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Asked by rhooper821 to Ben, Dave, Ed, Sam, Susana on 19 Jun 2013.
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Sam Horrell answered on 19 Jun 2013:
Pretty much all university courses have a solid grounding in genetics. I studied Medical biochemistry but did a lot of work on genetics. I can’t speak for other universities but The University of Leicester where I studied had a fantastic genetics department, it was there that DNA finger printing was invented.
Before that your best bet is to do well in science, english and maths (always very helpful whatever you want to do) and take A level biology (definitely) and at least one other Science subject or maths. Most University biology courses ask for AAB or ABB at a level.
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Benjamin Hall answered on 19 Jun 2013:
You will see it being advertised eventually. Make sure you do really well in Biology and Chemistry at school then take a Biology or Genetics course at University. Or even Microbiology with a strong emphasis on Genetics.
Once you’re there you’ll find out about PhD opportunities in Genetics. To be a scientist you need to get a PhD.
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David Briggs answered on 19 Jun 2013:
Do sciences at A level, then do Biology or Biochemistry or Genetics at University.
The jobs are there but they are advertised in specialised mags like “Nature” and “New Scientist”
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Ed Lowe answered on 19 Jun 2013:
Firstly, it’s great that you have such a clear idea about the field you want to work in – that will be a great help to you!
I would say to make sure that you do as well as possible in Biology and Chemistry at school. Also maths (with a particular emphasis on statistics) since the analysis of statistics is a really important part of genetic research.
As everyone has said, most University biology and biochemistry degrees will contain a strong component of genetics and a slightly broader course in (for instance) Biochemistry or Microbiology might even be an advantage to you in later research.
The next bit sounds like it’s a long way off, but it’s really important. Whilst you are studying for your degree at University start to read up-to-date research in the field rather than just following textbooks or popular science magazines. Not only will this help with your studies, but you will soon start to learn who is doing the sort of work that you are interested in. I can’t speak for every University, but most of the big research groups here in Oxford will take self-motivated undergraduate students on summer placements. Contact a few labs doing work you are interested in and try to arrange something like this – it will both give you invaluable experience and help you figure out how much you really enjoy research.
Hopefully that will leave you in a good position to start writing to labs whose work you’re interested in near the start of your final undergraduate year. Most of them won’t have studentships available by that point, but they will probably know how many studentships they are likely to have and most group leaders will get back to someone who was motivated enough to contact them. This can be more reliable than waiting for studentships to be advertised since they are often either only advertised for quite a short time or sometimes organised through a graduate programme of some sort which may not make it obvious to you that the lab you’re interested in is involved – if that’s the case then a research group leader will be able to let you know.
I should add that that’s not how I went about things (I didn’t know what I wanted to do that far in advance) but it is a pattern I have seen in many of our successful graduate students.
Comments
Ben commented on :
I think Ed raises a great point here! Nowadays, with PhD funding being so competitive, you really need at least one great placement as an undergraduate now. I don’t know of anyone on my current PhD programme that has gone in without doing a summer placement or two.
Sam commented on :
Definitely, I did a summer placement and it really helped in my interviews to have extra lab experience to talk about.