What Can I Do with a Bachelor’s in Biology?

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• The pro­grams include a broad range of spe­cial­iza­tions such as ecol­o­gy, zool­o­gy, genomics, and bio­med­ical engi­neer­ing.
• Grad­u­ates can pur­sue careers in research, health­care, envi­ron­men­tal con­ser­va­tion, and edu­ca­tion.
• Numer­ous orga­ni­za­tions sup­port biol­o­gists by pro­vid­ing spe­cial­ized resources, pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment, and net­work­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties. These orga­ni­za­tions, such as the Amer­i­can Insti­tute of Bio­log­i­cal Sci­ences, the Amer­i­can Soci­ety for Micro­bi­ol­o­gy, and the Roy­al Soci­ety of Biol­o­gy, cater to var­i­ous spe­cial­iza­tions with­in biology.

Biol­o­gy is an incred­i­bly diverse field, and biol­o­gy bachelor’s degree pro­grams are just as diverse. While it is the study of all liv­ing things, it must be remem­bered that it encom­pass­es thou­sands of dif­fer­ent species of plants, ani­mals, birds, mam­mals, amphib­ians, rep­tiles, and many oth­er types of liv­ing things. Study­ing liv­ing things entails learn­ing every­thing about them includ­ing their behav­iors, how their bod­ies work how they think, what they eat, and almost any oth­er ques­tion you can think of as to what, how, or why, an ani­mal is a way it is. Because biol­o­gy is such a wide-rang­ing and diverse sub­ject, the num­ber of spe­cial­iza­tions is stag­ger­ing and the list con­tin­ues to grow.

What Is A Biologist?

A biol­o­gist is a sci­en­tif­ic pro­fes­sion­al who stud­ies liv­ing organ­isms, no mat­ter how large or small. They study every­thing about them, includ­ing their eat­ing habits, how their bod­ies work, and their behav­iors. This applies to plants and oth­er types of veg­e­ta­tion as well. By learn­ing about how liv­ing organ­isms grow, devel­op, pro­cre­ate, and basi­cal­ly sus­tain life, a biol­o­gist can come up with med­ica­tions, treat­ment options, iden­ti­fy poten­tial health prob­lems, and even improve the envi­ron­ment. Because a biol­o­gist works with many dif­fer­ent types of liv­ing organ­isms, they are able to under­stand how the uni­verse works as a whole and how we can take bet­ter care of our environment.

Accreditation for Biology Programs

Accred­i­ta­tion for schools and biol­o­gy Bachelor’s degree pro­grams is essen­tial if grad­u­ates of these pro­grams want to be taught the most accu­rate and up to date infor­ma­tion pos­si­ble with­in the indus­try. Accred­i­ta­tion is the ulti­mate ver­i­fi­ca­tion that a school and its degree pro­grams are at the high­est lev­el of aca­d­e­m­ic excel­lence. Degree pro­grams and learn­ing insti­tu­tions that receive this type of acknowl­edg­ment are con­sid­ered to be the best pos­si­ble choic­es if a stu­dent wants to have the nec­es­sary skills and abil­i­ties they will need to suc­ceed in their cho­sen profession.

Accred­i­ta­tion is not a one-time deal. Once a degree pro­gram or learn­ing insti­tu­tion has been rec­og­nized and accred­it­ed, it must go through the review process on a reg­u­lar basis to main­tain its accred­it­ed sta­tus. If at any time it fails, it will have to go through the entire process all over again to ensure that it con­tin­ues to meet or exceed indus­try standards.

Insti­tu­tion­al accred­i­ta­tion is some­times referred to as “region­al” accred­i­ta­tion. This type of acknowl­edg­ment is giv­en to col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties as an “insti­tu­tion”. Unlike a spe­cial­iza­tion accred­i­ta­tion that only rec­og­nizes a spe­cif­ic degree pro­gram, and insti­tu­tion­al accred­i­ta­tion ver­i­fies that the learn­ing insti­tu­tion as a whole has met or exceed­ed the board’s require­ments and has received the nod of excel­lence in edu­ca­tion. Insti­tu­tion­al accred­i­ta­tion must be reviewed every year or so to deter­mine that is con­tin­u­al­ly meet­ing the required stan­dards set forth by the accred­it­ing board.

