<p>I hope someone can give me some advice on this. I have strongly wanted to be an architect for a while now, but I was recently denied from an architecture program at a college I applied for. I am now finishing up my first year of college and I have no idea what major to pick. I still plan on applying to architecture grad school, but for the time being I must decide on another major that interests me. I'm hoping biology would be right for me, but I am not sure and so that is why I am posting here.</p>
<p>I have an interest in science and biological things such as evolution and all that jazz. It's always been fascinating to learn, but never something I planned on working within my life. High school biology was interesting to me. My preferred major would be something combining design and form, hence my choice of architecture, but biology seems like an interesting major. Could someone please explain to me exactly what I would be doing in a biology major and what sort of career it might be able to get with a degree?</p>
<p>A BS in Biology is useless. You will be competing with everyone who was denied entry to Med School for the crappiest lab jobs that pay $12-20 per hour via a temp agency with no benefits. Such jobs often prefer chemists because they have more experience working in the lab with equipment. </p>
<p>I’d suggest either engineering, accounting, Finance but only get the BS in Biology as a stepping stone to Med, Physical Therapy, or some other professional school.</p>
<p>Anything but biology. Anything related to science and engineering pales in the face of accounting, nursing and finance but biology is the lowest of the low.</p>
<p>You can make more as a plumber/welder with a high school degree. Plumbers/welders frequently make more money than engineers. So they should be the goal to beat, and only accountants, nurses and investment bankers can beat their 70-100k salaries easily.</p>
<p>Alright, thanks for the info. I guess I need to keep looking for a major in that case.</p>
<p>Civil Engineering? Could be useful if you want to go on to grad in architecture. Will let you make sure your cool looking buildings can actually stand up. Environmental Engineering is a mix between civil and biology/chemistry. Accounting sounds like an incredibly boring job no matter how much it pays. Guess if that sounds fun or you can’t handle a hard major you could do it. Engineers have good job prospects and pay.</p>
<p>
Stop lumping engineering in with science like that. I’ve seen you do this in various posts around this board and you’re wrong.</p>
<p>Median Starting Salaries
Chemical Engineering (highest engineering): $63,200
Mechanical Engineering (mid engineering): $57,900
Nursing: $54,200
Civil Engineering (lowest engineering): $53,900
Finance: $47,900
Accounting: $46,000</p>
<p>And don’t try to say “Oh, well finance/accounting majors will eventually surpass the engineers”, because on average, they won’t. </p>
<p>Median Mid-Career Salaries
Chemical Engineering: $107,000
…
Civil Engineering: $90,500
Finance: $88,300
Accounting: $77,100
Nursing: $67,000</p>
<p>I agree with you that biology+most sciences are poor choices of major (Biology: $38,800 –> $64,800 if you stop at just the bachelor’s degree). However, your constant bashing of engineering in favor of accounting/finance is just silly, and it certainly does not “pale in comparison” to those lower-paying fields. </p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-Degrees_that_Pay_you_Back-sort.html]WSJ.com[/url”>WSJ.com]WSJ.com[/url</a>]</p>
<p>I bash engineering to reduce my competition.</p>
<p>I bash science because I hate it.</p>
<p>There’s a difference.</p>