<p>I graduated in 2011 with a BS in biology. I made ~14k in my year off through various **** job agencies (including a position with fortune 500 pharma). I had previous internship experience and a fairly solid GPA. Sschoe isn’t lying. Most jobs for BS/MS level people are terrible $12-20/hr lab tech jobs with no benefits. Occasionally I do see analytical chemistry positions willing to hire new grads for ~40k though, so if you can get an internship in an analytical chemistry related field you may do all right. Chemical/petroleum engineering can pay very well if you’re willing to relocate to Oil and Gas rich areas. Pharma might be dead, but these areas certainly are not. Even with the projected flat growth for chemE, there has always been a shortage and new grads still get 60k+ right out of school in many cases.</p>
<p>Here’s another suggestion for those interested more in biology. I’m currently doing a clinical laboratory science internship. I’d like to apply to medical school and become a pathologist, but am also very realistic and want a backup (I’ve seen people with 3.5 gpas and 30+ MCATs rejected across the board). This field isn’t amazing, but the work from what I’ve seen in my lab rotations is significantly less repetitive than standard lab tech positions and pays quite a bit better. Going entry-level rates are usually ~40-70k (the high end being in CA which has more restrictive licensure requirements) and include benefits. Lab Managers/directors do pull solid salaries; these positions do obviously require lots of experience and often MBAs/MHAs as well however. People in bio/chem majors with interest in becoming high level hospital administrators, physicians or PAs should consider this as a major. The caveat is it takes most ppl five years rather than 4 to graduate as the internships are very intensive.</p>
<p>Majoring in nursing also isn’t a bad idea if you like medicine. You could certainly take the prerequisites and apply to medical/PA school and have a solid backup if your plan fails. </p>
<p>If you want to do real research in Biology definitely try for the MD/DO with a residency in oncology/pathology or something along those lines. Pharmaceutical/Biotech sometimes hire these people to work in physician-type roles monitoring clinical trials. You could probably focus on cancer drug trials if you wanted or a whole other host of interesting research roles. Of course job security is still pitiful compared to private practice, but the option to do cutting edge research and pass drugs to benefit mankind exists. Very few companies hire biologists to do pure biological research from what I’m aware. A lot of the industry related research occurs at the interfaces of the field in bioinformatics or biomedical engineering (will require advanced degrees). Most pure biology research occurs in academia (and we all know the job market there :-/)</p>