What job opportunities can I earn with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology? Is it worthwhile?

I earned my asssociates now I am going for my bachelors. I want to know if I can get a descent job if I get a Bachelors in Biology. I researched and all I know is that I can work as a researcher, technician or become a teacher and I think health administrator... Are there any other options? My main goal is to become a pharmacist but I want to get a descent job along the way to help me in the future, especially when taking the Pharm D. program. I know the great careers I can get If I go beyond a bachelors, but I am interested on the jobs I can get after earning a bachelors. And is it a good Idea to spend two more years for a bachelors in Biology and transfer into another university to continue for pharmacy since the one I'm attending does not offer a pre-pharmacy program? Is this a good appraoch or is there better way? Thank you for reading and I would really appreciate your help.

Lots of questions...

First, you should remember that university degrees are not job training, but rather educational in nature. So your degree doesn't qualify you for any job really. Instead, it just gives you the background that might be appealing to certain employers. After all, you'll be **trained** by your employer pretty much regardless of where you end-up working.

So on to your questions... Where you're eligible to work depends mostly on which assortment of courses you take, combined with your outside (read: volunteer or work) activities. For instance, with one assortment of course work, you might be more qualified to work in wildlife management, but with another, a cancer research lab. So strictly speaking, this is difficult to answer on Y!A. This is why I tell my students that their choices of course work is *really* important, and that they need to make these decisions in consultation with an academic advisor. I'd suggest the same for you. Decide which general direction you want to go (that's done already), and then choose courses that put you on that general pathway.

That said, you've got the major ones, but there are a few other possibilities. Many students go into biological equipment sales. You can make a great living this way if you're a people-person and (in my experience) have a little luck. Another option is in... gasp... insurance administration. A good biomedical background can be very helpful here, and a growing number of biology majors are working for insurance companies, though you'll also need good math skills and excellent attention to detail.

As to the transfer issue you raise... While most schools deny that they have a bias toward their own students, the statistics suggest that they do. Generally, you are more likely to get accepted into a pharmacy program if you went to that institution's undergraduate program. But the presence or absence of a specific pre-pharmacy program at another institution is largely irrelevant. The bias toward their own students is real, but it's not *huge.* The school admissions folks I've spoken to say that it's not a bias at all, but reflective of better performance of their students on standardized tests because their classes tailor their teaching to those tests. Once admitted, however, they say that there's no advantage evident in subsequent performance.

Good luck!