Breaking into Botany

[u/fuck_if_ikno]

Hello all ! I am a 27 y/o looking to get more into botany as a career. A lot of my experience with plants has been specifically within horticulture & a bit of ethnobotany. My BA is in environmental science and most of my career since graduating has been environmental education based but botany has always been my true love.
Education was the best opportunity into the field that I had at the time but now I am looking to transition into more of a research based field. Particularly, studying tropical plants or diving deeper into ethnobotany.

So far, I have:
- Met with a career advisor about transitioning career paths, it wasn’t helpful
- Applied to volunteer at a couple local botanical gardens but have yet to hear back
- Looked into potential internships or assistant positions but most of these require you to be a student or recent graduate

Advice is welcome ! The job market is pretty rough right now so I am okay with starting in unpaid positions and working my way up. If I could avoid taking out more student loans to go back to school, that would be preferable. I will consider it if it’s doable though !
TIA

[u/OkSatisfaction3052]

if you’re wanting to do research you should look into a masters or phd program if you haven’t already. a lot of them are paid(albeit not well at all) in the environmental science field

[u/OkSatisfaction3052 → u/OkSatisfaction3052]

oh sorry missed your last part about going back to school. but yeah there is no reason to pay to get a research degree especially in botany. my friend was doing some paleobotany research at notre dame and was making about $30k/yr or so for their research and being a TA. they ended up dropping out after last year since the phd life is hard(and the environment was real bad for them) but they got their masters still for the work they did

[u/fuck_if_ikno → u/OkSatisfaction3052]

I looked a bit into masters/phd programs but it has been a while since. I was under the impression that it was just phd programs that are paid for but i can definitely look more into that as an avenue. Thank you for the advice!

[u/WoodenFinish8]

I don't have any advice for you, but just wanted to say I'm in the same boat.

[u/Proteus68]

Plant geneticist here. I started grad school at 27 and got my PhD in 5 years, almost to the date. You can do this! The job market for everyone in plant sciences is pretty rough right now. Your going to need a graduate degree. Full stop. Some people can make it without one but they are unicorns. The best advice I ever got about grad school is: never pay for it yourself. If you have to take out a loan, your doing it wrong. Start reaching out to professers directly and join your local native plant societies and attend their conferences. Have professors you know help you connect. Go to recruitment events for grad students if you can. Networking will be really important if you have trouble finding a professor take you on as a grad student. Being a seasonal technition for a professor may help too. The next thing I would recommend is loosen (don't lower) your expectations. I didn't end up exactly where I thought I wanted to be which is a totally normal experience. But, I am happy where I am as a scientist and I am well respected and recognized in my narrow field. The plant science fields are small. Unfortunately for many positions you have to wait till someone dies, gets a new job, or retires before it will become availabile again. Keep your sights on your intended destination, and pay attention to every opportunity and enjoy the journey as much as you can.