Question 1

Is a general Biology degree enough, or should I choose a specialty?

Accepted Answer

Biology/Biological Sciences, General is offered at all 1,708 colleges in the data and produced 83,027 graduates in the most recent year — it is the most common undergraduate science degree in the country. For students planning to attend medical, dental, or veterinary school, a general biology degree satisfies most prerequisite requirements and keeps your options open. If you already know you want to do bench research or enter the biotech industry directly out of undergrad, a focused major like Biochemistry (613 colleges, 8,736 completions) or Biotechnology (146 colleges, 1,104 completions) can make you a more targeted candidate. The tradeoff is flexibility: specialized majors narrow your coursework early, which pays off only if your target stays fixed.

Question 2

What do graduates in this concentration typically earn?

Accepted Answer

The median earnings across the family are approximately $53,505, but individual career outcomes vary substantially. The highest-earning common career linked to these majors is Medical and Health Services Managers at $117,960 — typically reached after additional graduate or management training. Bioinformatics graduates map to Computer occupations at a median of $108,970. By contrast, the top career for the family's largest major, Biology/Biological Sciences, General, is secondary school teaching at $64,580. Students should treat the family median as a floor rather than a ceiling: the actual range stretches from entry-level lab technician wages into six-figure management and informatics roles.

Question 3

Which majors in this family best prepare students for medical school?

Accepted Answer

No single major is required for medical school admission, but Biochemistry (613 colleges, 8,736 completions) is widely considered the most strategically aligned because its core curriculum — organic chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology — maps directly onto MCAT content. Biomedical Sciences, General (174 colleges, 6,553 completions) is explicitly pre-clinical in focus and is often offered by schools with affiliated medical programs. General Biology satisfies prerequisites at virtually every medical school and is the most flexible entry point. Neuroscience (297 colleges, 9,625 completions) is increasingly popular among pre-med students given its overlap with clinical neurology and psychiatry, though it may require additional coursework to cover all prerequisites.

Question 4

What is Bioinformatics and how is it different from other biology majors?

Accepted Answer

Bioinformatics (54 colleges, 355 completions) trains students to analyze large biological datasets — genomic sequences, protein structures, clinical trial data — using computational tools and programming. It sits at the intersection of biology, statistics, and computer science, and its top career maps to Computer occupations at a median wage of $108,970, significantly above the family median of $53,505. Because only 54 colleges offer it as a standalone major, many students achieve similar preparation by combining a Biology or Biochemistry major with a Computer Science minor. Students interested in genomics, drug discovery pipelines, or AI-driven biology research should consider this path seriously even if it requires a non-traditional course combination.

Question 5

Are there majors in this family outside the standard pre-med or research tracks?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography (85 colleges, 1,922 completions) and Zoology/Animal Biology (55 colleges, 1,726 completions) lead primarily to environmental science, conservation, and wildlife management roles rather than clinical careers. Exercise Physiology and Kinesiology (117 colleges, 5,770 completions) is closely tied to physical therapy, athletic training, and strength-and-conditioning careers, and most programs are oriented toward graduate study in allied health. Microbiology, General (99 colleges, 2,120 completions) feeds into public health, food safety, and industrial biotechnology as well as clinical lab roles. Students with non-clinical interests in the life sciences should look beyond the headline majors to find programs that align with their specific career direction.

Sorted by popularity

Biology/Biological Sciences, General

Neuroscience

Biochemistry

Biomedical Sciences, General

Exercise Physiology and Kinesiology

Cell/Cellular and Molecular Biology

Microbiology, General

Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Other

Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography

Physiology, General

Zoology/Animal Biology

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Biotechnology

Molecular Biology

Ecology

Anatomy

Neurobiology and Anatomy

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Wildlife Biology

Genetics, General

Medical Microbiology and Bacteriology

Environmental Biology

Bioinformatics

Cell/Cellular Biology and Histology

Molecular Biochemistry

Botany/Plant Biology

Conservation Biology

Neurobiology and Neurosciences, Other

Ecology, Evolution, Systematics and Population Biology, Other

Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Other

Animal Behavior and Ethology

Vision Science/Physiological Optics

Microbiology and Immunology

Molecular Genetics

Microbiological Sciences and Immunology, Other

Neurobiology and Behavior

Epidemiology

Entomology

Biomathematics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Other

Biophysics

Computational Biology

Animal Physiology

Evolutionary Biology

Physiology, Pathology, and Related Sciences, Other

Aquatic Biology/Limnology

Cell/Cellular Biology and Anatomical Sciences, Other

Pharmacology

Biostatistics

Pharmacology and Toxicology

Toxicology

Animal Genetics

Biometry/Biometrics

Aerospace Physiology and Medicine

Developmental Biology and Embryology

Immunology

Biomechanics

Pharmacology and Toxicology, Other

Pathology/Experimental Pathology

Genome Sciences/Genomics

Oncology and Cancer Biology

Environmental Toxicology

Cardiovascular Science

Structural Biology

Botany/Plant Biology, Other

Plant Genetics

Radiation Biology/Radiobiology

Zoology/Animal Biology, Other

Cell Biology and Anatomy

Plant Pathology/Phytopathology

Cell Physiology

Infectious Disease and Global Health

Neuropharmacology

Plant Molecular Biology

Population Biology

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