<p>I love science and for a long time I was sure that I wanted to major in biology, but I've been having a lot of second thoughts about it. </p>
<p>In a perfect situation, I would love to spend most of my time working outdoors in wildlife. I want to study animals and habitats and ecosystems. I could see myself working in zoology or marine biology. </p>
<p>But there's this stigma attached to becoming a biologist, I think, that is making me scared that I'm going to be isolated working in a cold lab day in and day out. I just want to know what I should realistically expect when going into a career in biology. I would pursue a P.hD after I graduate, so I wouldn't expect to be stuck as a lab technician for very long.</p>
<p>Is my idea of working with pandas and in rainforests and oceans way too unrealistic?</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure, after exploring the right PhD and postdoc programs, you will be able to find and land a position more akin to your interests. Not all biologists choose careers that revolve around the “cold” labwork you mentioned. There’s patent law and entrepreneurship and science journalism and, what sounds like you’re eager to do, fieldwork. I could go on and on; the flexibility of a biology degree is undeniable.</p>
<p>Without more education, MS, PhD, MD, DO, etc., you aren’t going to be doing much with a biology major</p>
<p>Well you’re interested in wildlife biology, so there’s no reason you’d have to be in a lab. You would be the outdoor-type of biologist . . . I don’t think that’s unrealistic at all.</p>
<p>See if you can’t find a professor at your school whose research involves a lot of fieldwork, so you can get an idea of whether this is what you would want (being a zoologist is a big difference from being a zookeeper, after all). If working outdoors is your calling, then stick with it, and later enroll in a PhD program appropriate to your interests. There is really no shortage of graduate programs in “outdoors” biology fields. For example, I have a friend who is pursuing her PhD from Duke in avian biology. Every day she observes birds in their natural setting and manages the traps she sets outside to catch them (don’t worry, she studies their population biology, not their innards). This is a far cry from the shackled-to-my-lab-bench future in biology you fear.</p>
<p>Current biology has nothing to do with animals other than mice and humans as test subjects. 99% of people who get a PhD in biology do not get to even come close to a panda except in a zoo. The positions that are open for macroscopic biology are extremely limited. The real progress being made in this field is in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Microbiology. Most biology labs work with a mouse as the largest model organism, all the way down to nonliving protein molecules.</p>
<p>If you want to go to the rainforest, take a vacation… not study biology. You don’t need a biology degree to enjoy nature. Instead do finance, that way there’s plenty of spare money left for rainforest.</p>
<p>My lab is only cold when the air conditioning is turned too high in the summer.</p>
<p>If you really do have a passion for wildlife ecology and want to study it, you’ll find your Phd to be one of the best times in your career. As a grad student, you get a measly salary and benefits, free tuition and all you have to do is your research. You aren’t expected to manage a lab, win grants or do any of the service activities that faculty have to do. If you are fascinated by the field, then whatever benefits come as a result of having the degree afterwards are just gravy.</p>
<p>A biology degree is very versatile but to get to the point your interested in you will need at least a Masters and years of experience.</p>