Would studying Biology be a mistake...

Would studying Biology be a mistake? Everyone seems to be advising against it saying it's near to impossible to get a job with it and the jobs you get are badly paid. I don't care about being rich but studying in college just to barely scrape by doesn't sound appealing. Should you even bother studying it if you won't graduate from a Top 10 University?

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yes, just a degree will not help you. find the field you want to concentrate in and get graduate text books in that. Learn what you need to learn and and dont skip on math and stat either. know how to operate computer programs like R and GRASS. Practice methodology from the books you read, often they will have exercises for the students included, then move on to trying to reproduce and apply the methodology of research you read. While you are doing this you need to me trying to get research experience and network with professionals as much as possible.
Where you get your undergrad really does not matter, the things i listed above do.
the life sciences are rewarding and you wont have a problem finding a good job if you are passionate and dedicated to what you do. Even if you arent successful at becoming a researcher you can easily get a state job or something like that.
what do you want to do with a biology degree?
being able to answer the question above in great detail should be a priority when you are attempting to figure out what your priorities are

At an undergraduate level, it's worthless.
If you want to go into research as a biologist you are much better off doing a BS in math, CS, or EE. As a graduate student with a quantitative background, every PI will wet themselves when you walk in the door. You can do any kind of project you want, wet lab or dry. But if your background is in Biology it will be much more challenging to work on dry lab projects. It is possible, of course, but it is an uphill battle. Save Biology for graduate school, stick with a quantitative field for your BS.
Who knows, you may do very well in undergrad but decide you don't want to go into research. A degree in a quantitative field gives you the freedom to do anything, a BS in Biology generally means graduate or medical school.

Bio probably has the least immediate payoff, so you should plan on taking it to PhD. But, you don't need to go to a top10, not at all.

There are jobs, maybe not great, but fine. The best bio topics to set you off are probably Biochemistry, Biophysics, Bioinformatics, or Biomedical Engineering.

Haven't you learned not to trust this board yet? Most Veeky Forumsentists are math/physics graduates jealous at the job opportunities given to engineers and life scientists.

Not sure if this is the case in USA but in UK biology graduates are highly desirable in many areas, even banking or finance, because it gives you the "scientific mindset" employers love.

...

Biologists are stamp collectors. Get a biochemistry degree if you want job prospects.

What if you enjoy collecting stamps?

Imagine being so booty-bother to take the time to make this image

if you live on brazil, stay far far far away from biology, there zero jobs for biology here.

government banned any study with the excuse that it to protect the forest by not studying.

Not really. Just don't be a shitter.
Also git gud at chemistry. They go hand in hand. Computer knowledge is good too. Modeling stuff in biology is shifting to in silico work. Bioinformatics is a paradigm shift in -omics.

Then enjoy poverty.

I am 25, graduated 2 years ago with my bio degree and I've been working in construction because I don't want $12/hr as a lab tech when I can make $20/hr building homes. A lot of the jobs I see in my area are for counting birds, or bats, data entry, unpaid internships, ... a lot of unappealing shit. I worked as a park ranger for a couple years while in school and I enjoyed it but I don't think I'd want to do it for life. Pay is ok, benefits are good but meh. I didnt feel like I was doing anything meaningful

btw OP, I'm thinking of going back to school to get a degree in Math. Idk.. I am not all that happy where I'm at now either.

Hey OP, it depends on where you live. For some reason in the US everybody studies biology so the degree's value is reduced significantly. In Europe, it's pretty much the same as other science degrees, meaning you can probably get a few jobs in your sector for very low pay and other jobs not related to your field for usually higher pay like said. Graduate school is the way if you want to become a research scientist, you can specialise in dry or wet lab during your bachelor's degree. I'd recommend getting bioinformatics experience during your degree if you can, it's better to have options.

If you want serious job prospects after a bachelor's degree though I'd recommend engineering or CS over any science degree like Physics/Chemistry/Biology.

This is a big meme, at least in Europe. Biochem grads simply get better prospects at jobs that have to do with protein science, and that's it, the difference in degree content is small. Don't know if you're American or not.

>Don't know if you're American or not.

Europe. Germany to be exact. On the german forum everyone advised against it but maybe there is a bias where only people with bad experiences complain? I don't know.

First I'm hearing of this tb h, it depends on the type of jobs they were looking for maybe? What exactly did they say, could be useful to know.

Until AI does all that for you in about 2 years.

Employed bio grad here none of this makes any sense to me.

Overused meme is overused.

I got my degree in microbiology 2 years ago. I bounced around a couple shitty jobs since then, but now am working one I enjoy. It pays 24/hour to start, with a decent medical device company that has potential for future growth and good benefits. In my lab they've hired chemical engineers, ecologists, and dietetics majors doing the same biology work. So, it's not like there's no need for people.

But that pay does seem to be higher than the norm for this field. Most other jobs I've seen pay between 12 - 18/hour for entry level. You get a lot more options once you have a few years of experience. It's hard to make averages of this field because biology is so diverse and there are so many career paths. Yes, many (any involved in research) will be more likely to have lower pay. Research does not pay. That is a general rule of life you should never forget.

Joe Schmoe who goes to school in bum-fuck-egypt, Nebraska will be distraught when he can't find a job in a city with a population of 2,000, but doesn't get that the jobs are out there, they just might not be conveniently located to wherever you happen to be. You might need to travel if you don't live in an area where these types of jobs are plentiful. Any major will have lots of people unemployed, I know CS and engineering people who have worse prospects than I. A lot comes down to personal investment, hard work, and luck.

thats because "bio" is a big subject, what do you do?
That post was informed from the reference of someone trying to get a comfy research position in earthscapes/network ecology.

this is the path if you want to do research.

I have a degree in biology. I work as a med lab technologist making $26/hr (I work night shift so they paid more). It's not that bad.

I see I'm not alone. God speed to you user.

Depends if you want under grad or grad degree.

>All these people saying it's bad
>They studied bad subfields
Seriously Bioinformatics and Genetics are 2 of the most in demand jobs right now and are only growing. Find something related to either of these 2. I am trying to get a degree in Population Genetics because it has both.