I mean, it’s not like admission to PA programs is an automatic thing either, you know?
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There are ~140k biology degree recipients per year. ~10k biology majors apply to PA school each year, and the vast majority of that 10k are rejected. So I’d guess that under 3% of biology majors become PA’s. However, pursuing a PA certainly is an option that some choose as is nursing, pharmacy, optometry, dentistry, etc.
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Wow! 140K biology degrees each year? I fact checked it and you are right. Ugh! So, clearly college students pursuing a biology need to plan for post graduate professional school or research roles otherwise the supply/demand ratio for one with just BS in Biology is very poor, especially in the Age of AI
dfbdfb - Yes, no guarantees on PA school. But I know several young people who took this path after failing to get into a worthy Med school and it has worked out nicely.
Btw, I looked up the number of total engineering degrees conferred in the US each year and it was around 14Ok. Thats all engineering including Bio Medical, Mechanical, etc.
I guess I did the right thing supporting my kids in their pursuit of engineering degrees. 
While it’s understandable that people desire high paying careers, we also still need HS biology teachers, college biology professors, lab and pharmacy techs, (college chemistry majors may also choose these, though the college degree may not be needed- my s got a pharm tech certificate while in college for a summer job) etc.
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My daughter was a biology major who spent a year as a clinical research coordinator before returning to school. The job also trained her to be a phlebotomist.
The hospital training was 6 weeks (some training programs are longer) and phlebotomists are always in demand.
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However, phlebotomist is a job that does not require a bachelor’s degree, so someone who graduates college and then works as a phlebotomist would be counted as “underemployed” by the definition of “working in a job that does not require a bachelor’s degree”.
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Some cities actually pay their teachers well (relative to others).
My kid also did TFA with her biology degree and taught middle school science. This particular city pays well relative to others, and does not have the same starting salary for all who hold a BA/BS. Your starting salary is based on the number of credits in your teaching area that you graduate with. She also received an extra $14,000 a year for giving up her prep. Her salary for a new grad was not bad.
Note: teaching is not for the faint of heart.
Another thing to keep in mind that many wealthier suburbs are now laying off teachers. Lots of teachers.
Adding again: Most biology grads return to school.
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I just had a conversation with a speech pathologist that is involved with AI. She said OTs, PTs, Speech therapist, this is where they are going since they hit the height of their careers
Many tech companies are hiring right out of college and high school. It’s all over LinkedIn and real. Look up the tech companies that are hiring the most. It’s a impressive list. It’s on LinkedIn somewhere. It’s not all doom and gloom. I get it that internships are hard to get. I know someone that the week before just lost one. During the pandemic it happened to my son. But both “pivoted “and landed good situations.
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I am an SLP and have used AI to create stories, behavior rubrics, timers, etc. It can also be used to evaluate language samples, although I have not done this.
AI helps but thankfully will not take over the field- there is a lot of counseling, individual feedback, etc. Humans also need to communicate with other humans, especially given the wide scope of this field.
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This isn’t where I was going but going to pm you later. The person that I spoke an AI webinar that I helped moderate was the past president of the SLP association of Illinois and was in Washington on the HILL fighting for the field. These therapists left their jobs being therapists to work in AI in different positions. I have seen this in different companies.
Also many companies are hiring with no work experience. But, people reading that are looking for jobs being able to create an AI agent is helpful. Even if it fails. Just use a chat and ask how to do it step by step. These companies do ask for you to build “something “. Hint: They don’t care what it is or even if it makes sense. They want people that are “hungry “to learn and to advance their products.
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Oops…I misread your first post. You have piqued my interest!
Dm sent.
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Just talking to a dad at the gym. Son is majoring in Supply Chain at UTK. Says he applied widely - maybe 50-60 places. 10 interviews. He’s turned down 3 offers and just accepted a 4th in Nashville at $75k with a $10k sign on in production planning for a chemical company. He had turned down the other three offers so dad had gotten nervous.
I think there’s definite pockets of success dependent upon major and/or location.
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Did he turn down each of the three offers before or after getting better ones? Turning down an offer when there is nothing else to choose from is risky, but turning down an offer when there is a better one is courteous to the employer making the worse offer.
10 interviews and 4 offers out of 50-60 applications seems like a very high success rate compared to most people’s experiences these days.
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I didn’t ask. I just know he had nothing - so the three were gone b4 the one he accepted. One was last summer’s internship which dad said the student didn’t like.
I don’t know any of the timing of the first three relative to one another other than the student had nothing until #4 came in.
Supply chain has been a great major and I assume will continue to be given the constant cuts and efficiencies being sought.
And yes his success rate was very high, higher than I’ve seen even in the good times when my son graduated.
How many of the interviews and offers were ones where he was connected or hooked? (Of course, last year’s internship employer was one.)
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I think it’s more than just pockets of success. While there is a significant variation among different individuals, including a correlation with major and location; the norm is finding employment or continuing education within a few months after graduation, and the exception is seeking employment/education. Post grad employment reports suggest this pattern appears at nearly all colleges that have been discussed in this thread. You mentioned UTK, so I’ll list stats for UTK 24-2025. Stats for supply chain management major seem quite close to the overall median stats for all students.
Major – Median Salary, % Seeking Employment/Education
- All Students – $60k, 7% seeking (Most common majors = marketing, supply chain, nursing)
- Chem Eng – $85k, 0% seeking
- Nursing – $67k, 0% seeking
- Advertising – $58k, 1% seeking
- Electrical Eng – $79k, 3% seeking
- Education – $49k, 4% seeking
- Computer Science – $85k, 5% seeking
- Supply Chain – $65k, 7% seeking
- Construction – $71k, 8% seeking
- Biology / Neuroscience – $43k, 9% seeking
- Psychology – $41k, 14% seeking
- English – $35k, 19% seeking
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No idea. I just know what I reported. It wasn’t that deep a conversation.
The gap in optimism/pessimism about the job market between young (15-34) and old (55+) Americans is quite large in comparison to other countries:
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Being the parent of two young people and hearing their stories (and that of their friends), I can understand the pessimism.
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