[Coco] OT: Thoughts about going back to school full time.

[Tony Schountz]

Jim,

I cannot speak for BSET programs specifically, but you might consider  
an alternative: biomedical instrumentation. These programs are  
specialized, but expanding to many institutions. The next 30 to 50  
years will see a dramatic increase in microbiology, molecular biology  
and nanobiology. Although much is known about the biology of these  
fields, we do not know much in the details because of a lack of  
adequate detection instrumentation. These areas will be of intense  
focus for the development of new and sensitive instrumentation. For  
example, I am working with a small engineering company that is trying  
to develop a system to detect water-borne pathogens in drinking  
water. They have developed fluorescence sensors and I'm working on  
the labeling of microbial products with fluorescent dyes. As with all  
emerging fields, experience always gives you a competitive edge.

Just my $0.02 worth.

Tony

> I realize this is OT, but there is a lot of wisdom on this
> list and I thought that besides search the web for info,
> I'd ask here for toughts, ideas, and strategies for going
> back to school full time.
>
> Right now I am taking C programming on the side and while
> I enjoy it, I am finding that between work and everything
> else, I am running out of bandwidth.  I know that there
> will be a lot of sacrifices, but I am wondering if going
> back to school full time might be the answer.  Also I am
> dealing with a major case of career burnout, and I mean
> major.
>
> I'm looking at a program at local university for a BSET
> degree, since that would allow me to leverage my 23 years
> as a tech plus my AAS in Electronics.  My one concern
> though is most of my experience is in test, and I want to
> move into engineering.  Is a BSET the right choice?
>
> For those of you who after working for a while, quit and
>  went back to school full time, how did you do it?  Did
> you take out loans or did you just save up the money.
>
> If you have any thoughts, I'd like to hear from you, but
> please reply off line.  Thanks!
>
> Jim

--
Tony Schountz, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Microbiology
University of Northern Colorado
1556 Ross Hall
501 20th Street
Greeley, CO 80639
http://www.unco.edu/schountz/
Voice/FAX: (970) 351-2923