<p>My son is a junior at an Ivy League college. His grade point average is 2.8. His major is biology. What type of job will he be able to find when he graduates? He has little work experience. No grad school will take him with those grades, right? I am worrying. He won’t talk about it. He has no job for this summer yet. If he can’t get summer job or internship, how will he get a job next year?</p>
<p>A friend’s wife received her Phd in biology several years ago from an Ivy and she has struggled for several years in the job market.</p>
<p>A friend’s S got a BS in bio and struggled for 4-5 years in the job market. Finally decided to get an accounting degree. Now he is heading off to graduate school for accounting.</p>
<p>One friend somehow got into very top financial firm with his Bio (intended to go to Med. School, somehow did not happened). This company paid for his MBA (as many compnies do, both my H. and I got our MBAs this way, while we do not even need it for our jobs, but why not if somebody is paying). He apparently moved up in organization, then resigned and relocated because his W. found a job in another city. Currently, he is CFO with some company at this new location. Not too bad for original non-Ivy Bio major. All along, he got married and has 2 kids.
Apparently, lots you can do with Bio major depending on intentions and character.</p>
<p>He could teach. Lots of alternative pathways for science teachers, if he has the desire and interest in teaching.</p>
<p>There are many lab jobs available for science grads with laboratory experience. They don’t pay terribly well, but enough to live on. Your son should explore opportunities for lab work at his school and try to do a full-time internship over the summer. Between his Ivy degree - and the connections that come with it - and some solid lab experience on his resume he should be OK, at least for a while.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, biology has relatively poor job and career prospects at the bachelor’s level, since the market is flooded with pre-meds who did not get into medical school. Chemistry is not so good either, but chemical engineering is better.</p>
<p>What other subjects is he interested in?</p>
<p>Biotech and pharmaceutical firms hire a lot of bio majors. I only know those located in the Bay Area. However, some firms require at least a 3.0 GPA in their job postings.He still has one more year to boost his GPA.</p>
<p>He should look for summer research opportunities, paid or unpaid, if he wants to continue in his field - it is not too late at this point to find something for the summer. Many internships have a requirement of GPA 3.0 or higher, but some don’t. Laboratory hands-on experience is key to landing an entry-level job in his field.</p>
<p>Thanks for the ideas. They have been passed on to son. Sadly son seems paralyzed right now either with uncertainty about what he wants to do or maybe with depression about situation he is in. Or maybe just laziness. Based on inaction of past two years, I am not hopeful he will look hard for summer position related to future job possibilities. I am unsure whether I should continue to push him to see career or academic or mental health counselor or just be quiet for a while and a change and let him eventually deal with trying to find a job with little experience and shaky academic record?</p>