Biology degree stress

Hi guys
So I decided that I want to do a Biology degree
However after seeing many forums and online articles, it is made to seem as tho Biology is a dead end degree, with very low pay!
I am getting stressed over what to do, or whether I should change degree choice
Any Biology graduates that can help?!

Not a graduate but a 2nd year (in a biology-related degrees) who's done a module all about employability and jobs so hopefully I can lend a hand. Pay depends massively on which job you go for and there are many jobs open for bio graduates.

You can go into research science (£25,000 to £40,000) and then possibly lead onto becoming a lecturer or a more senior role in the lab (£50,000 to £75,000), you could go into the NHS scientist training programme and train to become one of numerous disciplines within the NHS, plant health inspector, forensic scientist (£20,000 to £45,000).

You can go into science related but non-lab jobs such as science writing (£15,000 to £26,000 to start), marketing and PR in a science company, regulatory affairs, clinical trials coordinator (£23,000 to £30,000 going to to £48,000 to £50,000) etc.

The skills you earn in a biology degree are usually very transferable too and so would open up even more jobs outside of science for you. Policy making (£22,000 to £30,000 going up to £40,000 to £50,000), patent law, sales, accountancy, roles in the media, etc.

There's a large variety in what you can do and so how much you can earn. All the figures in here were from prospects UK and all the jobs were from a list I was given of what bio and bio-related graduates from my uni actually went into. There's plenty of other roles you can go into as well this is by no means an exhaustive list but I do hope it helps!

Depends on what you want to do. I studied biology and now am stuying medicine. My fellow grads are either doing PhDs, working in banking, doing environmental stuff, gone into teaching etc. PAy obviously varies with who is doing what but the person I know who earned to most post-graduation is working for one of the investment banks.

My advice is always to do a degree you are really interested in.
Whatever the degree, whilst at uni, put lots of effort and energy into networking and keep an eye open for every opportunity that might lead to a job later. What you do alongside your degree is often more important than the degree itself.
If you chose a degree you hate so as to get a "good" job and salary afterwards, you may have a "good job" and salary afterwards, but you will hate your life.

So would you say I can get into a good stable job through Biology ?

Sure but make sure you use your time at university wisely and have experience and a good CV.

Depends on what you want to do. I studied biology and now am stuying medicine. My fellow grads are either doing PhDs, working in banking, doing environmental stuff, gone into teaching etc. PAy obviously varies with who is doing what but the person I know who earned to most post-graduation is working for one of the investment banks.

Have you done Biology?
It’s juss there are soo many articles on how Biology is a low paying degree and idk why!

Do yk many who are unemployed?

And to get into investment banking, do you need to go to certain unis?

Yes I graduated in 2018.

As far as I know nobody is unemployed who doesn't want to be.

I'm not too sure.

Yes I graduated in 2018.

As far as I know nobody is unemployed who doesn't want to be.

I'm not too sure.

What uni did your fellow graduate go to? Sorry for asking ! Will give me an idea!

And are all the graduates yk in professional jobs?

UCL

No. Some are, some aren't, some have remained in science and other have changed their paths.

No sorry I meant, if any are in non-professional jobs, such as retail, bars, etc.

A few are yes.

So would you say I can get into a good stable job through Biology ?

Hi guys
So I decided that I want to do a Biology degree
However after seeing many forums and online articles, it is made to seem as tho Biology is a dead end degree, with very low pay!
I am getting stressed over what to do, or whether I should change degree choice
Any Biology graduates that can help?!

It's hard to answer that - how many degrees will get you a "good stable" job these days? I know plenty of people who did IT or psychology or Maths degrees and have ended up having to go into something unrelated. There are subdivisions of Biology which are probably more employment oriented than others eg genetics, but these days, most first degrees don't get you a guaranteed job. You have to go on to do some applied training or qualification before job chances are seriously raised.
Of people I know who did a Biology degree:
- two did a PhD and became university lecturers
- one did a Masters and got a job in a conservation charity
- one went straight from uni into another uni to retrain as a vet
- one went home to manage his family estate (!)
- one couldn't get a job and eventually used the degree to get into the car industry
- one couldn't get a job and retrained as a nurse

If you want to go into pure research or academia, Biology is as good as any.
If you are attracted by careers like investment banking, I have no advice except perhaps to question your values