If you have obtained a degree in biology and a career in medicine, you could consider a lot of alternatives. We will show you some other interesting options that you can apply to your future career when you have graduated in biology.
In the United States, a very large proportion of medical students have a degree in biology. That would indicate that this is a clear orientation: studying biology to later expand into medicine.
However, although many people choose this path, the fact is that there are other alternatives, professions, and careers for which a biology degree is very useful.
What other alternatives to medicine can you apply to your biology degree?
As we said before, a very significant proportion of biology students are not going to focus their future careers on medicine. This fact is a reality that, in addition, also has to do with the wide range of options and possibilities that you can pursue when you have a degree in Biological Sciences.
Generally, someone with such a degree has gained knowledge and skills that allow them to orient themselves in different fields, from the biotechnology industry to practical work in laboratories, etc.
In the first list of alternatives, we could see that a person with a degree in biology could be engaged in issues such as:
- Teaching in public or private institutions
- Jobs related to food and food quality
- Laboratory work and biological research
- Forensic science
- Environmental science
- Biomedicine
Each of these options, in turn, has branches and subdivisions. We can imagine that this creates an enormous variety of possibilities.
Take biotechnology, for example, where the fields of work can range from consultancy to research and development, bioprocessing, and even marketing or commercial work.
Not only medicine within the health sector
That is another important aspect to bear in mind if you study biology. There is a misconception that the entire health sector is reduced to medicine. It is not true at all.
The health sector in the United States has a huge variety of career possibilities. For example, pharmacy, physiotherapy, and nursing. If you have a job, you will need to take further training. As you can see, post-secondary degrees and alternatives are many and varied.
Other degrees you can take
There are many undergraduate degrees you can choose from, with biology at the core. It will, of course, depend on what you want to do with your future career, but all of them can lead you to new employment models.
However, it is very important to study each possibility offered by the different degree programmes here. Bear in mind that these are studies that can last around four years and guide you in a very specific way and that it will be difficult to link them together. If, for example, you study psychology, they will have little to do with agriculture.
Some of these degrees could be the following:
- Microbiology Science
- Psychology
- Agricultural Sciences
- Environmental Science
- Nursing
- Biochemistry
These are just some of the options, there are more, and you should study all the different paths thoroughly if you have studied biology but do not want to go into medicine. On the other hand, not all bachelor’s degrees are the same length.
For example, you can complete a Bachelor of Science in Food Technology in about three years. However, if you study biochemistry, the average will be four years.
How much will you earn in other jobs related to biology studies?
That is a complicated aspect to explain. In general, the average income for people who have obtained a biology-related degree is very variable. We can find people with salaries from $50,000 to people with wages of over $140,000.
Generally, the more additional studies you bring to the table, the higher your aspiration to improve your salary level. For example, those who take a specialised Master’s degree and complementary studies as additional courses have a higher projection of earning more money.
On the other hand, your future career choices will also influence. For example, molecular biology can provide access to highly paid research jobs. But also, good nursing education can provide a career with a high salary: in the United States, the best nurses can earn an average salary of over $68,000 per year.
The main lesson to be learned from all this is that it is not necessary to study medicine when you have a background in biology specifically. It can be a good help, but there are plenty of other options and possibilities you could pursue for your future career.