undergradly.
Major · Biological & Biomedical Sciences

Inside the cell, under the scope — with grad school waiting on the other side

Cell/Cellular Biology and Histology examines how cells are built, how they divide, signal, and die, and how tissue is prepared and read under a microscope. About 343 students complete this bachelor's each year across 8 institutions, and most use it as a launchpad into medical school, a PhD, or a research-track lab role rather than as a terminal credential.

Schools offering
8
Annual completions
343
Typical degree level
Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$69k

About this major

Cell/Cellular Biology and Histology examines how cells are built, how they divide, signal, and die, and — through histology — how tissue is prepared and read under a microscope. The CIP definition centers on cell chemistry, organelles, membrane function, signal transduction, the cell cycle, meiosis and mitosis, gene expression, and the recognition and defense mechanisms that keep cells coordinated inside larger systems. Coursework typically pairs cell biology, genetics, biochemistry, and organic chemistry lectures with a substantial lab sequence covering cell culture, fluorescence microscopy, immunohistochemistry, and tissue sectioning and staining. Senior-year work often involves an independent research project under a faculty lab.

The major fits students who like biology but want to zoom into the cellular machinery — the kind of curiosity that asks how a single signaling cascade rewires a cell, how a tissue section reveals a tumor margin, or how cell-division failures drive disease. Comfort with chemistry, patience for slow-resolving lab work, and increasingly some quantitative ability all matter. The histology side adds a clinical dimension that many cell-biology programs don't emphasize: connecting molecular and structural understanding directly to diagnostic pathology.

The scale of this major reflects how universities sort students. Only 343 bachelor's graduates complete CIP 26.0401 each year across 8 institutions — a tiny share of the broader 26.04 family, with the much larger Biology, General CIP at 83,027 completions absorbing most students with similar interests. Top-volume programs cluster at research universities like Rutgers New Brunswick (153 completions), the University of Minnesota Twin Cities (67), and Montana State (59), where the major doubles as a pipeline into PhD, MD, MD-PhD, and clinical-pathology training. Career data points to the same pattern: medical scientist roles at $100,590 and biological-science faculty at $83,460 require doctoral credentials, while bachelor's-level biological technician work sits closer to the $52,000 range.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Health specialties teachers, postsecondary $106k +17.3% Doctoral or professional degree
Medical scientists, except epidemiologists $101k +8.7% Doctoral or professional degree
Natural sciences managers $161k +3.7% Bachelor's degree
Biological science teachers, postsecondary $83k +7.3% Doctoral or professional degree
Biological scientists, all other $93k +1.2% Bachelor's degree
Epidemiologists $84k +16.2% Master's degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$69k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$78k

Bachelor's

$69k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if cellular mechanism interests you more than memorizing organ systems, if standing at a fluorescence microscope or running a cell-culture protocol for the third time sounds engaging rather than tedious, if organic chemistry was a fight you wanted rather than one you survived, if a clinical or research career — even one that requires a PhD, MD, or ACGC-accredited master's to reach — feels like a goal rather than a deterrent, and if the connection between cell biology and diagnostic pathology genuinely interests you, since histology is one of the few biology specialties where tissue-level interpretation directly drives medical decisions.

Think twice if you want a four-year degree that lands you at a research-scientist wage straight out of school, since the bachelor's-only ceiling for most tracked roles in this CIP sits closer to the $52,000 biological technician range; if you dislike chemistry or repetitive precision lab work; if you'd rather work at the organismal or ecological scale than inside cells; if you're hoping to skip graduate school entirely, since three of the five highest-paying tracked careers list a doctoral or professional degree as the typical credential; or if a tissue-prep technician role is your actual goal — in that case, the separate two-year CIP 51.1003 Histologic Technology credential is a faster, cheaper path to ASCP-certified Histotechnician work at hospital pathology labs without requiring a bachelor's. Cell/Cellular and Molecular Biology and Biology, General offer broader entry points if the cellular and histological focus feels too narrow.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Cell/Cellular Biology and Histology

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ 0 153 153
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN 0 67 67
Montana State University Bozeman, MT 0 59 59
University of California-Davis Davis, CA 0 34 34
University of Georgia Athens, GA 0 20 20
University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA 0 10 10
Hampshire College Amherst, MA 0 0 0
Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 0 0 0
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Biology/Biological Sciences, General

