marine biology

I have a BS in marine bio. After a few years of work experience in biotech I was offered a chief scientist position with a biotechnology company in Hawaii. The private companies are where all the good money is at. I wouldnt bother with trying to be a professor unless I just wanted to be surrounded by college babes the rest of my life. I think I got lucky with everything. Most will need a PHd to make a succesful living.
 
In the grand scheme of things, scientists are relatively under paid, under appreciated and over worked.
Well said......
But....if you do what you love you never "work" a day in your life...don't know where that quote is from, but it is mostly true, but sometimes even work you love is work.

The best advice is to actually get involved in the job that you envision for yourself, see what it takes and what they do day in and day out. You may find it to be great, you may not, but better now than 10 years down the road and 100K in debt!

Don't worry too much about the money, but be realistic it is not that easy to make a good living with a marine biology degree. It could be a perfect fit for you, it might not, but check it out and really research it (see above) before you commit. At least you are not set on a degree in Latin-American anglo saxon pyscologcal developement of dolts or some such non-marketable degree:) (Kidding here obviously)

I teach biology, zoology, chemistry and anatomy/physiology and enjoy it. I sometimes get to bring my love of marine biology into the classroom (especially in zoology, but in biology/chemistry too). I know marine biology classes in high schools are starting to be more and more common, and we all know the U.S. needs more good, passionate high school science teachers!
Just another thought:)
 
My high school advisor said I shouldn't be a marine biologist, I'll never have a career with it. Can't write down my thoughts on that one...

Got my BS in Marine Science and went to work for the NY Aquarium in Brooklyn, NY.

Well I eventually cofounded my own public aquarium and have the largest all live coral reef dispaly 7 years running in this hemisphere.

Doing an internship at a public aquarium is a good way to find out what its really like.

Another option to the normal route of college is located at:
http://www.occc.cc.or.us/aquarium/index.html

There are plenty of great jobs in the marine bio field. It doesn't matter what career you choose, its what you do with that choice and not just settling for the norm.
 
I am looking into a career in Marine Bio. To start making any money at all, you first need a LOT of volunteer experience, and then a LOT of paid experience, and to get there, you are taking the nine an hour stuff......
 
The thing is, you could call marine interests my passion, but am i willing to sacrafice my standard of living, to go into this field? Not being able to have a house the size i want it, the comforts that i could have with more money, and most of all THE HUGE TANK that i'd want. That i don't know yet. I still need to work out these things. Your posts have been very very insightful, and I thank all those who posted. Those who are marine biologists out there, i've got to tell you that you have my respect. You guys do so much, and i now realize, with very little benefit to yourself. Thank you for what you do. It's really great.


-tyler
 
If you work in the aquarium trade, or at a public aquarium, I can PROMISE you, you will not want that "HUGE TANK" at home...

VERY VERY TRUE!
 
It really all comes down to doing what you will be happy doing. I know it sounds cliche but it's very true. If it's what you wanted to do when you were ten it's probably still what you would be really happy doing.
Like others have said if money is the big issue being a marine biologist isn't the way to go. If it's being in the field and seeing what mother nature created for us, both good and bad, on a frequent basis then maybe it is.
If I wanted to make a ton of $ I would be learning to work on humans but that's not what I wanted to do when I was ten;)
Lots of good advice in this thread:)
good luck, Chris
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10590479#post10590479 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kodyboy
If you work in the aquarium trade, or at a public aquarium, I can PROMISE you, you will not want that "HUGE TANK" at home...

VERY VERY TRUE!

I third that, I've found it's better to leave hobbies, hobbies and careers, careers. I think this is especially true in the sciences.

There are some exceptions, but you will be overworked, under payed, always "under the microscope". especially in academia, the bureaucracy just never ends and will quite possibly drain any last ounce of ambition you may have. Some people don't mind all this, but I've found this is not true for the majority.

One alternative to consider would be aquaculture engineering.
It is a much more applied degree than marine bio and probably has better career prospectives, especially without a PhD.

As for money, don't expect to get rich. I do know professors making, upper six-figure salaries, but they also are bringing in $30,000,000+ grants. Skill and determination will help get you to this point, but there is also a lot of luck (and unfortunately, politics) involved in getting to this point, but also plenty of luck...

starting salaries are more like $65-75K and only maybe 1/3 of these people eventually get tenure.

if you really love marine bio and are aware of the difficulties then go for it, just be aware...
 
I'm about halfway into my undergraduate biology degree at the moment. I haven't really figured out what I want out of it yet. I've just had an interest in the oceans since I was really young watching every nature documentary I could. The deep sea was always a favorite. I have recently found I have an interest in marine invertebrates. Nothing in particular yet since I'm still learning. I guess I probably should have already had a plan but I at least knew I wasn't in it for the money. I mostly just wanted to travel.

I'm not too sure about college at the moment honestly. I feel that science in general seems to be a shaky field to go into. I'm not disheartened as much as I'm somewhat unsure of what I want right now. I do like what I've done so far but I don't know if I'm prepared to be in school for years just to even be able to get a low level job. Perhaps I should just stick to being an armchair biologist. It's a lot less stressful.

I'm going to try and stick with what I'm doing for now. I haven't gotten to the point where I can intern yet so I guess I still have to see for myself.
 
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