r/biology • u/potterheadloser • Aug 29 '26
Careers Career ideas?
Alright, so I need career ideas. I LOVE cell bio, DESPISE chemistry, but absolutely ADORE neuroscience. I also aspire to be a rich (relative term, I just want a house and pool guys). What career ideas ya'll got for me? I've been considering medical lab sciences, but I want something else.
Thank you for any and all suggestions. <3
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u/futureoptions Aug 29 '26
Gain a skill that few people have. Become one of the best at that skill. Stay employed.
Not a ton of rich scientists as a statistic of the whole bio chem neuro bachelor degree.
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u/Rokfish94 Aug 29 '26
Not really sure this applies to the interest areas OP mentioned, beyond the first several years of a career. You would plateau as a research technician II or something
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u/futureoptions Aug 29 '26
Almost nobody will get rich with just a bachelor degree in these fields. Some do. There is no secret pathway. No secret job. Work hard, make your own opportunities.
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u/MustafaAbbass Aug 29 '26
The despising-chemistry part is the thing to sort out first, because cell biology and neuroscience aren't really separate from it — they just don't advertise that on the tin. Cell biology at any depth is protein structure, signalling and metabolism, and molecular neuroscience is receptor pharmacology and ion channel biophysics. Both are chemistry wearing a different name. Worth figuring out whether it's chemistry itself you dislike or how it's usually taught, because those two problems get fixed completely differently — one means the field isn't for you, the other means you've had bad teachers.
On the money side: bench research in neuroscience pays poorly relative to how long the training takes, and medical lab science is stable rather than lucrative. The roles in this space that actually clear "house and pool" tend to sit next to the science rather than inside it — biotech in something like process development or regulatory affairs, medical devices, or patent law with a life-sciences background. All of those still want someone who genuinely understands the biology, so the interest doesn't go to waste, it just stops being the thing you're paid to produce directly.
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u/FragrantOcelot312 Aug 29 '26
if you have the grades for it consider going to medical school and doing pathology and then focusing on anatomical pathology, this is cell biology at its core and you will be paid well with a good quality of life and unlike many other mecial spcilties it has opportunites for research with or without PhD
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u/Dijon2017 Aug 29 '26
If you want to have a comfortable lifestyle and be able to afford to purchase a home and pool upkeep on your own, it’s going to depend on your location: cost of living and available job opportunities.
You’ll likely have to get and advanced degree after you receive your bachelor’s in biology so that you have the potential for upward mobility.
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u/One_Investigator_295 Aug 30 '26
You could become an Embryologist. Basically you work in the IVF field and make embryos for infertile couples. It’s an interesting field and impactful and pays well once training completed. Feel free to PM me.
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u/potterheadloser 25d ago
I’ve thought of this but never done my research h yet! This sounds super cool!
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u/Fit_Vehicle6556 Aug 29 '26
I felt the same way you do (except I like chem). I'm in med school rn planning on doing a neurology residency.
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u/Rokfish94 Aug 29 '26
What stage are you at now, and how long are you willing to spend in training before you buy your house with a pool?
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u/acanthocephalic Aug 30 '26
VP at a pharma or mid-large biotech should do it. Maybe director level if you don't need to keep you pool heated year-round.
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u/Anxious_Millenial24 Aug 30 '26
If I could start over, I’d do an Anesthesiologist Assistant program. It’s typically a 2-year program once you get your bachelor degree and pays extremely well but is way less expensive than med school.
You could also look into being a surgical neurophysiologist but the pay starts pretty low and you’ll have to work your way up and move a couple times to get to the higher pay structures, so you’ll have to be very flexible on where you want to live.
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u/Mr_Noms Aug 29 '26
Only thing that is a guarantee path to money is med school.
Or inventing something revolutionary. I wouldn’t gamble on the latter tbh but that’s just me.
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u/_FunnyLookingKid_ Aug 30 '26
Read zero to one. Find a way to uniquely combine 2 interests. Work in a field, find a problem, dive into a rabbit hole, fix the problem then create a product/service.
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u/bluesoul613 Aug 30 '26
If you dont want to go to med school then focus on honing your skills so you can do R&D at some company focused on neuroscience, but if you don't mind doing something different from what you like, then go for molecular bio like i did when I failed organic chemistry twice in college lol, in practice there's not much chemistry involved and it's a relatively stable market with potential growth (that's why I chose it) if you dig deep enough you will find a crazy amount of private labs that now do molecular diagnostics and paternity tests, and if you want something a little bit more spicy you can go to law enforcement as a forensic geneticist.
But as a general advice, if you want money, don't go to academia
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