Spe­cial­iza­tion accred­i­ta­tion is reserved for degree pro­grams with­in a spe­cif­ic spe­cial­iza­tion. Biol­o­gy degree pro­grams can include those for a marine biol­o­gist, micro­bi­ol­o­gist, nature con­ser­va­tion, and many oth­ers. A spe­cial­iza­tion accred­i­ta­tion focus­es on each indi­vid­ual degree pro­gram and offers approval based on the indi­vid­ual stan­dards that have been set for each pro­gram. Spe­cial­iza­tion accred­i­ta­tion pro­vides val­i­da­tion to each spe­cial­iza­tion so that stu­dents who choose to pur­sue those degrees know that they are receiv­ing the best edu­ca­tion pos­si­ble and will have the best pos­si­ble chance for a lucra­tive and pro­duc­tive career.

Accred­it­ing orga­ni­za­tions for biol­o­gy degree pro­grams include the Amer­i­can Soci­ety for Bio­chem­istry and Mol­e­c­u­lar Biol­o­gy, as well as sev­er­al region­al accred­i­ta­tion bod­ies locat­ed through­out the coun­try. The ASBMB works to rec­og­nize the efforts of degree pro­grams by ensur­ing that they con­tin­u­al­ly main­tain the high­est pos­si­ble aca­d­e­m­ic stan­dards. Uni­ver­si­ties and col­leges can use this accred­i­ta­tion sta­tus to gain fund­ing so they can con­tin­ue to pro­vide the high­est qual­i­ty of edu­ca­tion to their stu­dents. Accred­i­ta­tion also gives the school access to a test­ing pro­gram that is designed to eval­u­ate a student’s progress and deter­mine the program’s over­all effec­tive­ness when it comes to pro­vid­ing the most accu­rate course materials.

For stu­dents, this means that the cur­ricu­lum they are fol­low­ing has been ver­i­fied to sur­pass the set of stan­dards in place with­in their cho­sen indus­try. They will receive more than ade­quate train­ing in terms of com­mu­ni­ca­tion, ethics, team build­ing, and safe­ty. Stu­dents will also have access to an option­al degree cer­ti­fi­ca­tion exam that will show how com­pet­i­tive they are when com­pared against their peers and oth­er grad­u­ates from sim­i­lar degree programs.

Employ­ers can hire grad­u­ates who enrolled in an accred­it­ed pro­gram know­ing they were pro­vid­ed with the high­est qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion pos­si­ble. The grad­u­ate will be able to per­form a vari­ety of tasks using the skills and abil­i­ties they received from a degree pro­gram that pro­vides the best edu­ca­tion­al resources pos­si­ble. Accred­it­ed pro­grams pro­duce grad­u­ates that rank at the top of their pro­grams. They are of the high­est cal­iber and will be effec­tive communicators.

Types of Biology Degrees

There are many dif­fer­ent types of biol­o­gy degrees that stu­dents can choose from. Many biol­o­gy degrees can be found that include the cours­es offered for an Asso­ciates’ degree. This cuts the num­ber of years for both pro­grams, allow­ing a stu­dent to obtain their Bachelor’s degree in approx­i­mate­ly four years. In the future, indi­vid­u­als who have earned a Bachelor’s degree in biol­o­gy can explore many new oppor­tu­ni­ties. Spe­cial­iza­tions con­tin­ue to include more and more job descrip­tions which will allow stu­dents to fine-tune their career goals.

