Going for a Bachelors of Biology. Looking for some tips, suggestions, ect..

Im planning on pursuing a Bachelors of Biology degree here pretty soon. Currently, I have 53 semester hours completed, and am going to have an Associates of Sciences degree in another semester. Im doing the Associates at a community college and plan to transfer to UNT (University of North Texas) for the Bachelors.

One of the fields of Biology that I am most interested in, is Microbiology. Dealing with bacteria, viruses, ect... just seems really interesting and fun to me (Im in a micro class currently at my community college and it's tons of fun). I am also open to other fields and like to keep my options open.

Im throwing this out here on ATS for any advice, suggestions, basically any feedback. Thanks in advance.

reply to post by buni11687


What you really need to do is actually figure out what kind of job or company you want to work for. Having that you'll more easily stay motivated and focused as you'll be able to more easy see what career path your headed down. Many students just form some kind of generalized idea in there minds of what they'll end up doing. But it's not razor focused. And I think that can end up being to there detrement. Better to reverse engineer it all, so you know more percisely where you're going with all this. Rather than just blazing forward with no exact vision, goal or dream in mind. Those types of people end up getting a degree only to go back and learn plumbing or some other trade, or they bounce around and decide to study a whole other area, just because they don't have a clear vision of where they're going. They become a career student.

If you get married it's impossible to have a bachelors degree.

reply to post by buni11687


Go into Bio-engineering and then please produce a genetic virus that gives people super powers. Seems like we could really use them lately.

reply to post by buni11687

Going for a Bachelors of Biology. Looking for some tips, suggestions, ect..

My advice is turn on spell check: et caetera, et coetera or et cœtera and is usually abbreviated to etc

reply to post by spartacus699

What you really need to do is actually figure out what kind of job or company you want to work for. Having that you'll more easily stay motivated and focused as you'll be able to more easy see what career path your headed down.

This is one of the main points Ive heard from others to.

I plan on doing some intern/field work on the side while studying. Once I am at UNT, there's a student-work program at one of our local lakes that deals with invasive microbes and plants and I have already gone on a tour there and did a little bit of lab related work (very, very minimal though. Basically just a few classroom lab sessions) back when I took an Environmental Biology class. I hear that there are other student-work programs opening up in the future and am planning on taking as many as possible.

reply to post by buni11687


Well unless you have already a field of study to pursue after graduating I can tell you by the experience of my daughter in that same field that is not much money to be made unless you are lucky enough to get a grand to do research.

She graduated with a two year degree in Biology with honors, then attended UGA where she got two bachelors degree one in General biology and another on stem cell research, did her research with the CDC graduated with honors and end up working for a bank for two years, because she could not compete with foreign students when it came to getting grants for research.

After two years she realized that she could not live with making only 13 dollars an hour in a bank with all the education she had so she went back to school and became a nurse graduated also with honors on that too.

Now she makes more than enough to be happy.

Unless you are to try to get into research the competition is high, so you can always teach or end up working in a bank no making enough to pay for your student loans.

I wish you good luck.

buni11687
reply to post by spartacus699

 

What you really need to do is actually figure out what kind of job or company you want to work for. Having that you'll more easily stay motivated and focused as you'll be able to more easy see what career path your headed down.

This is one of the main points Ive heard from others to.

I plan on doing some intern/field work on the side while studying. Once I am at UNT, there's a student-work program at one of our local lakes that deals with invasive microbes and plants and I have already gone on a tour there and did a little bit of lab related work (very, very minimal though. Basically just a few classroom lab sessions) back when I took an Environmental Biology class. I hear that there are other student-work programs opening up in the future and am planning on taking as many as possible.

edit on 30-9-2013 by buni11687 because: (no reason given)

to make a living you just follow the heard. But to make your mark you'll have to step outside of the box and develop some new area of your feild of expertise.

reply to post by buni11687


Don't get drunk every night. Stay away from strippers as girlfriends. Maybe go to class regularly. Just my 2 cents for success in college. Not that these lessons in bedrock stupidity were learned personally....just sayin' as I actually graduated (to the amazement of all involved).

If you wake up in the morning excited to about biology, then do it. It will make life way better in the long run. You can look back and be content with your decisions. If money is all you want, rob banks. Way quicker. Why bother messing around with a boring-ass degree/career that has no other purpose?

marg6043
reply to post by buni11687

 

Well unless you have already a field of study to pursue after graduating I can tell you by the experience of my daughter in that same field that is not much money to be made unless you are lucky enough to get a grand to do research.

She graduated with a two year degree in Biology with honors, then attended UGA where she got two bachelors degree one in General biology and another on stem cell research, did her research with the CDC graduated with honors and end up working for a bank for two years, because she could not compete with foreign students when it came to getting grants for research.

After two years she realized that she could not live with making only 13 dollars an hour in a bank with all the education she had so she went back to school and became a nurse graduated also with honors on that too.

Now she makes more than enough to be happy.

Unless you are to try to get into research the competition is high, so you can always teach or end up working in a bank no making enough to pay for your student loans.

I wish you good luck.

This poster is correct. You'll be in competition for grants. Your best bet is to do a Medical Technologist Bachelors, just my suggestion. You can still work in Microbiology and is in Hospital/Medical field.

I'm related to someone with several degrees in Chemistry/ Masters and this is what they had to do. Working in Science fields is very difficult unless you're a PhD AND have a teaching/board position aka Professor.

Good luck.