83,027 completions/yr

Neuroscience

9,625 completions/yr

Biochemistry

8,736 completions/yr

Biomedical Sciences, General

6,553 completions/yr

Exercise Physiology and Kinesiology

5,770 completions/yr

Cell/Cellular and Molecular Biology

3,392 completions/yr

Nutrition Sciences

3,240 completions/yr

Microbiology, General

2,120 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do cell biology and histology majors actually study day-to-day?
Coursework centers on cell structure, the cell cycle, membrane biology, organelles, signal transduction, and meiosis and mitosis, paired with a heavy lab sequence in cell culture, fluorescence microscopy, immunohistochemistry, and protein and nucleic-acid assays. Histology adds tissue-level work — preparing, sectioning, and staining specimens to identify normal and diseased tissue under the scope. Upper-division terms typically require an independent research project under a faculty lab. Genetics, biochemistry, and organic chemistry sit in the background of nearly every semester.
Do I need a bachelor's, or will an associate's get me started?
The data packet only reports bachelor's-level completions for this CIP, so this is effectively a four-year track. The associate's-level earnings figure of $77,786 in the packet reflects a small cohort that almost certainly came through CIP 51.1003 Histologic Technology — a separate two-year credential that produces ASCP-certified Histotechnicians (HT) working in hospital pathology and reference labs. If a tissue-prep technician role is the goal, that program is the cheaper, faster path. If research, medicine, or a PhD is the goal, the bachelor's is the entry credential.
What kinds of jobs do graduates land with just the bachelor's?
Realistic starting roles cluster around biological technician at about $52,000 — research associate at biotech and pharma firms like Genentech, Vertex, Regeneron, Moderna, Pfizer, Merck, and Amgen; cell-culture or assay technician in cell- and gene-therapy companies like Bluebird Bio, CRISPR Therapeutics, Beam Therapeutics, and Editas; histotechnologist roles in hospital pathology labs at Mass General Brigham, Mayo Clinic, MD Anderson, and Memorial Sloan Kettering; and clinical-lab tech roles at Quest, LabCorp, and ARUP. Five-year median earnings sit around $69,125, slightly above the technician baseline — consistent with a cohort that includes meaningful numbers heading toward research-associate and pre-MD pathways.
Do I need a graduate degree to make this major pay off?
For the named six-figure paths, yes — explicitly. Medical scientists at $100,590, health specialties teachers at $105,620, and biological science faculty at $83,460 all list a doctoral or professional degree as the typical credential. The natural sciences manager role at $161,180 is a Bachelor's-degree job on paper, but realistically lands a decade or more after graduation, after running a lab or a team. Many students here are pre-MD, pre-DDS, pre-PA, pre-PT, or pre-PhD whether they say so or not — Cell Biology is one of the most common pre-medical-by-another-name majors. Treat the bachelor's as a floor that opens those next-step doors, not as a finish line that delivers research-scientist wages on its own.
What's the histology-specialty path inside this major?
Histology is the tissue-level branch of cell biology — preparing, sectioning, and staining specimens for diagnostic interpretation by a pathologist. Most working histotechnologists hold an HTL (Histotechnologist) credential from the ASCP Board of Certification, typically earned after a NAACLS-accredited program plus a clinical practicum. Hospital pathology departments at Mass General Brigham, Cleveland Clinic, MD Anderson, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Mayo Clinic Labs, and reference labs like Quest and LabCorp are the largest employers. Wages for SOC 29-2011 Medical and Clinical Lab Technologists run roughly $60,000–$78,000 depending on metro and shift differential — closer to a stable career credential than a graduate-school launching pad. The bachelor's-level Cell Biology + Histology CIP can route into HTL eligibility through a post-baccalaureate clinical year.
How is this different from biology, molecular biology, or cell-and-molecular biology?
Biology, General (CIP 26.0101) is the broad umbrella with about 83,027 completions a year. Molecular Biology (26.0204) drills into DNA, RNA, and protein-level mechanism. Cell/Cellular and Molecular Biology (26.0406) is the close sibling — same conceptual zone, but combines molecular and cellular emphasis. This CIP (26.0401) keeps the tighter cellular focus and adds histology — meaning more time on cell structure, the cell cycle, and tissue-level microscopy, and less on the molecular plumbing underneath. There is also a separate non-degree credential at CIP 51.1003 Histologic Technology that trains tissue-prep technicians without requiring a bachelor's. Career destinations overlap heavily across the bachelor's-level CIPs; the choice is mostly about coursework emphasis and which faculty research labs you want to spend four years inside.
What's the AI angle students should plan for?
It's the single biggest wage-growth lane available inside this major. AI-driven cell-imaging analysis tools — Cellpose, DeepCell, OmegaSegment — and digital-pathology platforms are reshaping both the research bench and the clinical histology lab. Routine cell-culture work is compressing as automation accelerates: Tecan and Hamilton liquid handlers, Beckman ECHO acoustic dispensers, and Sartorius Incucyte automated imaging systems already cover work that lab technicians used to do by hand. Pairing this major with statistics, Python or R, and at least one bioinformatics or computational-biology course is the most defensible move available — graduates who can build pipelines around imaging data, screen for hits, or run digital-pathology models track toward the wage premium that pure wet-lab work increasingly does not capture.