Course­work for a bach­e­lor of sci­ence degree or oth­er biol­o­gy under­grad­u­ate degree will focus heav­i­ly on research skills

Online Bachelor’s Degree Programs

Online Bachelor’s in Biol­o­gy degree pro­grams are ben­e­fi­cial in many ways. Not only do stu­dents enjoy a flex­i­ble sched­ule, but they can also attend any col­lege or uni­ver­si­ty they choose that offers the degree pro­gram they are look­ing for. Stu­dents who do not do well in a class­room set­ting or with large groups of peo­ple can thrive in an online learn­ing envi­ron­ment. They have access to all of the same course mate­ri­als as well as to the fac­ul­ty and can per­form their home­work when­ev­er it fits into their sched­ule. Stu­dents are able to main­tain a full class sched­ule and main­tain a full-time job so they can con­tin­ue to care for their fam­i­lies. If they are lucky enough to be already work­ing in their cho­sen career field, the expe­ri­ence they receive will be extreme­ly ben­e­fi­cial on many levels.

Traditional Bachelor’s Degree Programs

A tra­di­tion­al Bachelor’s degree is the best choice for stu­dents who need the strict struc­ture of a class­room set­ting. In a class­room, biol­o­gy majors have imme­di­ate access to the instruc­tor and can phys­i­cal­ly see what is going on around them. They have a more hands-on learn­ing expe­ri­ence that rein­forces what they are see­ing and hear­ing. Many stu­dents feel that being in a class­room offers a more pow­er­ful learn­ing expe­ri­ence because they are immersed in the envi­ron­ment. When it comes to biol­o­gy degree pro­grams, attend­ing a tra­di­tion­al class­room set­ting gives stu­dents an oppor­tu­ni­ty to do their lab work in an actu­al lab set­ting, com­plete with every­thing they need to per­form each task. A major in biol­o­gy needs hands-on learning!

Just a few spe­cial­iza­tions include:

• ecol­o­gy
• zool­o­gy
• ecosys­tems
• genomics
• evo­lu­tion­ary biology
• envi­ron­men­tal science
• bio­med­ical engineering
• crime scene investigation

Certificates in Biology

Anoth­er type of course offer­ing is a Cer­tifi­cate in Biol­o­gy. Cer­tifi­cates serve many pur­pos­es. They can be used to meet the required num­ber of con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion hours that are need­ed to main­tain licens­es and cer­ti­fi­ca­tions. Cer­tifi­cates can also be used to val­i­date a person’s past work expe­ri­ence. If a per­son has held the same job for many years but nev­er took the time to return to school to earn a degree, the cer­tifi­cate they earn will pro­vide them with the cre­den­tials they lack. Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams can range from six to eight weeks or six months to a year, depend­ing on the type of pro­gram and what skills are being offered. Cer­tifi­cate pro­grams are great for fill­ing in gaps of knowl­edge between degree pro­grams and will work well for some­one who needs cre­den­tials until they can get enrolled in a Bachelor’s or master’s degree program.

Many bio­med­ical stu­dents will choose med­ical school or oth­er health­care grad­u­ate programs.

Careers in Biology: What Can I Do with a Bachelor’s in Biology?

Biol­o­gy is a very diverse career field. It cov­ers all types of life forms in both the flo­ra and fau­na gen­res. It also includes the study of microor­gan­isms, cells, and tis­sues, and how they relate to the life forms they belong to. Stu­dents who choose to pur­sue a Bachelor’s degree in Biol­o­gy nor­mal­ly do so because they are inter­est­ed in learn­ing about the world around them. When it comes to a career, there are many oppor­tu­ni­ties over and above what many peo­ple would con­sid­er the most pop­u­lar jobs.

So if you’re won­der­ing what to do with a bachelor’s in biol­o­gy, here’s a place to start:

Biol­o­gist – A biol­o­gist is some­one who has a work­ing knowl­edge of dif­fer­ent life forms and the mech­a­nisms that allow them to func­tion. Biol­o­gists also have been giv­en train­ing when it comes to the envi­ron­ment, health, and tech­nol­o­gy. Biol­o­gists can work in research set­tings or in a vari­ety of office set­tings where health screen­ings are per­formed. Indi­vid­u­als who grad­u­ate with a Bachelor’s degree in biol­o­gy will be able to pur­sue a career in almost any spe­cial­iza­tion they choose.

Marine Biol­o­gist – Marine biol­o­gists have a spe­cial­iza­tion that involves the study of marine life. Marine biol­o­gy includes any ani­mal, amphib­ian, or veg­e­ta­tion that is found liv­ing in the water. It is a marine biologist’s job to study the oceans and oth­er bod­ies of water and learn every­thing they can about the life forms that reside there.

