<p>I was conned into finance by my Chinese parents who told me if I go biology there is no job and money for me. I bought their words and went finance for the pay, brainwashed.</p>
<p>I came to Columbia as visiting student hoping its great finance class would let me forget biology and science. It didnt work... Now Im a Junior. It's sad some parents only care about how much their son is going to make. Now it's time for passion and heart. I feel eyes brightened seeing those biological terms and even a symbol of an chemical element.</p>
<p>Could you please tell me what I should do? I need a calculus-based physics class to transfer but I didnt take it and it's too late to add new class at Columbia. I need a scholarship coz they'll never support me. They'll think I'm sabotaging a rich rich future.</p>
<p>If it’s not too late for you to do so, you could switch from a Finance major to a Biology major. Of course, you would have to talk to your department head about it. But your parents were wrong on there being no job or money for Biology majors. There’s plenty of Biology majors at my university who were able to find successful jobs after graduation. Besides, a degree is just a piece of paper, and doesn’t guarantee you a job. </p>
<p>His parents aren’t incorrect. You will have a tough time trying to find a job in biology, and if you do find one the pay won’t be great. Instead, biology majors find jobs in health professions (medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, etc), do something unrelated to their major, or teach high school (the pay and job prospects here can be much greater than pure biology but the experience won’t be quite the same/not similar at all).</p>
<p>If anything, you can learn biology by buying the textbooks and reading them on your own time. You won’t get the lab experience, but IMO, pipetting stuff into eppendorf tubes all day isn’t really that fun.</p>
<p>Thanks for helping!!!
Can I restart as a freshman? transfer need a class in physics. I can only take it next semester but if I study for next semester I cant transfer…</p>
<p>Can you still minor in Chemistry? It might help your motivation to have some classes you love together with the ones that you are taking for career reasons.</p>
<p>I don’t know if switching majors is such a (financially) good idea, especially since you’ll likely have to start from scratch and might not graduate on time. But I really respect that you’re looking to forge your own path instead of blindly following someone else’s. So let’s see…What kind of course requirements are there for business? You’re at Columbia, correct? Is there a chance that the Core will have helped you satisfy some major requirements? If not, you could maybe look into taking the class at a nearby community college-- I’d really recommend that you talk to an advisor about this because they’ll know your school and situation best.</p>
<p>Also, I think being a biology major is fine career-wise. You’ll have a lot of options to choose from and could always look into more higher education in the future. Granted, if where the money is is what’s important to you, then something pre-health will probably be worth looking into as well. </p>
<p>Think hard about this, though. Changing your major, especially at this stage in your college career, is a pretty momentous decision. Hope it goes well! </p>
<p>As an alternative, you could try to get into biotech consulting, or another field that includes biology but uses your finance background. There are a lot of large (e.g., McKinsey, LEK Consulting) or niche (e.g., DeciBio, Emmes group) consulting companies that focus on biology beyond just drug development (from research tools, to diagnostics to med devices)</p>
<p>Do you have a full ride scholarship or are your parents supporting you? Switching your major could take longer than 4 years? How are you going to pay for it? Banks in the U.S. will require a co-signer for student loans if that is your plan.</p>
<p>I could be wrong but I suspect it is rare for a recent grad with a B.S, in chemistry or biology to earn a starting salary of 80K.</p>