<p>Hey, I've got to a place where I want to get some outside advise. I'm a sophomore at the University of South Carolina Beaufort currently majoring in biology but am starting to question if this is right for me. I majored in bio because I had a love of nature and was thinking that with a major in bio I could get some sort of outdoor/natural history job. However, as I look at the actual jobs available most either pay next to nothing (read poverty line for a family of four level) or are in academia. At first I didn't mind the thought of working in a college but now I think I don't want to be in school forever and have started looking at other options and am starting to feel drawn towards engineering. My question is though can I get into an engineering masters program with a degree in biology? If so what branches of engineering do you think would be possible? Here in SC we have lots of nuclear power plants and I thought that sounded interesting. So what are all y'all's thoughts?</p>
<p>Most grad programs will expect an Engineering undergrad. Or at least the main required classes. Best to switch now if you are only a sop0hmore maybe you can do it without getting too far behind. Or look into Geology. I’m sure there are areas that you do fieldwork and I think the jobs outlook is decent. Work in oil and gas is boom or bust, I hear. You may need an advanced degree or other credentials. I also know quite a few paleontologists, but that isn’t exactly great for job outlook. It is rewarding side work if you like that type of thing. Trying to get an academic job in Bio would be super high level of difficulty.</p>
<p>First, in college I think you should study what you like, with some practical considerations of course. In 2005 Wall Street was booming, and nobody would’ve predicted that the financial and corporate law sectors were going to collapse the way they did. People were telling college students to go to law school just because. Now people - even lawyers, especially the legion of unemployed lawyers - are warning students away from those jobs (or lawyering, at least) because of the high debt and low salaries relative to the debt.</p>
<p>So it’s always difficult to figure out what the “hot” field will be in a few years - right now it seems like engineering is, and while I doubt the engineering market will collapse in the same way, you never know. Besides that, engineering can be a difficult major - because of the workload. So I would advise only selecting it (and any major) because you really like it.</p>
<p>The way to get jobs these days isn’t necessarily your major but your experiences. A former student of mine was a philosophy major who interned at a business while he was in college and now he works full-time at that company. I know an English & music major who works at a major magazine, a biology major who went off to do consulting, a psychology major who works at a big marketing firm, and a French literature major who’s working towards a dietitian’s license now. What distinguished all of them was the kind of summer and term-time internship experiences they had - all of them interned in the field that they currently work in before they got the jobs, and two of them interned for the actual job they are currently working for.</p>
<p>So it may be that you still love biology and want to study it for your major, but you also want to take classes in other areas and get internships that can help you get employment. I recommend learning how to program (CS courses), taking some statistics courses (math or statistics department), and learning how to communicate your ideas well both in written and verbal formats (English).</p>
<p>I also don’t know where you are looking to see potential salaries, but I took a gander at some potential natural resource management/ecological type jobs and I don’t see any of them that have a salary that would be poverty line for a family of four (which is about $22,000).</p>
<p>I see</p>
<p>Conservation scientists and foresters: $57,420
Environmental science and protection technicians: $41,380*
Environmental scientists and specialists: $61,700
Epidemiologists: $63,010
Forest and conservation technicians: $44,390*
Geographers: $72,800
Microbiologists: $65,920
Nuclear technicians: $68,090*
Zoologists and wildlife biologists: $57,430</p>
<p>Source: <a href=“http://www.bls.gov/ooh/[/url]”>http://www.bls.gov/ooh/</a></p>
<p>The jobs that required only an associate’s degree are indicated by a star; most of these jobs required a bachelor’s. Only epidemiologist required a master’s, IIRC.</p>