Science Major to have to get a good job when one does not get into med. school!

[Raihan Mirza]

I have a lot of friends that had applied to getting into medical school, hoping that they would get in and end up getting rejected to every single medical school that they apply to. Most of these people were biology majors. I also heard that being a biology major would not gurantee a good paying job, other than being a teacher. My question to you guys is that what kind of a science major would be good to take that would give you a good job if you don't get into medical school. I heard that medical technology is a really good major, however it is not offered in my university.

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[MDrunner]

Engineering, chemistry, Biomedical engineering, environmental health sciences...anything then just a plain Bio degree really. That is what I have and I have been working as a research assistant for 3 years and my pay is embarrasingly low.

 

[SpartanBlueJay2]

A bachelor's in biochem doesn't do much for you either. The average starting salary out of college for my degree is ~$29,000, which is pretty much what I am making now, but I have a master's degree too! Unfortunately for the bio/biochem people of the world, an advanced/professional degree is practically a necessity to make decent money nowadays.

 

[jochi1543]

Most people I know who are employed with chemistry degrees have Master's (or are pursuing a Master's simultaneously). I can't think of a single person I know with a science major who is working in their field without extra training. We have some food processing factories in the area, and they are often looking for Q&A techs, for which a bachelor's of science would be sufficient. However, the pay is fairly modest ($12-14 an hour to start), so you'd probably have to supplement with another job if you live on your own. But that's something I think I'll do part-time next year if I don't get into med and start a Master's.

 

[Womialas]

I can't think of a single person I know with a science major who is working in their field without extra training.

I can actually think of a ton. I have friends that work for the DNR, some who work construction sites to test water and air quality, and even one friend who does sampling and testing for an archeology company. I am working in a hospital lab as we speak with nothing more than a college degree.

There are options out there, just need to do a bit of digging.

 

[anumama]

Womialas is right, I did an internship at a biotech/consumer goods company over the summer and was offered a pretty lucrative offer to come back. The starting salary was 50k a year, which is pretty sweet for just a BS in biochemistry. However, that didnt even come close to the starting salary for the chem E's...

 

[Isoprop]

with just a B.S.
engineering > chemistry > biochemistry > physics/geology >>> biology

with a master's

engineering > biochemistry > chemistry.... etc

unless you go into sales. then it doesn't matter what degree you have.

 

[BluePhoenix]

Really you ought to just major in whatever interests you. There are good jobs and bad jobs in pretty much every area, it's just a matter of finding one. And your major doesn't even matter all that much in terms of what you do in the future, particularly in the sciences. If you really want a job that pays well, go into finance or consulting...they LOVE LOVE LOVE science majors and pay very well. Of course, if you want someone that will get you a nice salary right out of undergrad, engineering is probably the easiest...the average starting salary from my undergrad was $60,000 and pretty much that was all engineers, as a majority of everyone else went to grad school....which typically pays a mere $25,000.

 

[cheezer]

i heard medical physics payed awesome.

a more concrete anecdotal story:

i used to be a database administrator for a research insititute and i saw the gap in salaries between bs/ms research associates vs their pi's and it was insane. bs/ms averaged 35-50k and pi's were making 80k-220k. if you hold a chemistry/biochemistry/biology degree and don't want to go to other professional schools (i.e. pharm, dentistry, etc) then you best be getting a phd.

 

[kami333]

Any science major that is more applied than theoretical, ie cheme, bioe, bioinformatics is a good one if you like CS, (they like people with strong bio backgrounds since a lot more people have strong CS backgrounds and learn the bio), is a good starting point.

Although I think it has more to do with what sector/industry you choose to work in than the major, even with a straight bio degree you can still do courses that have more real life applications. Even majors like geoscience can be pretty well paid if you know GIS well enough (I have a friend working for an oil company, $$) or enviromental science/studies (real estate developers, architects/designers, $$$$, although that may change...). Research, especially in research institutions/non-profit, etc doesn't pay as well compared to say even working as an outside contractor at a pharmaceutical doing Q/A work.

 

[nick_carraway]

Most people I know who are employed with chemistry degrees have Master's (or are pursuing a Master's simultaneously). I can't think of a single person I know with a science major who is working in their field without extra training. We have some food processing factories in the area, and they are often looking for Q&A techs, for which a bachelor's of science would be sufficient. However, the pay is fairly modest ($12-14 an hour to start), so you'd probably have to supplement with another job if you live on your own. But that's something I think I'll do part-time next year if I don't get into med and start a Master's.

Chemical engineers can get into a wide variety of fields without any additional degree. Certainly an MBA would help but I know one person who joined Apple after being a pre-med and changing his mind and working in consulting and changing his mind. At Apple, he works in operations as a materials supply manager and ensures continuous production of parts in Asia. He's only... 24 too and his GPA was crap.

He chose the major primarily because he wanted a fall back plan and the major is one of a few science majors that has a place in Silicon Valley's tech sector.

