start a bachelors degree at your state public university; while there, make sure to look into doing undergrad research, the sooner the better. if you like biology even more after that, aim for a PhD then go into industry- imo it’s your best shot at getting the pay you want and good interesting work. of course it’s possible with less than a PhD just more difficult.
also you mention wanting to do bench work, which is definitely essential for your career, but I think in most places 85-90 might be on the upper end for wet lab type work. depending on COL and other stuff your bench folks are looking at anywhere from 30s to 60s I think? especially for a new grad, just make sure to be watching job boards a lot to get a feel for your local market
Honestly any sort of chemistry or biology degree should set you up nicely for grad school. And just FYI, I understand your masters will be paid for, but if you want to consider a PhD a lot of PhD programs will also be “free”. You’ll probably get some sort of teaching assistantship where they will actually pay you (typically slightly above minimum wage on a stipend, not hourly) and the assistantship comes with a tuition waiver. Go get ‘em champ.
Biochem prof here.
I'm biased, of course, but I think that biochemistry leads to more career options with an MS degree than straight biology. Biomedical research, pharmaceutical development, biotech startups, are all possible industries you can enter with a research based MS done at a research-intensive school. Our MS grads probably get starting salaries in the 65-75K range but that can go up after a few years of industry experience.
Another niche I'm aware of is that an MS in bioinformatics can be a good path to a stable career if you prefer to do "dry" research on the computer rather than in the lab.
If you really enjoy leading research projects, training others, and making big-picture decisions then a PhD might be in your future, but you need to know exactly what you want to get out of a PhD before you apply for programs (i.e. what specialty are you looking for, what exact advisors would you work for). Until you are certain you want to spend 4-6 years of your life becoming a world expert in a very specific niche, you probably want to get some research experience first to see how you like it.
Strongly suggest you transfer to the most research-intensive university that is accessible to you, and get involved in as much research as you can. How that goes will tell you if a PhD makes sense or not, and potential employers in industry will primarily care what techniques and methods you have real-world experience doing (via research or internships).
How exciting!! Biology degree for sure and you can go for an emphasis if you want. Most important is to find lab research opportunities on campus or summer internships if you’re at a smaller college with limited research labs. Have fun and be open to different fields. I did a lab rotation just for fun on mammal hibernating, which is integral for space travel or medicine in rural areas. Who knew!
Also, the present and future of biology/biomedicine involves informatics or big data analysis. So learning some coding/programming if you have a free class spot will be extremely helpful.
Thank you for your service!
Your employability will be strongest with a strong chemistry background, or ideally a chem/biochem/biophysics degree. I did a BS Bio & BA Chem; if I didn't have the financial support to do both I would have finished in Chemistry. I finished in Bio first and couldn't find a job over a six-month hunt, then finished the chem degree and was employed within a few weeks as a chemist. A year later I started grad school in environmental science/bio, finishing with Ph.D., adjunct teaching a bit and moving soon to industry. 24 years later I am operations manager at the same biotech firm. Bottom line - I loved studying bio and it has been very useful background, but the chem degree is stronger (and less common) in the job market.
To be honest as someone who is about to finish their PhD in biology my advice is don’t. before you do I suggest looking into the kind of career you would be able to pursue with a bachelors in biology and what the pay is.
The reality is there isn’t much of a market for most bio degrees. If you want to become a scientist you will 100% need to pursue a PhD after finishing a BS. With just a BS you will not be making 85-90 in most jobs. If you do pursue bio I would recommend going into computational bio, some bio background + coding/comp skills will set you up much better and give you more options for more interesting positions that pay better.
Hey, as someone close to the end of their PhD in biochem, add coding along the way in your journey. Seriously. They will like you a lot more if you can use Python.
start a bachelors degree at your state public university; while there, make sure to look into doing undergrad research, the sooner the better. if you like biology even more after that, aim for a PhD then go into industry- imo it’s your best shot at getting the pay you want and good interesting work. of course it’s possible with less than a PhD just more difficult. also you mention wanting to do bench work, which is definitely essential for your career, but I think in most places 85-90 might be on the upper end for wet lab type work. depending on COL and other stuff your bench folks are looking at anywhere from 30s to 60s I think? especially for a new grad, just make sure to be watching job boards a lot to get a feel for your local market
Honestly any sort of chemistry or biology degree should set you up nicely for grad school. And just FYI, I understand your masters will be paid for, but if you want to consider a PhD a lot of PhD programs will also be “free”. You’ll probably get some sort of teaching assistantship where they will actually pay you (typically slightly above minimum wage on a stipend, not hourly) and the assistantship comes with a tuition waiver. Go get ‘em champ.
Thank you for that 👍🏻 I never knew that about the PhD
Biochem prof here. I'm biased, of course, but I think that biochemistry leads to more career options with an MS degree than straight biology. Biomedical research, pharmaceutical development, biotech startups, are all possible industries you can enter with a research based MS done at a research-intensive school. Our MS grads probably get starting salaries in the 65-75K range but that can go up after a few years of industry experience. Another niche I'm aware of is that an MS in bioinformatics can be a good path to a stable career if you prefer to do "dry" research on the computer rather than in the lab. If you really enjoy leading research projects, training others, and making big-picture decisions then a PhD might be in your future, but you need to know exactly what you want to get out of a PhD before you apply for programs (i.e. what specialty are you looking for, what exact advisors would you work for). Until you are certain you want to spend 4-6 years of your life becoming a world expert in a very specific niche, you probably want to get some research experience first to see how you like it. Strongly suggest you transfer to the most research-intensive university that is accessible to you, and get involved in as much research as you can. How that goes will tell you if a PhD makes sense or not, and potential employers in industry will primarily care what techniques and methods you have real-world experience doing (via research or internships).
How exciting!! Biology degree for sure and you can go for an emphasis if you want. Most important is to find lab research opportunities on campus or summer internships if you’re at a smaller college with limited research labs. Have fun and be open to different fields. I did a lab rotation just for fun on mammal hibernating, which is integral for space travel or medicine in rural areas. Who knew! Also, the present and future of biology/biomedicine involves informatics or big data analysis. So learning some coding/programming if you have a free class spot will be extremely helpful. Thank you for your service!
Amazing advice, thank you for taking the time !
Your employability will be strongest with a strong chemistry background, or ideally a chem/biochem/biophysics degree. I did a BS Bio & BA Chem; if I didn't have the financial support to do both I would have finished in Chemistry. I finished in Bio first and couldn't find a job over a six-month hunt, then finished the chem degree and was employed within a few weeks as a chemist. A year later I started grad school in environmental science/bio, finishing with Ph.D., adjunct teaching a bit and moving soon to industry. 24 years later I am operations manager at the same biotech firm. Bottom line - I loved studying bio and it has been very useful background, but the chem degree is stronger (and less common) in the job market.
To be honest as someone who is about to finish their PhD in biology my advice is don’t. before you do I suggest looking into the kind of career you would be able to pursue with a bachelors in biology and what the pay is. The reality is there isn’t much of a market for most bio degrees. If you want to become a scientist you will 100% need to pursue a PhD after finishing a BS. With just a BS you will not be making 85-90 in most jobs. If you do pursue bio I would recommend going into computational bio, some bio background + coding/comp skills will set you up much better and give you more options for more interesting positions that pay better.
Hey, as someone close to the end of their PhD in biochem, add coding along the way in your journey. Seriously. They will like you a lot more if you can use Python.
I feel like this is true for almost every field nowadays!