What happens to all the Bio majors that don't make it?

[GottaGetThatMD]

I go to a state school. Over the past four years I have met hundreds of bio majors that intended at some point to pursue medicine. Many of them end up graduating with a bio degree and didn't end up making it into medical school. So what do they end up doing with their degrees, especially if they're not cut out for a research career?

Any ideas? I'm genuinely curious.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[lifetothefullest]

This is actually something I've talked about in-depth with my friends. Personally, I think that a bio degree is one of the more useless ones of the sciences. A physics and math major can work pretty much anywhere - finance, consulting, academia, tech, etc. A chem major can work in industry, maybe big oil, consulting, finance, etc. Those jobs like quantitative backgrounds and so those majors are in higher demand (physics and math more so than chem). But in bio, you don't really acquire that quantitative background and it's really hard to imagine working anywhere but healthcare or academia. Your career options are really limited. If you know computer science (e.g. doing computational biology), then you have a slight advantage since you can do consulting or work for biotech companies. But otherwise, it's really really limiting.

 

[Theafoni]

Law school? environmental/healthcare ethics is an option.

I'm also a bio-major--if I don't get in to med school, it's tight.

 

[hoihaie]

Work in biotech industry as technician, teach hs or ms bio, other healthcare fields (I.e. Nursing, PA, RT...etc), law school, finance, and a plethora of other things. You might have to do more work to get there after college though.

Or be an actress and fight the dark side.

 

[lifetothefullest]

Work in biotech industry as technician, teach hs or ms bio, other healthcare fields (I.e. Nursing, PA, RT...etc), law school, finance, and a plethora of other things. You might have to do more work to get there after college though.

Finance will probably be an issue unless you're at a recruited school and network like crazy. The problem with law school is that if you're a bio major, you're likely not interested in law. You're also taking hard science classes which inevitably deflates your GPA. Law school average GPAs are even higher than those for med school.

 

[Theafoni]

Finance will probably be an issue unless you're at a recruited school and network like crazy. The problem with law school is that if you're a bio major, you're likely not interested in law. You're also taking hard science classes which inevitably deflates your GPA. Law school average GPAs are even higher than those for med school.

I know a biomedical engineer who went to law school. She had a 3.4 GPA but got in to a top 25 school. It's anecdotal but I don't believe it depends entirely on GPA. The high GPA's aren't surprising in any case, most of the pre-laws I know are poli sci majors.

 

[GottaGetThatMD]

Work in biotech industry as technician, teach hs or ms bio, other healthcare fields (I.e. Nursing, PA, RT...etc), law school, finance, and a plethora of other things. You might have to do more work to get there after college though.

Or be an actress and fight the dark side.

I did engineering for undergrad and turned down a full time engineering position in order to go to med school. So my engineering degree definitely gave me options. All the things you mentioned are probably what people end up doing, but they might require a year or two of extra schooling I presume. Do you agree?

 

[lifetothefullest]

I know a biomedical engineer who went to law school. She had a 3.4 GPA but got in to a top 25 school. It's anecdotal but I don't believe it depends entirely on GPA. The high GPA's aren't surprising in any case, most of the pre-laws I know are poli sci majors.

That's interesting. The high GPAs definitely aren't surprising since humanities/social science courses inflate grades much more than science classes do. However, your friend has to be a very rare case. Otherwise law school average GPAs wouldn't be so high. Using the same argument for med schools, there's little reason for a law school to accept a 3.4 science major student when there's a 3.9 pol major with a demonstrated commitment to go into policy, etc. Assuming similar LSATs of course.

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

I had no trouble finding jobs during my upcoming gap year. My biology B.S. coupled with my experiences in research, clinical environments, writing, and teaching are all valuable for hiring. I actually tell people that "acting" like a premed is a great way to go because it can open a lot of doors right out of college.

 

[lifetothefullest]

I had no trouble finding jobs during my upcoming gap year. My biology B.S. coupled with my experiences in research, clinical environments, writing, and teaching are all valuable for hiring. I actually tell people that "acting" like a premed is a great way to go because it can open a lot of doors right out of college.

