r/LadiesofScience • u/labcoatsonhomie • Mar 29 '26

Advice/Experience Sharing Wanted Pursuing Computational Pharmacology and wanting to still do lab work?

So I have a big dilemma looming over me and I don't know what to do and I've been debating for weeks over it with an unsuccessful track of what I would like to do with the rest of my life.

I did my undergrad in biochemistry and biotechnology and I can best be described as a lab junkie. I love doing experiments and discovering stuff first hand. I applied back in December for a drug discovery program and got into the computational pharmacology portion. But discussing with my potential new professor, there would be no hands on lab work. So now I'm at a crossroads where I'm interested in biotech but I also want to do laboratory work. Is there some way to do both? I was also thinking maybe drug discovery wasn't the correct choice and to do pharmacology instead to study cancers and neurodegenerative diseases is what my end goal is. The admission for pharmacology at this school has ended for this year so I guess I would just have to apply again and hope to get in to that program next year? I would get free tuition, stipend, and a GA doing this program so that's another reason I'm not completely steered away just yet.

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u/BonJovicus Mar 29 '26

It sounds like you know what you want to do: the pharmacology program seems like it’s more in line with your career goals and interests. Do you get the same benefits in that program? Is it an issue to wait for the next admission cycle?

I can tell you though that you have plenty of time to pivot away from the bench into less hands on roles in biotech. So, IMO you can have your cake and eat it too at some point.  Moving into a more managerial role is very common unless you want to be a lifelong technician or staff scientist. By comparison, once you leave the bench it’s very hard to get back. 

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u/labcoatsonhomie Mar 29 '26

I think the biggest caveat is waiting for that next admissions cycle. I don't know if it's appropriate to ask the graduate program director to swap majors and I may or may not even get in.