Junkiri, you might want to visit the site, one of whose aims is to help students exactly like in your position: -www.nepal-biomed.org Here's my PERSONAL take on the subject: I was exactly in your position not so long ago.....by popular demand we used to call ourselves suffering from senioritis! The dilemma was basically the same whether to go for higher education (betterment of yourself as some people would like to refer to) or to have OPT for a year and explore your interests. It was so frustrating nearing graduating as both options looked very bleak especially for being in life science. So, reluctantly, i applied to four schools, gave GRE on a real off beat day and applied to jobs every where I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was invited to two interviews after week long elaboration on my status that I could work, though my OPT paperwork which my int'l coordinator really screwed up hadn't arrived. To my amazement, i was instantly offered the job. It was for a lab tech position. I was happy at first cause it was in a renowned university and thus, made perfect sense to explore my interest further and learn more and apply to grad schools in the distant future. However, what was so disappointing was: my work schedule would be hectic from morning to evening. I was to sign a two year contract and above all, the pay was minimum. when i mean minimum, i was gonna get paid less than any other person with a bachelor's degree. Fortunately, out of the blues, i got accepted for the phd program and what i realized then, if i had to get more experience, i'd rather get it in a academic setting. It didn't make sense to work elsewhere to get more experience. I wonder why people like to call PHD a five year committment or what not. I'd like to take it as a training where you learn as much as you can the tools to do independant research. Like someone mentioned earlier, you always have the option to quit which passes my mind every other day when things aren't going as great :). Yes, unlike other fields, research is critical in life sciences applying to grad school, but more than that its also PURE LUCK. As much as you might not agree, how you present yourself POSITIVELY in the application might bear a lot of weight. Though everyone mentions contacting professors ahead of time, i had a very unpleasant experience trying to do that :). thus different strokes for different folks. if your research experience is minimum, i'd rather you focus on your application, gre, and REALLY GOOD recommendations. As far as my understanding go, its not that they want to take the most brilliant and studenst with most experience, but rather the POTENTIAL of a candidate to succeed at a graduate level. and on a final note, if you want to have a career in life sciences, i think unlike all other fields, its better to stay in school and look for jobs later after you have a higher degree. Just my personal thought though, unless you want to go absolutely tangent to your field. And OH YAH! do not underestimate yourself like most people tend to do my two cents...