Aca­d­e­m­ic Researcher – An aca­d­e­m­ic researcher who has earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biol­o­gy is a valu­able asset when it comes to deter­min­ing the nutri­tion­al and med­i­c­i­nal prop­er­ties of plants and var­i­ous types of veg­e­ta­tion. Aca­d­e­m­ic researchers per­form stud­ies and tests to pro­vide infor­ma­tion to phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal com­pa­nies, chem­i­cal man­u­fac­tur­ers, and many oth­er indus­tries to deter­mine the effects of their prod­ucts on var­i­ous life forms. Aca­d­e­m­ic researchers are also in high demand due to the ever-chang­ing world we live in.

Biotech­nol­o­gist – A biotech­nol­o­gist stud­ies all types of tis­sues, learn­ing their phys­i­cal attrib­ut­es and then pro­vid­ing that infor­ma­tion to com­pa­nies that devel­op new prod­ucts, tech­nolo­gies, and process­es that are made avail­able to the pub­lic to improve qual­i­ty of life for humans as well as oth­er life forms. Genet­ics, as well as both chem­i­cal and phys­i­cal char­ac­ter­is­tics of var­i­ous types of tis­sues and cells, can tell man­u­fac­tur­ers a lot about how their prod­ucts may or may not improve the life of the per­son on the life form in ques­tion. Tech­nol­o­gy con­tin­ues to advance at a light­ning-fast paced. Indi­vid­u­als who work in the field of biotech­nol­o­gy need to remain vig­i­lant and con­tin­ue to pur­sue their edu­ca­tion so they have the lat­est skills and infor­ma­tion avail­able at all times.

Edu­ca­tor – Edu­ca­tors who have earned a Bachelor’s degree in biol­o­gy can often find work as an edu­ca­tor. Grad­u­ates can find work teach­ing in any num­ber of envi­ron­ments rang­ing from ele­men­tary schools to major uni­ver­si­ties and com­mu­ni­ty col­leges. Edu­ca­tors can also be found in muse­ums, con­ser­va­tion cen­ters, and in learn­ing acad­e­mies that focus on teach­ing spe­cif­ic skills to the indi­vid­u­als who vis­it them. Edu­ca­tors who have a Bachelor’s degree in biol­o­gy or any of its spe­cial­iza­tions are in high demand across the Unit­ed States. If this career path is cho­sen, stu­dents will be able to choose from a wide vari­ety of loca­tions and grade levels.

Nature Con­ser­va­tion Offi­cer – A nature con­ser­va­tion offi­cer works in pub­lic parks and recre­ation­al areas. It is their job to ensure that the flo­ra and fau­na through­out their juris­dic­tion remain healthy and unharmed by human or indus­tri­al means. A nature con­ser­va­tion offi­cer stud­ies the life forms with­in their juris­dic­tion to iden­ti­fy any poten­tial prob­lems they may be expe­ri­enc­ing. Once issues are iden­ti­fied, it is up to the offi­cer to take the steps that are nec­es­sary to cor­rect the problem.

Micro­bi­ol­o­gist – A micro­bi­ol­o­gist stud­ies micro­scop­ic organ­isms like virus­es, bac­te­ria, and oth­er small or sin­gle-cell life forms. Micro­bi­ol­o­gists are often on the front lines when a viral or bac­te­r­i­al out­break occurs. It is their job to iden­ti­fy the strain, learn as much as they can about the dis­ease, and then find a pos­si­ble way to treat, or at least con­trol it so that it does not spread.

Phar­ma­col­o­gist – A phar­ma­col­o­gist stud­ies the effects of med­ica­tions and their many com­po­nents on var­i­ous life forms to find out what side effects are present and what ben­e­fits each one may have. Phar­ma­col­o­gists assist with the devel­op­ment of new med­ica­tions that can be used to fight chron­ic or long-term health con­di­tions. Phar­ma­col­o­gists are in high demand. Grad­u­ates who choose to enter this pro­fes­sion will be able to explore numer­ous employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties through­out their careers.

