Unsure of pursuing a biology major

<p>I'm majoring in biology at my local college. I was planning on finishing my AA or I guess it would be AS and then transferring into a major university to finish my BS. I have been hearing that biology is too general of a degree and I did a search on local job listings. Basically every application say no fresh graduates. </p>

<p>The academic advisers at my local college are basically clueless so I was looking for advice whether it be on here or a site that somebody can connect me to knowledgeable people. </p>

<p>I was thinking I should tech into a more specific biology degree such as microbiology to have a more specific skill set. My greatest interest is in cellular research but I'd like to pursue education in a realistic field. </p>

<p>You can teach biology at a high school in biology.</p>

<p>Outside of that, there are very very limited opportunities for bachelor’s biology majors, including any of its “sub-specialties” really, unless you are going to pursue professional school or a PhD (if you want to do research). Maybe you can get a PhD in microbiology, but a microbiology degree at the BS level may even be worse than the flat bio degree.</p>

<p>You won’t really find a good job with only the BS in biology. There are not really any jobs for just that.</p>

<p>Any recommendations on what majors I could tech into after transferring to a major university? The university requires specialization for biology majors including cell and molecular, marine, environmental etc. They also offer biomedical sciences </p>

<p>Oh - if you mean specialization, it probably won’t make too much a difference in employability at the Bachelor level, I doubt any one of those would be better employment-wise. You can however do a specialty based on what you want to do in grad school, so you are more experienced with the subject later on. Whichever you are interested in</p>

<p>If you’re interested in doing cellular research, then you’ll likely need to get a graduate degree, to be involved in meaningful research. Cell and molecular biology would likely be a good choice for an undergraduate degree, if you need to choose one, and I’d highly recommend that you get involved in research as an undergraduate, both to see if it’s the right path for you and to get valuable experience for graduate school. With only a BS in biology, you’ll likely only be able to get a job as a lab tech or assistant (or something like that), and these types of jobs are often used as stepping stones to later get a Master’s or PhD.</p>

<p>If you do pursue a PhD in biology for resaerch, keep in mind the average salaries for postdocs in the life sciences are among the lowest in all postdoctoral research positions. You’d be living on a very slim budget.</p>