Good backup degree?

[Eye]

I am an aspiring Optometry student and I've just finished first year in Science. The problem is that my GPA and grade achievement overall isn't that good. I'm pretty much a B student; my GPA this past year was 3.3. Knowing that most optometry schools require 3 years to a full degree (usually in Science), there's a good chance I won't make it in unless something happens.

So my question is, what's a good science degree to specialize in so I still get paid moderately well and have a future in? Maybe one that can increase my odds of getting into optometry school in graduate studies? FYI, I'm currently a student at the University of Alberta (in Canada), where I'm taking a general science degree - I can take a variety/any science courses I want until I declare my major in 3rd year. So far I've sampled a bit of everything, and can't decide on what specialization to prep for should I not get into optometry. My options are:

- Bioinformatics
- Cell Biotechnology
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Microbiology
- Molecular Genetics
- Physiology/Developmental Biology
- Botany
- Cell Biology
- Chemistry
- Biochemistry
- Entomology
- Immunology
- Marine Biology
- Neuroscience
- Paletontology
- Pharmacology
- Zoology

I am eligible to specialize in Physics related majors and math sciences, but personally, I was never that good with math and numbers, so I'm not looking into those.

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[kglmp83]

Eye, you sound exactly like me. Not sure to continue with chemistry or switch to biology (general biology or biomedical science).

I want a degree where I would be able to find a good paying career if I do not make it into optometry school. I want an income of at least $80,000 per year. I am majoring in chemistry (non ACS) and it is too late to change major outside science because it would take me another 2 to 3 years. If I had to do it all over again, I would have majored in business and took the optometry pre-requisites. Majoring in business may help me when I start my optometry office or start my own business if I don't get accepted into optometry.

 

[sportsdude00]

engineering is the way to go!

 

[EyeWitness]

engineering is the way to go!

Isn't engineering at least a masters or can you get a bachelors in it?

 

[sportsdude00]

you can get a bachelors in it. thats what i'm working on right now

 

[KHE]

I want a degree where I would be able to find a good paying career if I do not make it into optometry school. I want an income of at least $80,000 per year.

What kind of fantasy world are you living in? You want to make $80000? I'm sure the majority of people with college degrees would too.

If I had to do it all over again, I would have majored in business and took the optometry pre-requisites. Majoring in business may help me when I start my optometry office or start my own business if I don't get accepted into optometry.

This is a very very common misconception. You do NOT need to major in business to run an optometry practice. In fact, you don't need to major in business to run just about any small business. Millions of people do it every year. Walk up the street in any large or medium sized American city and you will encounter all kinds of small businesses being run by people who likely immigrated from some far off land. Do you think that they have business degrees? Of course not.

What they generally have is the ability to see the bigger picture, and the ability to delay gratification which sadly, is something that is severely lacking in the youth of this country.

 

[KHE]

So my question is, what's a good science degree to specialize in so I still get paid moderately well and have a future in?

This is totally the wrong way of looking at it. You need to find something that you will ENJOY doing for the next 50 years.

I know people who make over a million dollars a year and they are some of the most miserable people I know because they hate what they do. I know people who make less than $22000 per year and love life.

Follow your heart. That sounds tiresome and cliched but it's the secret to a long and happy life.

http://www.amazon.com/Five-Secrets-Must-Discover-Before/dp/1576754758

Try reading that book....

 

[Eye]

I am minoring right now in Business, so there's something else to look at if I choose to change my studies after. Yeah, I would go into engineering; 8 of 10 friends of mine are Enggies. But as I said before, math is not my strong point. You could even say it's my weakest, so having a job where everyday I would have to do calculations would be a killer for me.

To be honest, I still haven't found anything I would really enjoy doing for the rest of my life that is actually a career. I've done several jobs as part time and I'm indifferent to them. I don't like or hate them. Optometry came in as a possible future I liked, because I am kind of fascinated with eyes, not to mention the relaxed work environment (most of the time), and benefits of good pay and the possibility of starting my own business and being my own boss.

I'm not really looking into the other medical careers; I think Pharmacy is a little boring, and going into general medicine...I have a thing against checking people with colds and such.

 

[kglmp83]

To be honest, I still haven't found anything I would really enjoy doing for the rest of my life that is actually a career.

That's me except for optometry.
When I was choosing a career for college, I just went through all the careers and optometry was the one that had all the criteria of what I wanted in a career. If I had to choose a career outside optometry and change my college major, I don't know what I would choose.

 

[daysend85]

Good luck making $80k in a life science-related career with only a BS. To the OP, choose something that you're interested in. Obviously, if you're not good at math, don't choose a physics related area. I majored in Biology and that kept things wide open for me upon graduation. Unless you are absolutely sure you want to go into a particular area, regardless of job availability and salary, don't choose a specialization. As far as the specializations you listed making more money, look at the cellular ones such as biotech (espec.), immuno, micro, neuro. Don't expect to make a ton of money in the holistic biology careers, such as botany, ecology, evolutionary bio, marine bio, etc. The only one of those that you can expect more pay, from what I discovered, is zoology. I was originally interested in ecology, but the job availability isn't the best, the pay isn't that great, and I didn't want the possbility of being stuck in a lab all day. So I chose optometry instead, since I felt it was a better fit for me.