Oth­er careers for biol­o­gy grad­u­ates may include high school teacher, envi­ron­men­tal sci­en­tist, pub­lic health, food sci­en­tist, bio­log­i­cal tech­ni­cian, genet­ic coun­selor, bio­chemist, or a non-sci­en­tif­ic job in a relat­ed field (such as phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal sales rep­re­sen­ta­tive or qual­i­ty con­trol). With an advanced degree such as a doc­tor­al degree, career oppor­tu­ni­ties and medi­an salary increase. Biol­o­gy careers may be found in gov­ern­ment agen­cies, acad­e­mia, research insti­tutes, and man­u­fac­tur­ing settings.

Biologist Salary

The salary expec­ta­tions for some­one who earns a Bachelor’s degree can be extreme­ly wide-rang­ing. Fac­tors that affect this wide range of salaries include the place of employ­ment, loca­tion, years of expe­ri­ence, and what lev­el of edu­ca­tion a prospec­tive can­di­date has. On the low end of the scale, a biol­o­gist can make any­where from $36,000 to $42,000 per year on aver­age, accord­ing to the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics (BLS). Biol­o­gists who have years of work expe­ri­ence and a good col­lege degree can expect to make any­where from $63,000 to $96,000 per year on aver­age. With the right job in the right loca­tion, the high­er salaries can top out at over $100,000 per year. Salaries will also vary depend­ing on spe­cial­iza­tions. A phar­ma­col­o­gist may make sev­er­al thou­sand dol­lars more per year than a reg­u­lar biol­o­gist due to the high­ly spe­cial­ized nature of the work they do.

Professional Organizations

There are sev­er­al orga­ni­za­tions that sup­port biol­o­gists and their many coun­ter­parts. Each orga­ni­za­tion is unique and many were estab­lished to sup­port spe­cif­ic spe­cial­iza­tions. Each orga­ni­za­tion is its own enti­ty and works to pro­mote the group of biol­o­gists that fall into its spe­cif­ic cat­e­go­ry. There are numer­ous orga­ni­za­tions across the world that are com­mit­ted to help­ing pro­fes­sion­al biol­o­gists of all specializations.

Amer­i­can Insti­tute of Bio­log­i­cal Sci­ences – The Amer­i­can Insti­tute of Bio­log­i­cal Sci­ences was estab­lished almost 75 years ago to sup­port grad­u­ates who had earned a degree in Biol­o­gy or estab­lished them­selves as a pro­fes­sion­al in the field of bio­log­i­cal sci­ences. The AIBS offers the Bio­Science Jour­nal to its mem­bers to keep them up to date on cur­rent hap­pen­ings with­in their indus­try. The group also pro­vides orga­ni­za­tions that offer research funds with peer reviews of the high­est qual­i­ty to enable lead­ers in the field to con­cen­trate on the sci­ence and projects at hand.

Amer­i­can Soci­ety for Micro­bi­ol­o­gy – The Amer­i­can Soci­ety for Micro­bi­ol­o­gy has a long-stand­ing tra­di­tion of being one of the old­est and well-respect­ed of all the orga­ni­za­tions that sup­port the bio­log­i­cal sci­ences. The ASM works hand in hand with the Fed­er­a­tion of Euro­pean Micro­bi­o­log­i­cal Soci­eties to pro­vide inter­na­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions with the infor­ma­tion they need on cut­ting-edge tech­nol­o­gy and sci­en­tif­ic research that can be used around the world on a reg­u­lar basis. Both orga­ni­za­tions focus on inter­dis­ci­pli­nary micro­bial sci­ences and the research and pro­to­cols that go with it.

Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Biol­o­gy Teach­ers – The Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Biol­o­gy Teach­ers was estab­lished to pro­vide biol­o­gy teach­ers of any spe­cial­iza­tion a resource from which they could draw on to improve their teach­ing meth­ods. The orga­ni­za­tion offers a vari­ety of infor­ma­tion and resources that are avail­able to teach­ers no mat­ter what age lev­el or degree lev­el they teach. The NABT gives teach­ers a place where they can go to share ideas and teach­ing meth­ods with oth­ers who may ben­e­fit from them in some way.