What kinds of jobs are you talking about, if you don't mind me asking? If you're not comfortable with specifics, the general area would be fine.

 

[GottaGetThatMD]

I had no trouble finding jobs during my upcoming gap year. My biology B.S. coupled with my experiences in research, clinical environments, writing, and teaching are all valuable for hiring. I actually tell people that "acting" like a premed is a great way to go because it can open a lot of doors right out of college.

Gap year jobs tend to be relatively low paying, no benefits kind of jobs (from what I hear). Any examples of careers that bio majors can go into?

 

[lifetothefullest]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-10-worst-majors-for-finding-a-good-job-211340394.html
http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/physical-and-biological-science-jobs

Just from a brief glance, it looks like research/technician jobs are pretty much it... I think to be a clinical research associate paid at that high of a salary you'd need to have seniority or a PhD.

 

[Theafoni]

I had no trouble finding jobs during my upcoming gap year. My biology B.S. coupled with my experiences in research, clinical environments, writing, and teaching are all valuable for hiring. I actually tell people that "acting" like a premed is a great way to go because it can open a lot of doors right out of college.

"acting like a premed", can you expand? In my case, I've been doing research in a pharmacology lab. I'm planning to take a gap year so I either I get paid through research or I'll have to find some other type of work to keep me afloat.

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

Gap year jobs tend to be relatively low paying, no benefits kind of jobs (from what I hear). Any examples of careers that bio majors can go into?

I didn't apply for jobs designed for gap years, I am just saying that I managed to get multiple job opportunities/invites/interviews for myself during my gap year. These could easily be permanent positions with opportunities for advancement within the companies or elsewhere. One of the limitations I have is actually the fact that I will have to leave after 1.5 years. I am talking about teaching jobs, biotech, start-up opportunities, clinical positions.

 

[ERK123]

That's interesting. The high GPAs definitely aren't surprising since humanities/social science courses inflate grades much more than science classes do. However, your friend has to be a very rare case. Otherwise law school average GPAs wouldn't be so high. Using the same argument for med schools, there's little reason for a law school to accept a 3.4 science major student when there's a 3.9 pol major with a demonstrated commitment to go into policy, etc. Assuming similar LSATs of course.

I would say if you look across the board at law schools (i.e. not just the top 25) you would see that the average GPA is lower than for mid to low mid tier medical schools. There are schools in the top 50 and especially top 80 that have average GPA's in the 3.3, 3.4, and 3.5 range. I also have heard that the LSAT is much more influential in law school admissions than the MCAT is in medical school admissions (I do not know the extent to which this is true however) so making up for a low GPA might be more doable. I would be very curious to learn the amount of bio majors that go onto law school. I only knew a handful of bio/pol majors during undergrad and I do not think any wanted to go to law school.

 

[Theafoni]

I think I would have chosen to major in finance or accounting if I was a freshman again.

 

[lifetothefullest]

I would say if you look across the board at law schools (i.e. not just the top 25) you would see that the average GPA is lower than for mid to low mid tier medical schools. There are schools in the top 50 and especially top 80 that have average GPA's in the 3.3, 3.4, and 3.5 range. I also have heard that the LSAT is much more influential in law school admissions than the MCAT is in medical school admissions (I do not know the extent to which this is true however) so making up for a low GPA might be more doable. I would be very curious to learn the amount of bio majors that go onto law school. I only knew a handful of bio/pol majors during undergrad and I do not think any wanted to go to law school.

I don't know many either... But comparatively speaking, I would think that going to a top law school is much more important than going to a top medical school. You can still get matched into a good residency if you go to a mid/low-tier medical school. But the difference between top and mid tier law schools is the difference between getting a Supreme Court clerkship and getting a really bad one. So if you look just at top med schools versus top law schools so you're comparing apples to apples, average GPAs are higher for law schools. Though I'm not sure how much weight the LSAT has.

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

"acting like a premed", can you expand? In my case, I've been doing research in a pharmacology lab. I'm planning to take a gap year so I either I get paid through research or I'll have to find some other type of work to keep me afloat.

