Microbiology major who's really scared for the future, my heart is in science. Should I switch?

Let me preface this by saying I am a first year college student, but I brought in all the social science and humanities credits I would have to take from AP’s; so I am on track to leave in December 2021. I made this post in college life, but I don’t think those people understood how hard it is to get a career in biology that pays the bills.

Here’s some background on me.

When I was a kid, I would spend the entire summers outside playing in the lake either swimming, fishing, or boating. Naturally, I developed a curiosity as to how the world around me functioned. I’d torture my parents with questions like how did the fish survive when the lake froze or what mechanisms kept the water in the lake fresh and clean? When I turned 12, I fell really ill with a thyroid condition, so whenever I had extra time on my hands, I would research the science behind my condition. I really wanted to understand why my immune system misfired and attacked an organ. The doctors were pretty baffled by a 12 year old who’d question the hell out of them. The following school year, 7th grade, my science course taught genetics for the first time and I was hooked.

I took all three years of biology in my high school, flew threw them all, and barely put any effort in to do it. I still loved all three years of it and felt very engaged.

Also during my childhood, my parents would always keep the news on and my dad would tell me about historical figures. I know a lot of people may think it rooted from him, but eventually I would turn on the news on my own and talk to people about what I saw on there. This interest followed me through my pre-teens, teens, and all the way up till now. My views have shifted greatly from the time I was 12, but I still enjoy keeping up on politics. I never liked taking history courses in school though because the teachers sugarcoated them so much, we’d barely be learning history anymore.

Whenever I picked courses in high school, I always just picked all STEM options. I just always thought I would become a biologist because I am painfully shy, so I couldn’t see politics working in real life. Then, around senior year, I discovered how tough a path to that would actually be and how little money that would lead to. So when college apps rolled around, I searched for schools that taught bioengineering. (Since I was good at Calculus and Physics in school, I thought maybe engineering?)

I know you guys may say, bioengineering is a terrible major. Well, I found a school that offered a slightly different version of it named “Biosystems Engineering.” Out of 220 graduates in 2016, 88% of them were in a job/grad school in 6 months and the average starting salary was $61,000. BE is slightly different than BME, in that BE grads can work in medicine or agriculture.

I took an engineering course during my 10th grade year and I HATED everything about it. I didn’t like building, coding, drafting, the reports, or any of it. I just thought, that was a long time ago, maybe this time would be different. IT WASN’T AT ALL. My intro to BE class was based around having students talk to alumni. Every week, we’d listen to 4 people talk about their jobs. I just could not see myself doing any of them, none of them even remotely sparked my interests. I began reaching out to professors and career counselors. They all expressed to me that if I wanted to work with my hands, be physically active, and directly apply scientific principles I was learning, then I was in the wrong place.

So I switched my major to Microbiology in December and honestly I am terrified. Most people in my major just use this as jumping point to medical school, but I really don’t have any drive in me to be a doctor. The idea of helping/treating people does not appeal to me at all. The idea of going into academia also is really off putting to me. I’d rather get a job after a BS/MS and be done. (Unless I suddenly find some extreme passion.) The issue with that is that bio majors make terrible money. I know money isn’t everything, and I’m not looking to be rich, but at the end of the day I need to be able to save for retirement, pay off loans, a house, cars, and other bills. I’d also like to travel and have a boat.

Since I’ve last posted to CC, I’ve discovered a few things. I really do not like statistics. I am in a stats course for scientists, calculus is a pre-req, and I could care less about it. I dread going to class and the homework is a chore. Also, I can’t write a line of code to save my life. I spend hours doing coding assignments, getting help from others, and staring at the directions in complete confusion. I am not improving at all at this despite my best efforts. I haven’t been able to write 1 line of code without getting an error this semester. I’ve been trying to learn coding in R for my stats class, so this is the language I’ve been struggling in. So that knocks out bioinformatics, biotech, and biostats/public health.

I just feel so stuck right now. I don’t think I can take time off of school, because I am fairly positive my mom would kick me out and cut me off. I am the one who’s paying for college, but I do not have the means to live on my own during the summers, and I need her to cosign on loans. I do have a part time job, but I don’t have a lot of time to work it. I spend 12 hours a week in 2 of my lab courses alone. Can’t drop below full time because that would mess up financial aid.

I know your major doesn’t strictly determine your career path, but I want to work in science. I don’t want to be the bio grad that ends up in marketing or finance. I’ve been doing the math, and it really seems like if I go through with this lab tech route, then I will be living paycheck to paycheck most my life. I’ve also taken a crap ton of career tests and they all say I should be a lab technician.

I am the type of person who needs to have a plan for everything. This literally gives me a lot of anxiety not having any idea what I am going to do. I change my mind between agriculture, food/drug law, and pharmaceuticals on the daily.

Also, I am a first generation student and dropping out really isn’t an option. My mom has made it completely clear that she will disown me if I leave school or take time off. She’s not paying for college, but I am pretty financially dependent on her since I don’t have time to work.

How much are you borrowing for school? Do your parents understand if you can’t repay your loans post graduation then they’ll be responsible for them? Where’s your dad? Would he let your mom kick you out?

If the fields you like and are good at don’t pay a lot of money I wouldn’t take on debt to get a degree in them. Can you transfer to a less expensive school? Are there any schools you can commute to from home? That would cut down on your expenses.

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Well, you have said a lot of things that you DON’T want to do after graduation. What is your dream job and why do you like Biology so much? Start with this and see how you can get to that goal. If the answer requires an advanced degree, you need to think about what you need to do now to get there and not take on a huge amount of debt.

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Engineering and science are two very different things, despite the fact that everybody seems to think that they are not. An engineer identifies problems and solves them, while a scientist identifies processes and looks for underlying causes. each requires a very different mind set and very different set of talents and skills.

Possible futures in microbiology:
A. MS in microbiology, and then work as a lab tech. With a Master’s degree the pay should be decent, though not super high. I would guess that, as you become more experienced, there would be possibilities for advancement to higher paying lab manager positions.
B. Teach Biology in HS - pays better than Lab Technician, but more demanding and more challenging.

You could also expand your search, and look at a jobs in a forensic labs, which pay much better than a standard lab tech. In general, most more specialized types of lab technician pay better than regular lab grunt work.

Most PhDs in biology do not go to academia, but to industry. I’m not sure what the job market looks like for people with PhDs in microbiology in industry, though.

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Have you considered environmental science? That may touch on both biology and politics.

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I think from your post, it appears that you would benefit from learning more about opportunities in Environmental Science as suggested by @yucca10. You seem to enjoy a more outdoors, hands on approach. US Fish and Wildlife offers a very informative post: .fws.gov/international/careers.html My daughter is an outdoorsy, nature loving person who found STEM courses including the labs a breeze. She volunteered summers during HS working with a Marine Biologist at a US Fish and Wildlife location tagging sharks, (sorry, but you will need STATS for the data you collect). She graduated with BS in Marine Bio and is now in vet school hoping to get a fellowship in avian and exotics. One of her classmates switch to Environmental Science and worked for US Fish and Wildlife and now is out in the field working with National Geographic, another friend in Env.Sc is a teacher, several others work at wild life sanctuaries and one at a rescue in South Africa. One friend with Env.Sc works for a policy making branch in the EPA. So, as you can see there are many options, especially if you move quickly to get your Masters.

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