Biology jobs? Ethanol plants?

Question

Hey everyone, I'm researching the possibilities of what a B.S. in Biology could bring. My first choice would be a wildlife biologist. Does this sound realistic with a B.S.? Also, I just thought of something else- the whole ethanol thing is sure to be expanding in the coming years. Could a person with a bachelor's in biology get a good job in that? I remember back in my high school biology class we went out to my town's ethanol plant and took a tour and it was SO VERY interesting, and I remember the teacher saying a biologist could work there. I just want a great job to fall back on if the wildlife thing doesn't work out. Also, could I do food inspection, or would that be more microbiology? Also medical lab work? As I said wildlife would be my first choice but the ethanol industry is a close second. What sounds like a good, realistic job? Thanks for the help!

Answer 1

Yes sounds like you're on the right track.  A BS in Biology is a good general place to start.  It's weakness is that it is very general, and in certain competitive fields, you may require either something more specialized, or further specialization such as a Masters (but there are increasingly post-degree college diplomas that may suffice).

That said, a lot of employers don't care for Masters - the jobs they're looking for are so specialized anyway that they recognize the only way to get training is for them to train you and a BS is a piece of paper that tells them "Hi, I can learn what you'll teach me."  A MS doesn't add much to that (day-to-day, not-so-technical food inspection is actually a good example).

Transferring programs in university is incredibly easy and common; a BS Bio is a good starting point but since you're looking for Wildlife biology if you can find a degree a bit more specialized it *may* help (e.g. BS in Wildlife Biology or Zoology).  They're almost the same degrees anyway (you can take all the same requirements for Zoo or Wildlife Bio and usually request a Bio degree anyway).

Those are all realistic jobs, once you explore academia and network with the working world, you'll be blown by how much variety is out there.

My suggestion to you is not to look at what jobs interest you, but what fields, which you have already done and pursue that.  As you approach your later years, focus more and more (at that point looking at potential jobs).

(Re: Ethanol; corn ethanol may be stupid, but that's not to say switchgrass or corn husk ethanol doesn't have potential.  Researchers are currently working on ways to process cellulose more efficiently.)

Answer 2

ethanol will not be expanding.

Ethanol is a wasteful procedure. Everyone wants to scapegoat the oil industry. One  reason food costs are up, is too much of the crops are being used for ethanol production. This makes regular food farming more expensive, cuz it has to compete for space.

It takes 8 acres per person to run ethanol. So if we all switched to ethanol, 95% of the country would be covered in ethanol farms.

The mandatory addition of ethanol to gasoline, raises the cost of gasoline. Ethanol is MORE expensive to make than gasoline, so adding it will never bring cost down.

Also, ethanol production uses more energy than it creates. Why do you think we haven't done it already? The only reason it's happening now, is for political gain. If people knew the truth about ethanol, they'd stop this hoax right now!