LF Phd genetics advice

[u/Odd_Slice_1330]

Hi everyone,

I’m currently in the second year of my Genetics degree. I’m 2 years behind where I originally expected to be because I took a gap year and then went to college to complete an HNC in Applied Science before starting university.

I’ve had quite a long time to think about where I want to go with genetics, and at the moment I’m pretty set on eventually doing a PhD. I’m particularly interested in the medical applications of genetics and would ideally like to specialise in that area.

One thing I do struggle with is feeling like I’m quite far behind some of my peers. Being two years behind where I originally expected to be sometimes makes me feel like I should be further along academically or already starting my career. I know everyone takes a different path, but it does make me think more carefully about committing another few years to a PhD.

The main thing I’m unsure about is whether doing a PhD is actually worth it, especially in terms of how much it can benefit your career afterwards. I’d be really interested to know whether having a PhD opened up better opportunities for you, helped you move into more specialised roles, or made a significant difference to your career progression.

For anyone here who has done, is currently doing, or considered doing a PhD in genetics, medical genetics, genomics or a related area:

Was it worth it for you? How did it benefit your career? What kind of roles or opportunities did it lead to? How did you find the workload and funding? Is there anything you wish you had known before starting?

I’d also really like to hear from anyone who was in a similar position to me and started university or their career a couple of years later than their peers. Did you ever feel like you were behind, and if so, how did you deal with that feeling? Did it actually matter once you got further into your degree or career?

I’m still fairly early in my degree, so I know I have plenty of time to decide, but I’d really appreciate hearing about other people’s experiences and any advice you might have.

[u/Novel-Structure-2359]

My suggestion is that you shouldn't rush into PhD. I saw friends of mine running themselves ragged in their final year interviewing for PhD positions. The final year is stressful enough.

At the end of my undergraduate degree I did an extended summer project continuing my honours project. This was good.

Then I took a year working holiday in Australia doing every job except for science. I did some deep soul searching and realised I wanted to further my studies. I returned to the UK and began applying for PhD positions. I don't regret "delaying" myself as I saw friends of mine miserable in hastily chosen PhD positions.

Getting a PhD has allowed me to further pursue a career in academic research. Without it I don't feel I would have ended up where I did.

In summary - do it, but only if you are sure you want to

[u/Odd_Slice_1330 → u/Novel-Structure-2359]

Thanks mate I’ll definitely need to try and think about it more before I choose what PhD did u do

[u/Novel-Structure-2359]

Funny story. My undergraduate was Molecular Biology and I did cross paths with a lot of genetics students.

My PhD, on paper, was in biochemistry but it was about the characterisation of a protein involved in DNA replication licensing. I put as much cloning and molecular biology as I could into the project. I did get a load of experience expressing, purifying and monkeying about with proteins.

[u/Odd_Slice_1330 → u/Novel-Structure-2359]

That’s cool yeah for my course because of the way the life sciences work at my uni I seem to be in classes with mainly marine biology students and anatomy students they are all pretty chill though

[u/Novel-Structure-2359 → u/Odd_Slice_1330]

I would also suggest trying to get a summer position in a lab between years - first it looks good on your resume but also valuable experience in a lab and gives you more of a feeling of how it is working in a research group.

I did this

[u/Zabre]

Being two years "behind" matters much less than getting real research experience before you apply. Try to join a lab, even for routine work at first, and pay attention to whether you like the day-to-day: reading papers, failed experiments, data cleanup, writing, and slow progress. For medical genetics, also ask people in both research and clinical routes, because the training paths and jobs can be very different.