HELP

>>2470661
>What should I do?
ignore /sci/
do what you want
?????
profit

>>2470661
>but /sci/ says
Why would you listen to a bunch of high schoolers and undergrads? Please do not take advice or make life decisions based on input from 4chan.

>>2470691
Where would I get advice though?
School tells me to study something that would guarantee me to get a wellpaying job
I don't care that much about money

>>2470701
>I don't care that much about money
18-year-olds who live at home tend to not care about money. I know that's a dickhead thing to say, but trust me, you'll care about it soon enough.

I have a BSc, MSc, and PhD. I followed my passion and wouldn't have changed anything. But after finishing my PhD and hearing about the challenges others (in biology) have in finding permanent jobs in academia or research, I'm less likely to encourage people to go the academic route unless they REALLY have a passion and/or a game plan.

If you want to get into research, you are looking at a Bsc. and a PhD (assuming you jump the MSc, which I wouldn't advise). So 8-10+ years, plus 1-2 years as a post doc, and maybe you'll have a shot at getting a prof position if you have a stellar C.V. (lots of good pubs, scholarships and awards, communication, etc) and a good pedigree/connections.

It's not an easy life and it's not even about settling for an okay-paying job - there is a very good chance you won't even get a job in your field. You'll basically be an overqualified academic who lost 10 years of potential income and now has to find alternative source of employment, hopefully allowing you to make use of your "transferable skills".

I know this sounds cynical, but it's the way things are now. If you really want to do this, and things change when you are young, you have to work your ass off. Have fun, socialize, and enjoy life (ie: don't stay in your dorm/at home on 4chan instead of going out), but make sure you make good grades, profs know who you are (comes in handy for reference letters and potential supervisors), apply for every scholarship/award/bursary you can (especially communication ones), network as much as possible, and try to get a paper published from your honors thesis or a side project while still an undergrad, this will set you apart from the rest.

It's a long road dude. On the other hand, you only live once. Ignore the antisocial STEM no-nothings at /sci/.

>>2470701
>>2470710
Yeah, science isn't so hot in the US right now.

If you plan on sticking with bio, do it cheap. Don't automatically go for the most expensive school that accepts you. Find a balance between price and quality.

>>2470715
I went to a small undergrad university and am thankful for that. I had a good education and actually knew all my profs. I never thought asking for ref letters was difficult until talking to friends at large schools, who basically got a generic letter if they did 3 courses with the prof and got over 90% or whatever arbitrary rules the profs told the class.

Stellar reference letters combined with a couple pubs, conference talks, and awards meant I could choose where to go for my MSc. Then my future PhD supervisor, who I knew from conferences and was good friends with my MSc supervisor, contacted me about doing a PhD with him.

It's all about showing good communication, productivity, and the ability to get money/grants. Don't be a weird hermit who gets prematurely bitter from spending all his time on 4chan or whatever - you need to exercise your social muscles and go outside your comfort zone, because this is also going to set you apart from many of the academic weirdos. Building your CV and skillset is kind of fun, as long as you don't take it to the psychotic pre-med level.

>>2470661
Biology is plenty rigorous. Whether it's worth it or not is a whole other story.

I got the degree and am working retail. The field is hard to get into. You might want to get an oceanography degree and work for NOAA but that's really narrowing your options too.

>School tells me to study something that would guarantee me to get a wellpaying job

That's propaganda so you'll pay them to go to their school. There is no guarantee. I'm in retail, a guy I knew with bio masters worked at Texaco after and then had to go back to the same school he graduated from and work as a lab TA.

>>2470710
>>2470715
>>2470724
I'm in NZ so our universities aren't super competitive like in America as we have a much smaller population. However job opportunities here are shit compared to countries like America, so 14.1% of kiwis live overseas while only 0.5% of Americans live overseas.
So basically in order to secure job opportunities outside of uni, I should make sure any papers and projects I do get published and noticed by making friends and connections through socializing

>>2470742
NIWA in NZ is like NOAA but doesn't have any deep sea technology
I would have to create my own tech in order to explore deep sea

File: 1502038345920.jpg (20KB, 500x391px) Image search: [Google]

20KB, 500x391px

>>2470661
If you haven't started uni then you don't know if you're good at math and physics. It's a whole different ballpark in college.