Just being very very active with extracurriculars. Most nonpremed students (especially if they don't plan on pursuing any type of graduate school) I know don't go hard into things like research and volunteering. If you don't want to pursue medicine then these activities could easily be related to your own interests, but the main point is to gain a lot of that experience as if you were going to be judged on it (which you will if you use that experience to apply for jobs). Pre-med students already know this because they plan to put it on their apps, but many people don't. I applied to a start-up doing some technological work in clinics and hospitals, and it was nice to be able to answer every interview question confidently, ie. What teaching experience do you have, what experience do you have working with EMR systems, what experience do you have working on teams, etc etc. If you come back with "well I always studied in groups for my classes and explained things to my classmates" or "well my family members were sick a lot so I always got to watch the doctors" it just doesn't ring as nicely as citing years of experience in clinics or in a leadership position on a research team.

 

[GottaGetThatMD]

Just being very very active with extracurriculars. Most nonpremed students (especially if they don't plan on pursuing any type of graduate school) I know don't go hard into things like research and volunteering. If you don't want to pursue medicine then these activities could easily be related to your own interests, but the main point is to gain a lot of that experience as if you were going to be judged on it (which you will if you use that experience to apply for jobs). Pre-med students already know this because they plan to put it on their apps, but many people don't. I applied to a start-up doing some technological work in clinics and hospitals, and it was nice to be able to answer every interview question confidently, ie. What teaching experience do you have, what experience do you have working with EMR systems, what experience do you have working on teams, etc etc. If you come back with "well I always studied in groups for my classes and explained things to my classmates" it just doesn't ring as nicely as citing your years of experience in clinics or in a leadership position on an important research team.

Makes sense to me!

 

[Gurby]

Just being very very active with extracurriculars. Most nonpremed students (especially if they don't plan on pursuing any type of graduate school) I know don't go hard into things like research and volunteering. If you don't want to pursue medicine then these activities could easily be related to your own interests, but the main point is to gain a lot of that experience as if you were going to be judged on it (which you will if you use that experience to apply for jobs). Pre-med students already know this because they plan to put it on their apps, but many people don't. I applied to a start-up doing some technological work in clinics and hospitals, and it was nice to be able to answer every interview question confidently, ie. What teaching experience do you have, what experience do you have working with EMR systems, what experience do you have working on teams, etc etc. If you come back with "well I always studied in groups for my classes and explained things to my classmates" or "well my family members were sick a lot so I always go to watch the doctors" it just doesn't ring as nicely as citing years of experience in clinics or in a leadership position on a research team.

"Do all of the things" seems to be the key to success no matter whether your goal is to go into medicine, business, be a professional musician, be a ski bum, etc. The more you put yourself out there and get involved, the more connections you make and the more doors open for you.

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

"Do all of the things" seems to be the key to success no matter whether your goal is to go into medicine, business, be a professional musician, be a ski bum, etc. The more you put yourself out there and get involved, the more connections you make and the more doors open for you.

Exactly. People complain that their degree isn't getting them a job. Well, I agree with that, the degree is just a component, and if you wasted 4 years just hanging out with friends and turning food into poop while you got decent grades, that doesn't really show too much.

 

[PreciousHamburgers]

I go to a state school. Over the past four years I have met hundreds of bio majors that intended at some point to pursue medicine. Many of them end up graduating with a bio degree and didn't end up making it into medical school. So what do they end up doing with their degrees, especially if they're not cut out for a research career?

Any ideas? I'm genuinely curious.

Or, they didn't choose to go into medicine. I swear. What is it with pre-meds thinking medicine is the ultimate career. It may be for them, but not most people. This mindset really bothers me because it makes people come off as pompous. Medicine isn't first place in the race to a career. Get over yourselves.

 

[KillaKitteh]

Many of my bio major friends who didn't want to go to medical school ended up going to other grad schools - some in the healthcare field, like PA, nursing, dental, pharmacy, optometry, veterinary medicine, or MPH/epidemiology. Others got into programs for PhDs or masters in biology or other fields of science; some for non-science like MBA or master's in education. It's definitely difficult to get a long-term, good-paying job with opportunities for advancement with just a bachelor's degree in biology, but it's a good springboard for a lot of great careers that are in high demand right now if you can afford grad school.

