<p><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/05/15/best-top-most-valuable-college-majors-degrees/">http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/05/15/best-top-most-valuable-college-majors-degrees/</a> </p>
<p>According to Forbes, biochemistry is the #2 most valuable major behind bioengineering. In terms of job growth and job prospects, how are the job prospects for biochem majors nowadays, and, if they aren't so great, does anyone have pro-tips on getting jobs related to my path or should I consider taking up other majors? </p>
<p>Some background: I am a junior Molecular Cell Bio major with an emphasis in Biochem at Berkeley who is iffy on pre-med but I am getting the pressure from family to make a living and help support them after graduating. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Thanks for reading and any helpful comments would be much appreciated!</p>
<p>With the trend of companies re-shoring it may be a good major in 10-20 years but right now we have to many people with bachelors degrees feeling roles of 2 year degree lab techs in many companies just to make money to survive. Biochemistry has slightly better prospects but if you are smart and willing to take a risky plunge/don’t care about money for the next 5-10 years/or willing to get a phd/or even getting into business or sales work this may be a good field for you to make money and grow in.</p>
<p>A little surprised at this article, especially considering it was written 2 years ago. A load of nonsense.</p>
<p>A biochemistry BS without additional professional or graduate schooling is worth almost as little as the paper it’s printed on–there is a glut of biology/biochemistry/chemistry graduates and scant few jobs for them; what jobs are available tend to be low-paying lab-tech positions with zero potential for advancement. Sure, there are exceptions, and sales can be a good job for someone with this background, but by and large it is a poor choice of major. A graduate degree is necessary in these fields (MS or PhD), and even at that level prospects are poor; the number of PhD graduates in bio-related fields is massive, and there simply aren’t enough positions for them. I’ve known several biology and biochemistry PhDs struggling to find professorships in academia and stable research positions in industry, PhDs on their second or even third post-doc. Those with professional degrees (MD/DO, PA, DPT, NP, etc) fare much better.</p>
<p>That said, if biochemistry is your passion and you think you’d be a stellar researcher, go for it. Otherwise, choose something more reliable.</p>
<p>Statistics for bioengineering/biomedical engineering are also misleading, and you need to have a graduate degree (MS) to reliably get a job in these areas. Growth for these areas really isn’t that large; you see high statistics because the number of jobs is so small that even a small increase looks massive when you convert it to a percentage. Of course, it’s hard to say what the situation will look like in 5 or 10 or 20 years; however, if you’re interesting in biomedical engineering or bioengineering, it’s recommended that you get a BS in some other area (mechanical, electrical, or chemical/materials engineering) and then get a Masters in BioE/BME.</p>
<p>Thanks @Ultimablade! Yeah the article must be taking into account future job prospects. Understandably, Biochemistry majors do learn more rigorous classes that chem majors take (p-chem, a-chem, etc.) and I am very interested in that material. However, I am even more concerned about job prospects due to my family situation, so I will probably look into other majors so I can get a job that can sustain me for a while… if that is even possible nowadays!</p>
<p>@AuraObscura I see. I did hear about the downs of biochem as well. I would love to switch to engineering (chemical engineering is in the College of Chemistry, which I am hoping to check out). Engineering is hard to get into my school though. Would you have any thoughts on being an applied math major concentrated in cs? I was looking into teh schedule which is doable since there aren’t a lot of requirements i have to additionally take except I have to start taking CS next sem</p>