 

[IcanSEEanOD]

.

 

[sportsdude00]

Good luck making $80k in a life science-related career with only a BS.

most engineering fields today start you out around 60k. a few years of experience would increase that significantly, and with some business/management training it would increase even faster.

 

[EyeWitness]

I am an aspiring Optometry student and I've just finished first year in Science. The problem is that my GPA and grade achievement overall isn't that good. I'm pretty much a B student; my GPA this past year was 3.3. Knowing that most optometry schools require 3 years to a full degree (usually in Science), there's a good chance I won't make it in unless something happens.

So my question is, what's a good science degree to specialize in so I still get paid moderately well and have a future in? Maybe one that can increase my odds of getting into optometry school in graduate studies? FYI, I'm currently a student at the University of Alberta (in Canada), where I'm taking a general science degree - I can take a variety/any science courses I want until I declare my major in 3rd year. So far I've sampled a bit of everything, and can't decide on what specialization to prep for should I not get into optometry. My options are:

- Bioinformatics
- Cell Biotechnology
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Microbiology
- Molecular Genetics
- Physiology/Developmental Biology
- Botany
- Cell Biology
- Chemistry
- Biochemistry
- Entomology
- Immunology
- Marine Biology
- Neuroscience
- Paletontology
- Pharmacology
- Zoology

I am eligible to specialize in Physics related majors and math sciences, but personally, I was never that good with math and numbers, so I'm not looking into those.

I think accounting is one of the few useful majors with only a bachelors. It's math, but the easy fun kind.

 

[jc812]

What kind of fantasy world are you living in? You want to make $80000? I'm sure the majority of people with college degrees would too.

It's not a fantasy, it can be done. It just takes years to reach the 80,000 buc it's possible with only an undergraduate degree.

 

[engineeredout]

Engineering will guarentee you a good job (even with "just" bachelors). Fair warning, its hard as ****.

 

[jc812]

I am an aspiring Optometry student and I've just finished first year in Science. The problem is that my GPA and grade achievement overall isn't that good. I'm pretty much a B student; my GPA this past year was 3.3. Knowing that most optometry schools require 3 years to a full degree (usually in Science), there's a good chance I won't make it in unless something happens.

Wait.. I don't understand. Why wouldn't you make it unless something happens?

 

[gochi]

Wait.. I don't understand. Why wouldn't you make it unless something happens?

Im assuming to get into canadian optometry schools you would have to get something like 3.7.

 

[Eye]

Well unlike the US, in Canada, only two schools have Optometry schools. One in Waterloo, and one in Montreal. But the one in Montreal is a full-French teaching school, so really it's just Waterloo, 1 school. With only 1 real school in the whole country, I can imagine admission to be ultra-competitive; I'll probably have to apply in the US if things stay the same.

As for my salary options, I would want something that starts at 45-50k a year, with the possibility of going up to 60-70k within 3-5 years of employment, and the possibility of moving up the ladder in terms of rank. Yes, this sounds unreal, so bear with me if I'm being over-hopeful. Oh, and in Canada, though the CDN dollar is almost that of the US, so there might not be such a difference, unless living costs are very different.

 

[kglmp83]

Well unlike the US, in Canada, only two schools have Optometry schools. One in Waterloo, and one in Montreal. But the one in Montreal is a full-French teaching school, so really it's just Waterloo, 1 school. With only 1 real school in the whole country, I can imagine admission to be ultra-competitive; I'll probably have to apply in the US if things stay the same.

As for my salary options, I would want something that starts at 45-50k a year, with the possibility of going up to 60-70k within 3-5 years of employment, and the possibility of moving up the ladder in terms of rank. Yes, this sounds unreal, so bear with me if I'm being over-hopeful. Oh, and in Canada, though the CDN dollar is almost that of the US, so there might not be such a difference, unless living costs are very different.

I think you'll make at leat $75,000 to $80,000 (USD) to start. $45-50k seems pretty low.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Eye]

Well optometrists in Canada start at 60-70CDN, but rapidly get pay raises within 5 years of work, about 70-100k if you have a good rec by then.

The average educated person starting out is 50k.

The average lab biologist starts at 40-45k. This is weird because even people out of high school sometimes make more.

In Canada:

If you make 50-60k, you're slightly above average, but average really.

Less than 50k, and you're considered poor, and you're well off if you're over 60k. You're considered rich if you make over 75k a year.

 

[daysend85]

most engineering fields today start you out around 60k. a few years of experience would increase that significantly, and with some business/management training it would increase even faster.

If you read my post again, I specified "life-science" related career. Engineering is not life-science related.

 

[daysend85]

What careers are wide open with a BS in Biology? The only ones I can think of are working in a lab or maybe teaching HS Biology.

You are missing the point. My point was that it allows you to develop an interest in many areas of biology. In other words, you could graduate with a BS in Biology and, for example, choose to go for a PhD in genetics...or go for a PhD in botany. Whatever you want to do.