Going off of this, I have a friend who graduated with a bio major and was going for nursing and now has switched to grad school for nutrition. Additionally, when I was looking for a job during my gap year some of the long term careers (which were out of my time span) were positions at a zoo or even with the EPA.

I honestly don't understand the worry about getting a job if you're a biology major, I was never really that concerned. There's a lot you can do with it in health care/other life sciences, plus there's always research, whether through the government or private-based, and academia/education. If you're not interested in those types of careers odds are you aren't interested in biology either.

 

[Doug Underhill]

Have you not noticed all of the people other than MDs working in your hospital? Do you think they're just random Joes who were hired over bio graduates because they don't have the stigma of being "failed pre-meds"?

 

[Goro]

I was pre-med for all of ten minutes, so one path is PhD and research and/or teaching. My Dep't Chair, a PhD, was also a pre-med.

I remember one classmate who went into accounting. Others became lab techs, law (one friend became a patent attorney), another a science writer.

I go to a state school. Over the past four years I have met hundreds of bio majors that intended at some point to pursue medicine. Many of them end up graduating with a bio degree and didn't end up making it into medical school. So what do they end up doing with their degrees, especially if they're not cut out for a research career?

Any ideas? I'm genuinely curious.

 

[alphamine]

Mostly research, lab, other healthcare jobs, or teaching.

 

[mishamichii]

🙂

 

[vellez]

Grad school.

 

[unnumzaan]

With just a bachelors in Biology, your options are extremely limited, as others have pointed out. If you actually want to use the degree, you will hit glass ceilings in most career trajectories. Some people just end up doing things that have nothing to do with biology, or even science.

 

[Ad2b]

re: finance jobs -

english technical writing, morphed into computers when 8088s came out, morphed into something called cost accounting, morphed into ... eventually, VP internal audit public company and now premed.

YOU can do anything you want (reasonably) - your degree does not necessarily define you. What you choose to do with it does. Go grab life. My hunch is that if someone is bio major and they don't make it 2nd or 3rd time... they do "something" and in 10 years we find them back here having fixed what was wrong times 1-2-3 and they are accepted.

Just saying 🙂

 

[IgEdoc]

I was unsuccessful the first time around and a BS in Bio was not offering many good jobs (almost did get one at a paper processing plant), so one gap year studying for the MCAT, then the second year at grad school in pharmacology which opened up lots of research involvement (and the topic at my faculty interview at the med school I finally got into)

 

[Banco]

Grad school, teaching, consulting, research, hospital administration, finance (if from a prestigious school), public health/epidemiology etc. There are options out there.

 

[Spirit of the Student Doc]

If their grades weren't good enough and there is NO grad school of any sort they can get into.....

Then nothing good. The degree is a joke and provides no actual skills. The degree is acquired only to show that you can in fact learn, what you learn on the other hand isn't all that much. Even the bio stuff isn't enough to get you very far.

For example say someone doesn't get into ANY grad school and decides they want to be a lab tech at 22 w/ a Bio degree.
Okay, well let's just hope they have at least a 2.5 (most places are going to want a minimum 3.0) and 2 letters of reference (or at least 2 professors willing to give them a good reference). The can apply to a Medical Technologist school and put in 2-4 MORE years of their life for what will realistically pay 19-22 starting wage in most parts of the country. Or they somehow find a place where they can get a year of hands on experience take the ASCP boards and then become a tech (I know Mayo, some others, do this but they also want your grades and good luck getting in with a 3.0 or less). Also, all the creative paths like this are shut with a low gpa.
Except for one. 2 years getting a voc tech degree, pass MLT boards, work 2/3 years at or near FT, then take MT boards. If you can pass MLT you can probably take the MT that day and pass... but the time is just wow.


So anyways, my point is money wise........ you don't want to end up with a Bio degree and no alternative. In of itself it might land you a $16 job...... that might qualify you for food stamps.... Yikes!

 

[Spirit of the Student Doc]

Grad school, teaching, consulting, research, hospital administration, finance (if from a prestigious school), public health/epidemiology etc. There are options out there.

I think OP is saying if they stop at a generic Bachelor's degree in Biology.