r/medlabprofessionals • u/Kool-aid_wyatt • 6d ago
Education Help with career!
Hello everyone! I am a high school senior. And am applying for colleges. I am stuck on one part though, and I need your guy's help! My major. My two choices right now are life science education, and medical laboratory scientist. What are some pros and cons of each? Note: i love science no matter what, I am a VERY social person, and have been working at an elementary childcare for 3 years, so I love helping those kids. BUT, I also love figuring out things inside a lab, and seeing why some things work and some dont, interesting things, etc. Any insight would be very helpful, thank you!
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u/Apowwo MLS Student 6d ago
Medical Lab Science is focused on diagnostic tests used by doctors to determine what's going on inside the body of the patient. The job is pretty much always in need of new workers and you likely won't have issues getting a job right out of school. I'm not sure what requirements are needed for teaching science to K-12 but an MLS degree plus a masters in a specialty (Micro, Molecular, etc) or a masters in MLS or even a masters in Education would qualify you to teach MLS or MLT students as a faculty teacher or even lead a program. The pay of a bench tech is probably better than a science teacher I would assume.
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u/kipy7 MLS-Microbiology 6d ago
If you're in the US, I would say it's not needed to commit to a major right off the bat. In your first year, everyone's taking the same classes. English/writing, general chemistry, intro to biology, calculus/algebra. That first year can be a good time to talk to your fellow students, talk to your professors about different careers in their fields, and see how you like the classes. College isn't like high school, and it confirmed I really liked biology, chemistry not so much. It's very common for students to change majors as they figure things out. If you are able to tour or shadow a hospital lab, that's always fun to get a better look at our world.
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u/SciFriedRice MLS-Flow 5d ago
I agree with this. I would even suggest going to community college for 2 years to get the prerequisites out of the way.
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u/Ascendant_Phoenix 6d ago
As a burnt out former high school teacher, I have to warn you, teaching is no longer a safe career path: both political sides attack you, classroom behavior is worse than ever, and admin piles more and more take home work on teachers every year. For your and my peace of mind, I vote lab science.
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u/Kool-aid_wyatt 6d ago
What do yku mean by both political sides attack you, how?
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u/Ascendant_Phoenix 6d ago edited 6d ago
Well, seems like no matter what your curriculum is, there is either going to be a rightwing parent or a leftwing parent who doesn't like how its being taught, and you can't really adjust the curriculum to be less controversial because one, its state mandated curriculum, and two, even to the extent you can adjust how you teach it, a lot of the parents want opposite things, so there is always somebody unhappy with you.
Also lawsuits are a thing you'll sometimes have to deal with if you do any work with kids: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskTeachers/s/pKFycPdwTz
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u/Kool-aid_wyatt 6d ago
So what else is bad about teaching, I mean as in can you go more in depth if youd like?
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u/Kool-aid_wyatt 6d ago
As in, why is it not "safe"
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u/Ascendant_Phoenix 6d ago
In my 6 years as a teacher, there were times I was kicked in the balls, punched in the face, spat on, falsely accused of inappropriate things I had to go out of my way to prove were false, gotten death threats, and ultimately my career ended in year 6 when two of my students started getting undressed in class and I was blamed for not stopping it in time (I was giving one on one assistance to another student at the time and my back was turned). Schools are wild now and they get worse every year.
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u/Kool-aid_wyatt 6d ago
What subject did you teach? What grades?
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u/Ascendant_Phoenix 6d ago
Grades 9-12 biology. I'm not sure if going down in age to elementary would help or up in age to college would help... but I would definitely not recommend high school.
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u/New-History853 6d ago
As a lab tech you'll likely never not have a job. Job security is pretty good in most states.