Hi
I am choosing between biology or nutrition degree and I want to know which one works best, I will be paying $6000 a year for majoring in nutrition, for biology I would have a free ride. Considering the fact that I will be working in Boston call mom which would be best or are they equally good fields.
Please help ASAP
You have pages of advice on other threads recommending that:
- you go to the school you can afford
and
- biology as a major is not good for getting jobs straight out of college
Now you have to decide which advice to take. Crowd sourcing more won’t give you a magic ‘right’ answer. Which is right for you?
Are they both at the same school or different schools? Which is a better fit? Which do you enjoy more?
I I appreciate your reply.
As I have been looking through recent graduates of biology who have a bachelors degree I saw that some of them retained a research associate job position at pharmaceutical companies or similar companies. This is a slim example of a possible job opportunity with a bachelors degree. But when you said that it’s not a good major for getting a job after four years did you mean well paying job or I need jobs in general?
Your help will be helpful.
I would think Nutrition would be marginally better for getting a related-job out of college, but nobody’s going to come knocking down your door to hire you with either degree. My daughter has a degree in Food Science and Nutrition, and it took her about a year to get a job working for one of those companies that sends out pet treats and toys to subscribers every month. Her job was to make sure the pets didn’t get poisoned by the treats. She didn’t do that for very long, as she got promoted into another role in the company that has nothing to do with Food Science and Nutrition.
thank you Simba9
I do believe that nutrition has a straightforward job position more so than biology. Many people told me that with the biology degree isn’t easy finding a job straight out of school with a bachelors degree, But I have seen a few who graduated and went into research associate job position. I just want your opinion furthermore.
Thanks
@Meriam, I’m probably not the person to ask. I never worked in either the field of biology or nutrition. I just know a little about the nutrition degree because that’s what my daughter has. I expected that she would have to go to graduate school if she really wanted to specialize in it, but she lucked out and found a good job in a company she loves, although it did take her a year.
People with biology degrees have a notoriously hard time finding decent-paying jobs that have anything to do with biology. My guess is that those research associate jobs don’t pay well. You’ll probably have to go to graduate school and specialize in something like microbiology or biostatistics to get a good job.
You might ask in the science majors forum - http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/science-majors/
@Meriam, I have a BS in nutritional science, and my husband has a BS in biology. In my case, I worked in community nutrition programs such as Cooperative Extension and WIC. When I moved in my mid 20s, the nutrition jobs were not to my liking (nursing home), so I fell out of the field and continued in the human services and eventually education.
Nutrition is not a high-paying field, but there are several clear career paths. Becoming a registered dietitian is another big hurdle. My preference had always been community education and public health; becoming an RD is not as critical as when becoming a clinical dietitian. Several classmates chose that pathway and went right into graduate programs.
My husband did biology lab work for a few years, meandered, and then eventually went to med school. I think that even when my husband completed his bio degree long ago, not a lot of career paths existed except research, grad school, or med school. Or, in the case of several acquaintances, becoming a secondary teacher.
So…a career path is probably a little more straightforward in nutrition. Both are tough degrees requiring a deep foundation in the natural sciences. For me, nutritional science also required classes in the social sciences and education. And both majors can be stepping stones for med school.
Which do you think you would love more? Choose that major. Wishing you the best with your choice!