Careers with a biology degree (bachelor's, PhDs, skills, MBA)

[PYT]

I got my degree in Biology two years ago and since then I have been teaching English in China which, all in all, has been an amazing experience. Teaching has taught me a lot of skills and I have learned a great deal of Chinese (not fluent yet though). However, now I believe it is time to go back to the United States and get serious about starting career, especially since I am 24.

Originally, I was planning on applying to medical school. I have the grades and scores to be competitive (I took the MCAT already, received recommendation letters), however, I am starting to have serious doubts about how much I truly want to be in this profession. It's a great career path and it will offer me a comfortable salary, job security while being able to make an impact on others. I've enjoyed my experiences volunteering in the hospital and shadowing physicians (didn't LOVE it, but I see myself happy pursuing this path). Nevertheless, the 7-8 years of intense schooling/training, high job stress/hours and immense debt load puts me off. It's not something I want to go into unless I am 110% sure.

I've been researching other careers path, in particular those outside of the health field (since I am already quite familiar with health care). However, it seems like health care is the safest bet to go with a biology degree (physician assistant, pharmacy, etc etc). A bachelor's in biology doesn't offer much opportunity and a Ph.D (which was something I was seriously considering) in molecular biology or biochemistry doesn't necessarily mean a good job. As much as I love biology, I would hate to spend 5-6 years training for a discipline that won't pay off and be in post-doc/adjunct purgatory. In addition, pursuing this path means spending a few years working as an entry level research associate (which means waiting even longer before graduate school).

It just seems like the only safe options are a masters/phd in biostatistics or bioinformatics (which could be an interesting option), a MBA or patent law (which I don't care for). I have just been researching non-health care options (outside the ones I mentioned above) and they all seem somewhat of a risk.

A part of me wants to see if I can take a completely different route and use my experience in China towards something here in the US (or if something good pops up, in China). However, teaching in China is a dead end job and I need to make a move within the next year or so (or risk becoming irrelevant). Furthermore, there are tons of Chinese immigrants here in the United States with perfect Mandarin/English so my Mandarin isn't as much of an asset as most people believe. I know for a fact that I do not want to be involved with education. Don't get me wrong, I think teaching can be great, but it's not what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Sorry for the long post, nevertheless, anyone have input on my situation... especially those with experience in biotech?

[jobaba]

Nobody can tell you what to do because nobody knows your personality.

If you're REALLY ambitious and want to make a difference, get an MD/PHD.

If you want to teach and do non-medical research, PHD.

If you just want to make a lot of $, Specialty MD.

If you want to make a lot of $ and don't want to put in ridiculous hours, get a DDS.

If you don't want to be in school and internship that long ... Pharmacy.

Etc, etc...

[High_Plains_Retired]

I don't know if you are aiming at the private or public sector but I have a MS in biology and am retired from the field of biology within the Federal government. Before my going to the Interior Department, I worked for a decade doing environmental analysis, risk assessments and environmental documents (in compliance with ESA, NEPA, FIFRA, etc.) for the U.S. Department of Agriculture i(USDA) n one of their headquarters agencies in Washington D.C. Our environmental staff was located within the agency's biotechnology and environmental coordination staff. A good number of our people were Phds but all of the biotech people were lawyers and PhDs.

With your international experience, I would say you would be a good candidate for USDA's Foreign Ag Service (FAS). I was once offered the opportunity of joining FAS while I was serving a temporary duty assignment in South America but I turned it down because I had a young daughter in school at the time. The best thing about FAS is that it had a 20-year full retirement similar to Federal law enforcement. I'm sorry that I can't offer any information regarding FAS hiring procedures. I'm sure Civil Service admissions has all changed since I left.

I wish I could remember all the leads I had for entry-level positions after graduation but a few I recall were:

1. A state game warden (my BS was wildlife management)
2. A state water fowl biologist
3. A reclamation biologist for a coal company doing strip mining.
4. R&D for several pharmaceutical companies.
5. Several Federal agencies who hire biologists (USDA, USDI, EPA, etc.)

Other possibilities for biologists: I used to have to meet with various Congressional staffers on environmental issues. I used to wonder what it would have been like to work as one of those staffers providing biological information to be used in the Congressional decision-making process. I have no idea how one gets those jobs.

Biologists also work in art. Early in my career I was once asked if I would be interested in sketching the insects to be used in the USDA training manual after the instructors caught me drawing the insects for the recognition tests we were to take for our new officer training. Another guy who was a real artist beat me out on that job.

One biologist who became a very successful artist you may know is Gary Larsen, the author of the cartoon series called The Far Side. Many of his best cartoons contain a biological theme.

Other fields that use biologists include parks, zoos, environmental management companies, environmental analysis contractors, health care providers, natural history museums and on and on. Of course there are hundreds more career areas that use biologists. Each carry with them certain educational and experience requirements.

If nothing else from my ramblings, I hoped I could offer a bit of encouragement. Some folks do make a career of biology.

You sound as though you certainly have the courage to take on real challenges so I wish you the best of luck. Who knows. The next time we hear from you you may be representing the interests of the USDA at the American Embassy at Beijing.