Career Opportunities

Common careers for students entering the job market directly after completing their BS degrees include medical technologists, lab technicians, and pharmaceutical drug sales. Other students work as field technicians, wildlife or marine biologists, veterinary assistants, and environmental consultants. With additional course work in education, graduates also serve as teachers in high school.

The BS degree is also excellent preparation for pre-professional or graduate school; about 50% of our graduates go into such programs. Every year, large numbers of our graduates enter medical, dental and veterinary school. Other pre-professional programs popular with our graduates include physical therapy and optometry. Many of our students opt to join graduate programs to obtain advanced training in biology, marine biology, ecology, or public health. Although most students follow these traditional pathways to careers, we find that our students are well prepared for success in such diverse areas of graduate training as law, education and engineering.

Here are some websites with useful information on specific careers related to our majors.

Ecology & Evolution

• Ecological Society of America "Explore Ecology as a Career"
• Botanical Society of America Careers in Botany
• Genetics Society of America Careers

Marine Biology

• NOAA Fisheries Careers in Marine Biology
• Sea Grant Guide to Ocean Opportunities

Medical and Allied Health Sciences

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Healthcare Occupations

Microbiology

• American Society for Microbiology Careers in Microbiology and the Microbial Sciences

Resource Biology / Wildlife Biology

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists

General

• The American Institute of Biological Sciences “Careers in the Biological Sciences”
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Biological Technicians
• The New Scientist “A day in the Life of a Cell and Molecular Biologist”
• The New Scientist “A career in genetics and genomics”