Biology/Molecular Biology job prospects?

<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>Just signed up today and this is my first forum post on here, so bare with me...</p>

<p>I'm currently attending a community college in northern NJ where I live and majoring in Biology. Right now, I'm looking at transferring to Montclair State University for my Bachelor's Degree. I can't decide between majoring in Biology or Molecular Biology once I get there. I'm unsure of what the realistic outlook of jobs are in these fields, and what jobs each major is likely to land you once you make it out to the streets. I've tried to research this and keep getting conflicting information. Info please!</p>

<p>Some info on myself to help:</p>

<p>I'm 28 years old (soon to be 29) and a U.S. Army veteran, so for me its not about making the big $$$... its about doing what I have genuine interest in and enjoy learning about, and the personal accomplishment that comes along with it. My age considered when I graduate, along with financial limitations, I have no intention of applying to medical school. I'm looking for which biology-ish major would be more readily employable in a way. I'm not against being a physician's assistant or anything like that, but I think in general I would prefer sort of a lab type setting to something in a physician's setting. The employment outlook once a graduate, along with job requirements for those positions will end up determining if I will be applying to get a Master's Degree right away or if i'll wait a while so I can get some lab experience under my belt.</p>

<p>I'm still a freshman so I know I have some time to work all of this out but I'm the type of guy who likes to plan ahead. Not set in stone, but a good idea of which direction I should be going. Any and all info and comments are appreciated. Thanks!</p>

<p>Any iteration of biology/chemistry/most sciences in general have exceedingly poor job prospects especially at the undergraduate level. The best use for a science degree is to get into healthcare professional school otherwise the degree is less than worthless. It will set you up for terrible lab jobs typically through staffing agencies for $15 an hour no benefits. You will be lucky to get that as unemployment is high. It is very much a dead end career not worth the effort to get the degree for.</p>

<p>The only biology based degree that has decent career prospects would be probably nursing. Medical technology is another possibility but I doubt it is worth it. You will get a job but again it is a poor paying lab job but at least no staffing agency. It pays $38-50k a bit higher in states like CA with licesning requirements. There are a lot of poor hours, cuts in the lab so patients don’t see it, states with less regs use AA level techs more and pay less and the doctors and nurses treat you like crap. You are at the bottom of the healthcare food chain. Might as well go nursing.</p>

<p>Most of what sschoe2 is saying is true. Prepare to face bad jobs or unemployment with an undergrad degree in bio or any of its categories.</p>

<p>With just an undergrad degree in the sciences, particularly biology, prospects are not great for a career. You can get a low-paying job as a lab technician, but if you want to go further, you will need a graduate degree or go into education.</p>

<p>Here is an article for Molecular Biology by the ASM (American Society for Microbiology) </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.asbmb.org/uploadedFiles/ProfessionalDevelopment/Professional_Development/ASBMB_2011CareerText_Web_Final.pdf”>http://www.asbmb.org/uploadedFiles/ProfessionalDevelopment/Professional_Development/ASBMB_2011CareerText_Web_Final.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The job prospects for MOLECULAR biology is much higher than almost any other field… These three above me probably didn’t even try to look up information on your question. </p>

<p>I am a California CLS and have been working in a hospital for 25 years. I make around $75K and work 4 days a week. Yes, when you first start out, you may be stuck with bad hours but eventually with experience you can get good hours and very decent pay (in California). Also, the general population is aging, so there is a great need for CLS’s. I work in a Cancer Hospital and we are treated with respect. The MD’s will often come down to the laboratory to check on patient’s slides etc… and I have never been treated bad or looked down upon. Maybe it depends where you work? Since I do work in California and we have stricter licensing requirements, the pay is comparable. @sschoe2: Sounds like sour grapes on your part. Good Luck with whatever you decide.</p>

<p>@Ghandigandhi: The document you linked to doesn’t really show anything, nor does it contradict anything the previous posters said. You accuse them of not trying to look up information, but I imagine the reason for that is that they are all familiar with the field in question, that they either have been in the field or know someone in the field or have been exposed to it by working in a related field and thus, know what the employment climate is for people with degrees in biology. In fact, your link says nothing about salaries and advancement potential for individuals with a BS in biology (molecular or otherwise), or for that matter an MS in biology (molecular or otherwise), or a PhD in biology (molecular or otherwise). Even if the number of jobs in biotech is growing, the job market is still grossly oversaturated with biology grads, and the available jobs are low-level lab tech gigs. PhD graduates have difficulty finding professorships in academia, and trouble finding stable placement in industry.</p>

<p>@Gumbymom: It’s great that you found a good position, however, CLS (though biology-related) is not the same as biology. Someone with a BS in biology wouldn’t be eligible to sit for CLS licensure and would have to go through quite a bit of additional coursework/labwork/rotations. I’m sure the job prospects for CLS are good, much better than for biology, but the two are not the same thing. So @sschoe2’s comments still hold true, since he was talking about biology in particular. That said, CLS might certainly be a good option for the OP to look into.</p>

<p>If you want to increase your job prospects as a biology major, add something that makes you stand out from others: get a lot of research/industry experience while in school or learn a significant amount of math or programming.</p>

<p>On that second point: I had to put my resume into a database for an internship challenge as part of a job I had been offered. I didn’t even upload the cover letter part of the application. But I got a very long email less than a week later from a different company that had seen my resume and jumped on the fact that I was a bio-related major with extensive knowledge of computer science. That skill will put you heads and shoulders above a lot of somewhat computer-phobic bio majors, depending on the subfield you go into.</p>