Biosciencebiz’s Weblog

Humans, by nature, are known to restrict themselves to their comfort zone. There is an inherent resistance to anything new, outside the comfort zone, anything that breaks the tradition. The KGI hybrid curriculum is a concept that integrates science with business. It ventures into an unchartered zone and combines two fields that have always existed independent of each other. It is known that the hybrid curriculum is not as established as the other pure science or pure management courses. It’s still in the experimental stage, evolving continuously and adapting to the needs and demands of the bioscience industry. Some argue that such a hybrid course better serves the need for the industry, than just a science or a business background. Then there is the pressing concern about the recession of the US economy. Dollar value is going down. Investment banks are facing a huge crisis. Is the heath care segment going to be affected? Are we going to have less jobs in the biopharmaceutical industry?

The decision to join KGI wasn’t an easy one. Keck Graduate Institute is small, celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, has a new and revolutionary curriculum that is still in the infancy stage. Add to it the high costs of education and of living. Compare that with the well established courses at reputed institutes. The instant reaction would be – go for the ‘brand’. However, if you look closer, there are other details that one might want to consider.

Look at the upside…. I consider KGI as a startup life science company.. striving to climb up the ladder, learning from its mistakes, evolving and improving with every step it takes. And we, as students, are part of this start-up… trying to imbibe as much as we can and take advantage of the curriculum. The selling point is the curriculum that combines the prime functional areas of science and business and presents it in a single package. The location is an added advantage. With an established base in Southern California, the nearby biotech hubs of San Diego and San Francisco provide excellent networking opportunities. KGI, by itself, provides excellent opportunities to interact with people from the industry. Every month, one or two speakers from the corporate world come up to give a talk and interact with students. Where else can a student sit with the MD of Amgen Bioventures and have lunch; or chat with the CEO of a startup about the problems with the Biotechnology industry; recession of the US economy; upcoming Presidential elections, so on and so forth.

If there’s an upside.. there’s a downside as well.. The biggest deterrent for my decision was that KGI did not have a brand name recognition. The obscurity of the program accompanied by the huge tuition and living expenses were enough to shake my decision. Even if you keep the above factors aside, there is the looming problem of the downswing of the US economy and its affect on the jobs scenario.

Having said that…. There is risk involved in every step you take.. Higher the risk, higher the return.. It would be foolish to follow the above statement blindly, but I argued… I am aware of the risks involved, I am taking an informed decision.. I can increase my probability of high returns..

The curriculum attracted me the most.. With due respect to all the researchers who have done wonderful stuff and contributed to the knowledge of the society, academic research is just not my piece of cake… I cannot sit and work for hours together in the lab waiting for an experiment to finish. I prefer the industry, the competition, the continuous drive to perfection, the entrepreneurial world… For a person like me, KGI provides an ideal course and opportunity to find my career path…