[BioEdu] Re: Forward of moderated message

[J.W. Bizzaro]

Hi M,

You might want to look at our list of education programs in the Americas:

  http://wiki.bioinformatics.org/Education_in_the_Americas

As others have indicated, I think it's more important that a research degree be earned with a PI who is prominent in your area of interest, regardless of the label on the degree.  The label "bioinformatics" and some coursework may be fine if you're looking for a position as a technician/programmer, but they're less important for a position as a researcher.

Cheers,
Jeff

> From: orbitz at ezabel.com
> 
> Hello,
> I am looking for some advice on bioinformatics masters programs.  My 
> background is mostly as a computer scientists.  I currently work as a 
> programmer.  I completed an undergraduate bioinformatics program and 
> have been out of school for about a year.  I would like to get a 
> masters.  I have started by looking for masters programs, in the US.  I 
> have found three schools so far that look interesting.  I'm not sure how 
> one chooses a grad school, I have been told that I should decide on what 
> aspect of bioinformatics I would like to research and find a school with 
> someone who specializes in that, although I honestly don't know enough 
> about an bioinformaticians or the schools at the moment.  I know I would 
> like to work with infectious diseases currently but I'm not sure about 
> beyond that.  I am not sure if any of the schools I have been currently 
> looking at are good for this, or if I can get into them currently.  The 
> undergraduate program I was part of also did not have all of the classes 
> which are pre-reqs in some of the programs I have looked at.  For 
> instance my program did not involve Organic Chemistry and at least one 
> of the programs requires two semester of it as a pre-req. I am not sure 
> how this situation is dealt with.
> 
> The three schools I have looked at currently are Johns Hopkins, 
> Stanford, and University Of Wisconsin.
> 
> Any advice would be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> M
> 

-- 
J.W. Bizzaro
Bioinformatics Organization, Inc. (Bioinformatics.Org)
E-mail: jeff at bioinformatics.org
Phone:  +1 508 890 8600
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