Biology Major jobs? GP?

I'm currently trying to decide on what to apply for uni.. I've been thinking about majoring in Biology ( pre-med )for a year now but I've been hearing negative things about it when it comes to careers after graduating. Are the jobs that bad for biology and does anyone know the path that I should take in order to become a GP with a Biology major? Or is it difficult to become a Gp with such? thank you.

Reply 1

Blue_Cow

22

Original post by Ramak

I'm currently trying to decide on what to apply for uni.. I've been thinking about majoring in Biology ( pre-med )for a year now but I've been hearing negative things about it when it comes to careers after graduating. Are the jobs that bad for biology and does anyone know the path that I should take in order to become a GP with a Biology major? Or is it difficult to become a Gp with such? thank you.

You need a medical degree. Seeing you used the term 'pre-med', I assume you're from the States. In which case you will need to study for an MD/DO after your undergraduate degree.

Reply 2

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by Ramak

I'm currently trying to decide on what to apply for uni.. I've been thinking about majoring in Biology ( pre-med )for a year now but I've been hearing negative things about it when it comes to careers after graduating. Are the jobs that bad for biology and does anyone know the path that I should take in order to become a GP with a Biology major? Or is it difficult to become a Gp with such? thank you.

The medical aspects (relating to becoming a GP) are discussed above, so I won't comment more on those other than to note you can be a pre-med with any major, it's just slightly more convenient with bioscience (and chemistry) majors because you're already taking most/all of the pre-med classes anyway. Other majors you may find you have fewer electives and have to work a bit harder to meet all the gen ed and major requirements and the pre-med classes and avoid any timetabling clashes between those. Both science and non-science majors, having taken the pre-med classes, are as successful in getting to MD programmes (and I assume DO programmes) to my knowledge.

Outside of medicine, the relative merit of the degree is variable. If you want to become an academic researcher in the bioscience, and as a first step pursue a PhD in the area, you will need a relevant degree/major. This could be a bioscience major (such as Biology), a closely related subject (like Chemistry) or sometimes something less immediately obvious (like Physics or Engineering, depending on the specific area you're going into - these backgrounds are naturally quite good for biophysics and bio(medical) engineering, as well as stuff like bioinformatics). Outside of that, the biobusiness sector generally is a growing sector so something you could go into - however my impression is getting a job in the area isn't that easy. Certainly, if you aren't able to relocate to a major area for the sector (like the DMV area, I understand, or more generally maybe some area where agribusiness firms are in evidence) you may find it hard going getting a job related to your degree.

Of course, as with any degree, there are plenty of "generalist" roles you can go into - you don't need a business degree to go into business and finance sectors, or to pursue an MBA (and as above, the biobusiness/agribusiness sector is a growing area, and the latter in particular is a massive sector in the US, so having both a basic scientific background as from a bachelors and an MBA would probably be very good to go into the management/business side of the sector). As well as the MBA noted, you certainly can go to other professional schools like law school or more specific to the degree various other healthcare professional schools, such as PA, pharmacy, nursing etc.

As with any degree though, what you make of it is up to you - perhaps somewhat more in the US than in the UK. You have the benefit of deferring your choice of major for a year or two, so you can always start the pre-med sequence (which is, other than usually physics and sometimes calculus, the same as the prerequisites for most biology majors, and chemistry ones for that matter) and then decide after experiencing the classes in a college setting whether you want to continue. Do be aware that of course in these classes there will be a number of pre-med students aiming very highly, and so the relative difficulty can seem skewed if they heavily curve the grades.

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