Amer­i­can Phys­i­o­log­i­cal Soci­ety – The Amer­i­can Phys­i­o­log­i­cal Soci­ety was estab­lished to assist sci­en­tists and oth­er pro­fes­sion­als in the field of biol­o­gy find the nec­es­sary resources and tools they could use to bet­ter per­form the duties asso­ci­at­ed with their posi­tions. The group explores ques­tions about genet­ics, gen­der dif­fer­ences, mechan­i­cal dif­fer­ences, neu­ro­science, and obe­si­ty. The orga­ni­za­tion focus­es its efforts on sev­er­al aspects of health and med­ical care, includ­ing the cre­ation of treat­ment meth­ods for the most trau­ma­tiz­ing illnesses.

Amer­i­can Soci­ety for Cell Biol­o­gy – The Amer­i­can Soci­ety for Cell Biol­o­gy is a valu­able orga­ni­za­tion for biol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­als who are focused on the study of cell biol­o­gy. This group con­cen­trates on pro­vid­ing the resources that are need­ed for research pur­pos­es and for test­ing. By under­stand­ing the phys­i­ol­o­gy of the cells, sci­en­tists are able to learn how cells react under pres­sure and when they are exposed to dif­fer­ent elements.

Roy­al Soci­ety of Biol­o­gy – The Roy­al Soci­ety of Biol­o­gy is an orga­ni­za­tion locat­ed in the Unit­ed King­dom that ben­e­fits biol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­als. The Soci­ety is ded­i­cat­ed to pro­vid­ing valu­able infor­ma­tion on research projects and sci­en­tif­ic stud­ies from around the world. The Soci­ety pro­vides many valu­able resources to its mem­bers so they can con­tin­ue to per­form their duties to the best of their abilities.

Why Choose a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology?

There are sev­er­al rea­sons to choose a Bach­e­lor’s degree in biol­o­gy. The pos­si­bil­i­ty of growth is nev­er-end­ing sim­ply because of the num­ber of spe­cial­iza­tions that are avail­able to choose from. From edu­ca­tors to micro­bi­ol­o­gists, grad­u­ates can pur­sue the type of job they are most inter­est­ed in. Grad­u­ates can start out with a gen­er­al biol­o­gy degree and find employ­ment in almost any indus­try. By enrolling in an online degree pro­gram, they can con­tin­ue to work while they explore their options in edu­ca­tion. Most degree pro­grams are designed so that mul­ti­ple spe­cial­iza­tions can be explored at one time.

As the stu­dent con­tin­ues to work through their degree pro­gram, they can choose the spe­cial­iza­tion that inter­ests them the most. Fac­ul­ty mem­bers and school advi­sors can help them set career goals they can fol­low as they fin­ish their school­ing. The resources they receive through their school can be used to help them find the right job and make the tran­si­tion from school to employ­ment. Stu­dents may be able to find a job pri­or to grad­u­a­tion by apply­ing for either an intern­ship or a men­tor­ship offered by their school.

Most com­pa­nies who hire an intern or enter into a men­tor­ship pro­gram will even­tu­al­ly hire the stu­dent who comes to work for them. As the stu­dent advances up the lad­der to high­er posi­tions with­in the com­pa­ny, new interns are brought in to take their place. Biol­o­gy stu­dents can ben­e­fit from these pro­grams and the expe­ri­ence they receive can help them decide which spe­cial­iza­tion they may want to enter into. After grad­u­a­tion, stu­dents can list any intern­ships or work expe­ri­ence they earned on their resume which will great­ly increase their earn­ing poten­tial as a new hire. Pur­su­ing a Bach­e­lor’s degree in biol­o­gy for any spe­cial­iza­tion is the best way to estab­lish your­self as a pro­fes­sion­al if you like work­ing with any of the sciences.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Biology

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Biology

10 Fastest Online Bach­e­lor’s in Biology

10 Most Afford­able Bach­e­lor’s in Biology