Careers with a Biology/Life Sciences Degree

[Changturkey]

(Not sure if this is the proper sub-forum to talk about this)

What is there to offer for someone interested in this field? I have to apply to University in a few months, and am split between some sort of engineering or biology. I heard engineers have 2x the workload of any other program, and my math isn't as sharp as it once was, or maybe I just can't keep up :(. But anyways, suggestions?

[kvk]

It completely depends on your focus. Biology can range from being a field technician, shooting bears in the butt with anaesthetic darts to gather life history data (if you're lucky- that's a dream job!) to playing with gene splices in a lab or playing with bacterial cultures in a petri dish to writing mathematical models of population dynamics. All are very different, but all are in the biological field.

What floats your boat the most?

[mips]

(Not sure if this is the proper sub-forum to talk about this)


You would probably get a better response in the Education & Science forum, http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=169

Do not create a new post there. Rather report your own post using the report button below your name/avatar. That is if you want it moved there.

[mips]

... and am split between some sort of engineering or biology. I heard engineers have 2x the workload of any other program, and my math isn't as sharp as it once was, or maybe I just can't keep up :(. But anyways, suggestions?

Do not pick something because it is easier or has less workload. Pick what you would ultimately like to do and work at it. Yes, enigineering students have a high workload, I would not say x2 though, many before you have managed just fine and I'm sure you will to if you want to.



We chose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our skills and talents, because that challenge is one we are willig to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone and one we intend to win, and the others, too. -John F Kennedy, Address at Rice University, Space Needs, Houston, Texas, September 1962

Sorry, had to post the above. I love that quote from JFK. You can only grow when you challenge yourself, you might fail at times but failing trying is better than not trying at all.

That concludes my motivational comments for the day ;) Have fun!

[forrestcupp]

If you aren't good at math and don't really enjoy it, don't go the engineering route. Why be stuck in something you don't enjoy if you don't have to?

If all else fails, you could be a teacher.

[Changturkey]

Thanks, I'll move my post. But before that, I am not really sure, I'd prefer to work in a lab more than in the field, and if I were to do engineering, I am really interested in the whole "finding an alternative to fossil fuels thing" or maybe just computer engineering. Yeah, math used to be my strongest assest, now it seems to be the complete opposite almost, but it could be my teacher/my self to blame.

[PmDematagoda]

This thread has been moved to the Community Cafe, not to the Education & Science section since that section is:-

A place to discuss scientific and mathematics software for Ubuntu or linux in general. Questions and comments from all academic and research disciplines are welcome.
This thread does not fit that criteria, therefore it has been moved to the Cafe instead.

[Tundro Walker]

That concludes my motivational comments for the day ;) Have fun!

That was a damn good quote!

Side note for Biology ... most Universities offer a double-major in Biology & Business, since the credits overlap quite a bit. Business may not sound interesting, but it's a solid foundation degree to supplement any other degrees you get in your life. Afterall, you're usually going to have a job, and those jobs involve business. A business degree might mean the difference between you doing all the drudge work or managing a group of folks that do the drudge work while you get to see the big picture coming together.

The problems with a Biology degree (from what I learned in thinking of pursuing one) ...

1) The regular Biology degree (botany, zoology, etc) won't get you a very well-paying job. You're going to get stuck doing field work. If you bump it to a Master, you might specialize in some type of field work or cataloging, but it's still some-what low-paying unless some company takes avid interest in what you're doing.

2) A Bio-Chemistry degree (which some Universities are offering as their "Biology" degree these days), is like taking a Chemistry degree. You can get some decent-paying jobs since big pharma-corp's fund bio-chem development, but really, it's like pursuing a Chem degree, lots of math, etc, and less focus on the theory of Biology.

3) Bio-Informatics (EG: The Folding@Home project) is pretty math / statistics heavy. It's like getting a double-major in Biology & Computer Science, because it focuses on a lot of database & programming work. However, this is the here & now ... lots of companies are interested in gene sequencing and other things. We need computers to crank through that stuff. You can get some decent jobs with this degree since the market isn't inundated with it yet.

4) Genetics ... you get decent money, some gene therapy is becoming more prominent these days. However, it's not as "specailized" as it used to be when it first came out. I don't think the market's hurting so bad for geneticists.

So, basically, if you go for the regular Bio degree, you get paid squat. If you go for a technical version, you can actually make a living, but your time will be spent in a lab instead of out-doors.

Regardless of the degree you pursue, try getting one that crosses boundaries. EG: if they have an Engineering degree that focuses heavily on Computer Science. There's more and more specialization these days, and having a degree that helps you fit a niche helps a lot.

[Changturkey]

Thanks for the great information Tundro, I am just having a hard time figuring out what careers really interest me. I can pretty much adapt to anything, I just enjoy Sciences/Math/English more. I was interested in Buisness at one point, but I had/still have no idea what someone with a buisness degree does. I plan to get a masters, but from the way you are putting it, even that won't pay very much at all. I am really interested in virology/disease/genetics/evolution, and for engineering mostly just computers and energy (like I stated before). I also live in Canada, so maybe the job market is different from the U.S (I assume the majority of the posters in this thread are from the U.S).