What Can I Do With a Biology Degree?
Posted On at by Kumar A biology degree is best viewed as a building block upon which your career will begin to take shape, or as a gateway through which you'll be able to choose a number of career paths. Studying biology is a great way to prepare for a variety of jobs. There's no one set thing you have to do with it; rather, it's a tool that will help you study or do even more than you might realize.
One of the most popular paths for students majoring in biology is medical school, since a biology-based major provides a good foundation in the topics that will be investigated more thoroughly at a post-graduate level. A good biology degree crosses disciplinary lines and includes instruction in chemistry and physics, which also come in handy in medical school, and can provide a student with an idea of what medical practice he or should would like to specialize in. What's more, the MCAT, the test required to get into med school, has a substantial biology section, making the major a smart one for anyone interested in being a medical doctor.
However, there are a variety of careers under the umbrella of biological scientist. They all take the basic instruction of a biology degree but select different focuses and specialties related to the study of living organisms. For instance, a biology major can lead to a career as a zoologist or wildlife biologist for someone who wants to devote themselves to studying the practices and habitats of wild animals. (And within this group is further subcategorization, whether it's ornithologists, mammalogists, or dozens more.) Another option is biochemistry, which focuses on the chemical composition of organisms and how those combinations and relationships change over time and through reproduction. There's also microbiology, the study of microscopic organisms; aquatic biology, the study of plants and animals that live in the water; and botany, the study of plant life and its effect on the environment. These are just a few suggestions, but the goal is to see that biology is the study of all life, and that can be combined with your own interests or pursuits to form a variety of interesting career choices.
More broadly, a biology degree can be used in multiple fields. In addition to practicing medicine, a biology degree can prepare you to work in education as a professor at the collegiate level or as a high school teacher, or to work for a museum or other organization devoted to educating people about science. A biology degree is also the first step in working for a private drug company or for the state or federal government to work on a variety of life-related issues like pollution or extinction. By combining medical training with personal passions, there's almost no limit to what you can do with a biology degree.
One of the most popular paths for students majoring in biology is medical school, since a biology-based major provides a good foundation in the topics that will be investigated more thoroughly at a post-graduate level. A good biology degree crosses disciplinary lines and includes instruction in chemistry and physics, which also come in handy in medical school, and can provide a student with an idea of what medical practice he or should would like to specialize in. What's more, the MCAT, the test required to get into med school, has a substantial biology section, making the major a smart one for anyone interested in being a medical doctor.
However, there are a variety of careers under the umbrella of biological scientist. They all take the basic instruction of a biology degree but select different focuses and specialties related to the study of living organisms. For instance, a biology major can lead to a career as a zoologist or wildlife biologist for someone who wants to devote themselves to studying the practices and habitats of wild animals. (And within this group is further subcategorization, whether it's ornithologists, mammalogists, or dozens more.) Another option is biochemistry, which focuses on the chemical composition of organisms and how those combinations and relationships change over time and through reproduction. There's also microbiology, the study of microscopic organisms; aquatic biology, the study of plants and animals that live in the water; and botany, the study of plant life and its effect on the environment. These are just a few suggestions, but the goal is to see that biology is the study of all life, and that can be combined with your own interests or pursuits to form a variety of interesting career choices.
More broadly, a biology degree can be used in multiple fields. In addition to practicing medicine, a biology degree can prepare you to work in education as a professor at the collegiate level or as a high school teacher, or to work for a museum or other organization devoted to educating people about science. A biology degree is also the first step in working for a private drug company or for the state or federal government to work on a variety of life-related issues like pollution or extinction. By combining medical training with personal passions, there's almost no limit to what you can do with a biology degree.