by Lora » Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:19 am
It's perfect for companies that make biological reagents: vaccines, clinical blood chemistry, blood products, those all welcome molecular bio degrees.
Ditto what Dave said--most of those positions (highly coveted by people who dislike benchwork but enjoy science) are filled internally. Once you get into Regulatory, you will have to work at a sort of entry-level position as a QA/RA "associate" or some such title for (I think) 5 years. I say entry level, but it usually pays surprisingly well, better than you would make in 5 years as a bench scientist. At the 5-year point, your employer can sponsor you to take the official ASQ certification exams, which allow you to move up in the ranks. There are various levels of certifications you can get, some of which require different levels of workplace experience in the lower levels, but in the meantime there are various quality systems courses you can take that require zero experience: SixSigma is a popular one right now, the quality systems tend to go through little phases of popularity.
http://www.asq.org/ed/courses/
http://www.asq.org/cert/signup/prep/index.html