Originally posted by Lazer_beam

I could definitely see how a biochem degree could deter some people based on some of the required classes. I never really enjoyed the physics classes and I certainly did not enjoy physical chemistry, those were the classes that I did poorly in. However, I stuck those out because I absolutely loved my pure biochem classes.

Most people nowadays go straight from undergrad to their PhD, but I ended up doing a masters right after my B.S. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do research for 5+ years as a PhD student, and I was also not as competitive to gain admission into a R1 research university right after undergrad. Doing a masters ended up working out great for me because I made up for my undergrad GPA by achieving a 4.0 GPA in my graduate classes and I got a couple of first-author publications from my thesis work, all in the span of 2 years. That was also when I realized how much I love doing research and working in lab. As much as I complained about some of the graduate classes, I've learned so much that I wouldn't have learned on my own otherwise and most importantly I learned which biochem topics didn't interest me, so that helped guide my decision on which lab to join. And actually, the project that I'm working on isn't even biochem based, really. It's more microbiology/immunology-related so there's been tons of self-teaching so far.

Anyways, I'm currently in my 2nd year as a PhD student. The first year was stressful due to the coursework load, doing lab rotations, and generally just adjusting to a new school and living in a new state. Now that I'm finished with classes though, it's been much more enjoyable. Grad school will always be somewhat stressful, and in the past couple of weeks I've had a few 12+ hr days in lab, but I love my thesis project and my lab so it's been a perfect fit for me.

What are you planning/interested on doing after you get your degree??