Decisions, Decisions.......help???

[tyflier]

Veterinary Technology - 2 year A.S. degree or a 4 year B.S. degree, you have probably taken many of the required background courses and would just need the specific vet tech courses, usually either licensing or certification after graduation (depending upon the state), can usually find a job easily, pay rate will vary depending upon a variety of factors, but mostly likely enough to be comfortable on, but you won't get rich.

That's what I was thinking. Even vetrinary radiology or something like that would be a fun field with only a BS...

 

[desertanimal]

Is it really the science you don't like or the microorganismal biology?

I am not a gigantic fan of microorganismal biology, and I'm not too good at it (or at least I wasn't compared to the pre-med kids at Duke who stayed up late studying on the first night of classes!). If you're not good at cell bio and chem, veterinary is out for you. It was for me and I'm glad of it.

I'm an organismal-level thinker. I love to think about and figure out how whole organisms interact with their worlds. Most naturalists are like that.

I'm still a field biologist, but I'm a behaviorist and, to some degree, an ecologist. Only just now am I having to go back to microbiological processes (endocrinology), and since they will help me answer some of my organismal questions, and since I still won't have to take an O-chem exam, it's a lot better now.

Radiology is pretty fun. I have friends who do that. Also science on an organismal scale. Ummm. Paleopathology. Zooarchaeology.

Think carefully about what it is you don't like about your courses and what you do like. You may be able to make a more subtle shift within biology and be happy. Or, you may not. But you should think carefully about it. Look up what the research of every faculty member in the biology department is and you will be able to get a good idea about the range of things you might be able to focus on where you are and whether those sorts of things are of interest to you, or whether the bio options at your school really aren't for you.

 

[Daenerys]

Yeah I hate the organic chemistry and the cell biology stuff. I was ok in the regular chemistry although that wasn't exactly enjoyable either, but it was nowhere near as bad as organic chem. I did well in physics in high school but I had an excellent teacher and we only did the basics and I don't remember much of it now really so I doubt college physics will be as easy...I did ok with the little bit of genetics we went through in our biology classes and all my friends say genetics is not so bad, they all got A's...hmm...but researching and writing essays for history is something I can do easily too...history doesn't take a lot of effort for me to understand...ugh, this decision is so difficult!

 

[Hypancistrus]

Hmm, I think that is something I will have to experience before I know if its something I can handle.

Try getting a job at a summer camp with teenagers or middle schoolers (God help you!) and see how you like working with them. You may also be able to volunteer at a local high school to help a teacher, or your college may be able to set you up to observe a class and see if it's something you could do.

I'm an organismal-level thinker. I love to think about and figure out how whole organisms interact with their worlds. Most naturalists are like that..

I felt that way too. I only ever took survey of o-chem and I found it better than normal freshman chem. I think because it was a lot of memorizing, and I can do that. But never took the full course, and can't imagine I'd have been good at it. Took me three tries to pass the 2nd semester of freshman chem. They had to put me in the "chem for dummies" class. :dunce:

 

[Daenerys]

I had to retake the entry level freshman chemistry course but thats because I kind of got overwhelmed with the speed of how college level courses teach you. I took AP courses in high school (and actually passed two of them and got college credit for the math and science ones, go figure) but they were still easier and slower than these classes. I don't think I will pass organic chemistry this semester, and my parents are already mad that I had to retake chemistry and calculus from freshman year I even took the intro to organic class that doesn't even count towards my major in hopes that it would help me learn the basics to pass the first try, but we covered everything we learned in the intro course within the first three weeks of organic I. *sigh*

I talked to my history professor this morning. I asked her whether this lower level class is much easier than the upper levels. She told me that she puts the same workload on us as the upper levels do, and she thinks she asks the same types of questions that they would ask in upper level classes, however she does think they will still be more difficult because they go into a lot more detail. She recommends I take an upper level class before deciding. There is still that issue with getting all the classes I have taken to count for the requirements in history though....if I wait another semester I will be taking classes that wont count. Provided I do decide to switch, that is.

 

[Daenerys]

Also, she said that I did really well on my midterm exam (I got an A) and that I wrote really really well, clearly and all that. =/ Ugh, I hate difficult decisions, I think I overthink them sometimes...

 

[Hypancistrus]

I switched majors three times in the 4.5 years I took to get my undergrad finished. I started off as animal science, with a pre-vet emphasis, then switched to natural resource recreation for two years. Then I ended up taking a fisheries science internship with the MD Dept of Natural Resources and really enjoyed it, so I switched to fisheries science that fall.