If you're going to school in the US then relax and take classes to help decide what you enjoy doing. Then pick your major based on that. The day to day of most majors is vastly different than what you imagine so it's good to dabble before deciding. If you're not from the US then continue panicking.

Also, yeah, what you're probably going to study is not going to be anywhere near as rigorous as pure math and physics. I suppose you could try applied math, applied physics, or a double major if you desire /sci/'s approval while also trying to embrace your dreams. You should definitely be trying to balance employability, what you really want to do, and what you're actually capable of doing.

Good luck brainlet.

t. /sci/

>>2470924
>If you're not from the US then continue panicking
Why would I have to panic if I'm not from America?

>>2470933
I'm obviously not familiar with every other countries education system but from what I understand, most of Europe requires you to declare a major before starting college and you can't just have a leisurely college life while you takes classes and discover what you want to major in. I have no idea about Asian universities but most people on here are from the states or Europe.

>>2470661
Don't worry, biology can be autistic enough.
Get good working with data analysis & statistics and you'll have huge bonus points joining the research teams you fancy.
Deep sea marine biology is not easy to get in, because it is complicated to do and needs expensive tech.
That doesn't mean you can't get into it though.
Look what Universities and Institutes have interesting research going on, try to get there, build skills, network, don't give up.

Most research (and jobs) is at the top of the throphic pyramid (phyto- and zooplankton) and things related to fisheries.

>>2470933
I'd panic if I had to study in the US, because I'd get out with crippling debt

>tfw graduated from a literally-who college and never had a chance to network

>>2470661
>changing the entire course of your life based on a 4chan board's memes

Wow.

Step one: get the fuck off the internet and focus on school.

>>2471222
I'm in NZ, and like America we don't specialize early
We can switch to a different major later on if we want to since most classes first year aren't mandatory courses for your major

>>2471339
So you reckon it would be a good idea for me to take math classes along with biology classes so I can have an advantage when it comes to jobs in marine biology?

>>2471368
It's the weekend in NZ right now

>>2471371
If that's the case, then I recommend taking the intro classes for stuff that interests you so that you can decide if that's what you want to do. And then definitely keep taking math for a year or two because the only way it can hurt you is if it takes up too much time and lowers your GPA. I'd like to reiterate that you have no idea how useful some of the upper level mathematics can be in your future, especially as a scientist.

The applied tracks for math and physics would actually be pretty useful for a scientist. The data analysis and mathematical modelling would give you an edge over somebody that studied only marine biology or whatever.

Then again, I don't know a lot about marine biology. I did apply for some internships for the fisheries science department and they were looking for mathematicians and programmers to help model certain ecosystems. There were a lot of positions like that so I'm assuming that this kind of stuff is pretty common.

>>2471371
Don't just take math classes indiscriminately. Unless you just love the hell out of math. Find a school that has some marine bio program and follow what they recommend. I had to take a year of calculus but there were a gajillion other math classes they offered that wouldn't have counted for anything and would have been a waste of time. Anything very specialized the employer should be expected to teach you when you start working. Nobody can expect you to know all math ever made for a single job.

>>2471400
>The data analysis and mathematical modelling would give you an edge
this

Making sense of huge data sets is a mayor part of biology. You usually spend much more time with it than being in the field or working in the lab.
It is also something that not too many students are good at. So that sets you apart.

If you are good and someone important notices, you are pretty much guaranteed an assistant job early on then get to know the scientists, get to watch them doing their normal research routine, learn a lot that is not covered in class, get your network going, get that hard contested spot on the next expedition...

>>2470661

>gayass engineering

delet this

>>2471400
>>2471416
>>2471419
Huge thanks for the advice guys
I appreciate you guys taking the time to help me out

>>2471457
Never!!

>>2470754
How's the climate in NZ, my dude? Would someone who hates hot weather do well at all in NZ, or is it like Australia (hot)?

>>2472014
NZ is long and skinny and mountainous, so there is a variety of temperatures
Most of the population lives in the North Island, which is warm and moist
Most of the remaining population lives in east coast South Island, which is mild and dry
Some people live in the deep south, which is cool and moist
West coast South Island is mild and wet and hardly anyone lives there (mostly national park filled with temperate rainforest)
Central South Island is mountainous with LOTR scenery

Most of NZ I've never been to sadly because I'm a poorfag

>>2471457
>implying engineers aren't gay

>>2470661
>dook dook dook