go to vet school or med school at The School of Rural and Public Health. The faculty there are great. You should check it out. http://srph.tamshc.edu It's a 2 year masters program and they have different areas you can go into for example social and behavioral, environmental and occupational, and epidemiology and biostatistics.

If you are hot, do medical sales. That is some serious jack for the next 10 or so years, depending, or until you hook up with a divorced surgeon making $500k a year.

Or, you could always try vet sales. Not as much cash, but still decent, and doesn't require plastic surgery to be competitive.

If I had a BIMS degree right now, I would probably get an advanced degree in either something related to biotech or an MBA, and get into biotech, but that's just me.

I don't have a BIMS degree, but I think that your undergrad major doesn't matter unless you do something very specialized (like accounting or engineering). I'm in the financial services industy, and every job posting that I see simply requires a college degree. Certain majors are preferred, but none are prerequisites.

I think that a lot of people on this board exaggerate the importance or lack of opportunities for certain degrees. If you're smart, talented, and have something to offer an employer then you'll find a job. One of my co-workers has a degree in sociology, and he's a computer programmer. No one ever questions what his degree was in because he's competent and does his job well.

Graduating in May with a BIMS degree. Wish me luck.

I'm going to try to get into something involving serology or epidemiology. I never wanted to go to vet or med school. I took the Allied Health option.

It's still been hard as hell. I think it was worth it though.

You could always teach High School science. First year teachers in the DFW area can make 45K.

medical device sales, pretty sweet gig for the most part. i do orthopedic trauma hardware. half the surgeons i work with rant and rave how they should have just been reps and that i'll probably retire before them. it's high pressure babysitting, but nice working with highly intelligent individuals.

[This message has been edited by whoopskis (edited 7/17/2008 11:21p).]

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did you take organic chemistry (not the cowboy chem version), anatomy, physiology, physics, microbiology (5 hour version)?

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So in your entire major you took 5 "hard" classes?
Get over yourself.

If it were me I would go back to school and get a second degree. Should only take 2 years and give you and even more barganing power.