Biology graduate

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hello students or graduates,
I have a bachelor degree in biology. However, it was not helpful in getting me a job in the field. I always heard from biology graduates who landed jobs in this field, their jobs were not worth it and it is a very basic biology job. I graduated about 6 months ago. I'm not looking now for any biology jobs since it is hard to get a job with this field and the job position would be very basic and not interesting. My plan now is to go back for engineering because I like to design and solve problems. Thus, I have been thinking a science degree ( biology) along with an engineering degree would be a good combination.
Anyways, I'm posting here because I don't know what Engineering major I should pursue. There are many majors inside the engineering field. I thought about bio medical engineering but many told me this is a new field and your probably need a higher degree to get a job. </p>

<p>I'm thinking now of environmental engineering. It is a good major to add to biology. Also, they are related.
Even though it is a good idea, I don't want to repeat the same mistake with biology. I got into biology because I liked it. and now thinking of environmental engineering because I like it and it is related to biology. I'm afraid it is not marketable or applicable as other engineering degree. I don't want to repeat the same mistake. So now, I'm still figuring out what engineering degree I should pursue. Any help, opinions, comments?. </p>

<p>Thank you,</p>

2

<p>I’m pretty sure that you need a Masters or Ph.D to get a “real” biology job (I could be wrong). A B.S. is not enough.</p>

<p>There are a couple “focuses” of environmental engineering (so say my environmental friends), but they say they feel more like they’re helping companies do the bare minimum/ be a good-guy bureaucrat instead of helping the environment. I haven’t heard a lot about biology in environmental, it’s more chemistry (so I’ve heard).</p>

<p>Have you looked into Agricultural and Biological engineering? <a href=“Overview of Agricultural & Biological Engineering - Agricultural & Biological Engineering - Purdue University”>Overview of Agricultural & Biological Engineering - Agricultural & Biological Engineering - Purdue University;

3

<p>I found myself in a similar situation–graduated with a BS in biology, wasn’t happy, and went back for an MS in mechanical engineering (you can look through some of my other posts where I’ve talked about it).</p>

<p>The only way to answer your question is for you to tell us what you’re interested in, what you want to do.</p>

<p>You could most certainly get a degree in BME, assuming you went for a Masters (since, like you said, BME is an area in which you almost need an MS to get a job)–going from a BS in bio to an MS in BME would be the smoothest transition, after you’ve taken a couple basic math/engineering courses. Bio could be a relatively smooth transition to biological engineering as well.</p>

<p>If you’re looking for a BS in engineering, any other option would work, but it depends on where your interests lie. Environmental engineering is most closely related to civil engineering, and perhaps a bit of chemical engineering or biological engineering depending on which area of EnvE you’re in. Along the lines of environmental science, if you’re into renewable energy, then look into mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, or biological engineering, depending on what kind and which aspect of renewable energy you like.</p>

<p>I decided on mechanical engineering because I wanted to approach biomedical and biomechanical issues–mostly related to mobility–from a mechanical perspective without limiting my options the way a BME degree would. I’d like to work on assistive devices, robotics/mechatronics, and dynamics of locomotion. Electrical engineering would also be good for studying robotics/mechatronics, MEMS and microscale/nanoscale assistive devices, and really any biomedical device that involves circuits or sensors.</p>

<p>If you like cell mechanics and biological micromechanics, or aspects of biological engineering like tissue engineering, you can look into mechanical engineering or chemical engineering. Chemical engineering is nice because it opens up numerous options–biological/tissue engineering type jobs, petrochemical jobs, pharmaceutical process development (or really any type of chemical process development), and materials engineering, to name a few.</p>