 

[Isoprop]

i heard medical physics payed awesome.

a more concrete anecdotal story:

i used to be a database administrator for a research insititute and i saw the gap in salaries between bs/ms research associates vs their pi's and it was insane. bs/ms averaged 35-50k and pi's were making 80k-220k. if you hold a chemistry/biochemistry/biology degree and don't want to go to other professional schools (i.e. pharm, dentistry, etc) then you best be getting a phd.

biophysics or medical physics is a very lucradive field. unfortunately, there are not a lot of biophysics undergraduate majors. even then, biophysicists are required a master's/phd

 

[Isoprop]

Really you ought to just major in whatever interests you. There are good jobs and bad jobs in pretty much every area, it's just a matter of finding one. And your major doesn't even matter all that much in terms of what you do in the future, particularly in the sciences. If you really want a job that pays well, go into finance or consulting...they LOVE LOVE LOVE science majors and pay very well. Of course, if you want someone that will get you a nice salary right out of undergrad, engineering is probably the easiest...the average starting salary from my undergrad was $60,000 and pretty much that was all engineers, as a majority of everyone else went to grad school....which typically pays a mere $25,000.

in the "real world," a degree isn't going to automatically open doors. there are as many successful uneducated entrepreneurs as there are poor phd holders. it's what you do with the degree that matters.

 

[argencolts]

Bio-medical Engineering or Chemical Engineering would be the way to go if you don't want to do traditional research. Engineers are in high demand with just MS or BS degrees.

 

[andrewattheU]

For biochem majors the pay can actually be good depending on the area you live. I know of a few people who graduated with a biochem major in my area and make 50k-60k a year. Part of the reason is that their are lots of opportunities in the seattle area for biochem majors as we have ports and zymogenetics is a big biochem corp in the area

 

[SCRdoc]

I've a bachelors in biology and work as a Quality control analyst for a biopharmaceutical company. Not to brag or anything, but I make btwn 40k-50k a year, base salary, and get paid overtime. There are tons of science jobs in minneapolis, if you're really looking. All you need is a bachelor's in any science subject. It's a great paying job, but my dream has always been medicine.

 

[HristosKaran]

I really think it depends on what area of the country you live in. In my area, the ONLY type of jobs that interested me were lab techs, and they were all chem based. Biology tends to lend itself more to the medical side of things, but you need additional traning, i.e. phlebotomy to work in the hospital lab, or some other certificate to go along with your degree. Like others have said, the degrees don't really matter (except for engineering) as long as you have some experience which relates to the real world.

I have a BA Bio/ BS Psyc with 1.5 years of Organic Chem research. I am now working as a chem lab tech in a very large company. Most employeers look for experience once you have a degree over just impressive education. Unfortunately, b/c that is not what they tell you college lol.

 

[kami333]

Most employeers look for experience once you have a degree over just impressive education. Unfortunately, b/c that is not what they tell you college lol.

This is very true. And the catch-22 is that most jobs require prior lab experience, yet unless you did undergrad research (I didn't, went to a small liberal arts school so research oppurtunities were really great but severely limited in numbers) there really isn't a way to get the experience.

I wish I had gone to a school like Drexel were coop was integrated into the curriculum, I understand the concepts in biology a lot easier and better now that I actually have to use them at work.

 

[batman1983]

Problem with engineering and biology is that the fields are becoming increasingly specialized and competitive. Thus, to get a high paying job in either field requires graduate degrees. In terms of salaries, from what I heard, with an undergrad degree and straight out of college(w/no work/intern experience), bio major makes 20-40k and engineering makes 40-70k(depends on type of engineering, chem and electrical are the highest paying). I think computer science is around 50-65k as well. The thing is that with only a undergrad degree, your salary gets capped pretty quick.

If you want a high paying job, you can either get a graduate degree(within your own field, law, or MBA) or go the entrepreneurial route of doing stuff on the side or opening your own practice/firm(but that usually requires an advance degree to help sell yourself).

 

[batman1983]

.

 

[etf]

analyst at an investment bank. i've seen morgan stanley research reports on celgene written by MD/PhDs. first year you could make 50-80k.

 

[whoisthedrizzle]

go into finance or consulting...they LOVE LOVE LOVE science majors

nope

basic science majors dont bring much to the table

they love engineers for their practical math skills

 

[whoisthedrizzle]

i used to be a database administrator for a research insititute and i saw the gap in salaries between bs/ms research associates vs their pi's and it was insane. bs/ms averaged 35-50k and pi's were making 80k-220k. if you hold a chemistry/biochemistry/biology degree and don't want to go to other professional schools (i.e. pharm, dentistry, etc) then you best be getting a phd.

i second the enormous pay gap

 

[batman1983]

nope

basic science majors dont bring much to the table

they love engineers for their practical math skills

Engineering is highly recruited in the finance and consulting industries since it is considered more logical/quant orientated. The bio sciences are recruited alot in consulting industry, but can also get into finance as well(industry specific group within Investment banking or even on the quant/trading side). The finance/consulting industries are a lot more flexible in regards to majors since most of the companies usually provide training and know that schools dont really teach much of value that is applicable to their business.

 

[Dendrite]

Speaking as a biochem major (from my perspective only - others may be different), I feel like I am a jack of all trades, but master of none.

 

[andrewattheU]

ya biochem majors dont have the time to go in depth in any specific area like chem or bio majors can