For interests sake, I might have enjoyed the animal science major, but once I had decided not to be a vet, it would have been hard to make that major useable in any other way.

It's nice to be able to think that you can have a job you "really love" and spend your work day "with animals," but for practical purposes it can be hard to do, and honestly, if it's your work, something you're being forced to do for money, eventually it will be tainted by that "work feeling" anyway. I personally don't want work to cloud the sheer enjoyment I get from keeping my animals.

 

[El Jefe]

.... but found it difficult to find a decent job with just a B.S. in zoology...and I didn't care to go for a masters or higher.

And that can be a big fly in the ointment. Now days the upper wildlife jobs and zoo jobs are going to Masters and Ph.D.'s. No longer is a B.S. the easy in it once used to be. There are more and more people out there with the advanced degrees and that makes it harder and harder to land a job.

When I applied for the zoo job, I was one of several Masters students and there were a couple Ph.D.'s as well. Ultimately, with the combination of low pay and the bad schedule, that list was whilttled down and I was still standing there with open hands. It worked well as I got in and met people and fostered the connections which eventually grabbed me the funding for my Ph.D. When I intereviewed for the zoo job and when the interviews were carried out when I left, the curator did not even interview anyone below a M.S. degree unless you had excellent qualifications.

With my Ph.D. in hand I have applied for several University and Research jobs. MANY of these are highly competitive and it is difficult to find employment. One job in FL had over 90 Ph.D. applicants. Another here in SC had 106 applicatnts...all Ph.D.'s. Hence the reason I find myself going to GA, the job market it difficult and the offers I have received are too tempting to reject.

So, even if you do work up the ladder, with more people receiving degrees the applicant pools are getting larger and you have to do that much more to land the job. Sure, a M.S. or Ph.D. will help you land a job that a B.S. used to get but after working for so long and paying the tuition and now the loans, you don't really want to start on the ground floor. Makes it difficult.

As Lauren said above:

If you got a degree in biology, for instance, you could pretty much walk into a job right out of college. A friend of mine did history and it took him about 6 months or so to find a job after he graduated with his teaching degree.

It will be fairly easy to find a biology job if you are willing to teach K-12. And the higher the grade the easier it will be to find a job. Good middle and high school teachers are few and there are always openings. In my state of SC, within 5 years of starting a teaching job, over 50% of those leave and never come back. I was one of them. I did middle school for two years and left for my doctorate. Our school system has a "critical needs" area and anyone can teach if you have a Bachelors in one of the critical needs. Science was at the top of the list. And....if you are a MALE, this is one of the few jobs where that works FOR you in the selection process. Male teachers in middle and high school are a rare breed and administrators like to see those candidates.

Now...the fact you love reptiles and not tigers has very LARGE benefits. Most reptiles can be privately purchased and you can work with them without having the degrees or the special jobs. (This isn't always an advantage because you get yahoos with giant pythons and dummies with venomous snakes...but I digress). With the love of reptiles you have more independence to work with the species you love and that makes it very satisfying to do it privately and as a hobby. Research oriented systems are a little more difficult to do without the job or degree but there are always projects looking for volunteers and if you really look, it should not be difficult to find a place you can work for free.....I know I've utilized free help on many occasions! Just this past weekend I took a group out to to herp and mammal sampling and had close to 20 people help set the traps and catch the critters.

 

[Daenerys]

Deciding whether I want to teach a science class or a history class will be tough D: The career is essentially the same, I just have to decide which subject I'd want to learn...

 

[Daenerys]

Well, I took my third Organic Chemistry test on Monday. Guess what I got? A 54. Better than test 2 but still not at all good, of course. However, I also talked to the history adviser on Monday. He basically just went through the requirements for the three different types of history degrees (BA, BS, and a teacher type that gets you certified to teach history in high schools). We decided that a regular BA would be best for me. We also discussed the qualifications to get transferred (with my current GPA I would need to take 2 history classes with at least a B- in each before I could be accepted). On Tuesday I talked to the career adviser and she gave me like 5 page lists of jobs for history majors and zoology majors and it gave me the idea that I could actually get a job that involves both history and animals. There is actually a place like that about 5 minutes from my apartment. Yates Mill Pond is both a historical site (Yates Mill is the last of 70 gristmills in Wake county that is still in operation) and a wildlife reserve. I think a job at a place like that would be PERFECT for me!

So I have finally come to a decision. History major with a zoology minor! I am only one class away from being able to have a zoology minor. I think that would be perfect. ^_^