In this article, I’ve compiled 10 reasons to study biology provided you have a passion for it or can develop one. It encompasses all branches of biology with each field being equally important. The article is kind of long – slightly above 2000 words, so you might need to grab some snacks.
If you are considering studying biology but just aren’t sure what a feature in biology holds for you, this article should help you decide. Here are 10 reasons you should consider studying Biology.
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Table of Contents
1. Wide Selection of Disciplines
Biology is among subjects with the broadest fields of study. As a lover of biology, you’ll find there are so many interesting branches of biology that you might be fussy about which one to choose. A long list of choices means you’ll also face less competition when seeking admission. As is seen in this Biology Online article, there are as many as 50 or so different branches of biology. I’ll briefly describe a few of the most popular choices, but you can explore each discipline further to see what it entails.
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is the study of technology for use in modifying living organisms to improve their productivity to humans. This study is employed in the fields of animal domestication, plant cultivation, and the use of genetic modifications to create new better breeds for certain purposes. Biotechnology sees a wide range of applications in genetic engineering and cell or tissue technologies.
The advancement of biotechnology has improved the lives of humans in the fields of medicine, food science, and agriculture. If you are a research enthusiast and want a course based on biology, biotechnology should be a good fit for you. Biotechnologists draw significant funding in research from governments and organizations due to the research-intensive nature of the course. So if you are good at it and find yourself in the right environment, you’ll have all the research you ever desired and maybe a one-day break record with a discovery, invention, or innovation that makes you famous locally or internationally.
Biology
Biology is the study of life and living organisms in terms of physical structure, evolution, physiological mechanisms, chemical process, development, and molecular interactions. Basically, as a Biologist, that’s what you’ll be doing. It is a very broad subject that employs various other sciences, like mathematics, physics, and chemistry in understanding some complex realities. Biotechnology, Biology is also a research-intensive field.
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2. It’s Fun to Study Biology
It is always exciting to learn the essential components of your existence and that of other living things around you. Part of the excitement is due to the broadness of biology since there is a lot to know about life. Again, much of what you learn is practical – from visiting a lab or local river for samples, to taking part in growing and managing certain organisms, everything is hands-on. You also participate in adventures in woods or other natural habitats to learn about new living things.
There are constantly new discoveries being made in the field of biology, to such an extent that no single person can know all there is to even a tenth of biology. It’ll be really fun to always have to deal with new things in a subject you have passion for.
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3. Biology Has a Wide Area of Application
We consume an infinite number of biological products for our survival. Livestock is an important source of food for humans, and we use them as raw materials for certain products. For example, dairy farms produce milk, beef, skin, oil, and other products.
Even as we feed on livestock, the animals, in turn, feed on other living things particularly plants. Then, the plants in turn need some elements and living organisms to survive. Biology infiltrates all of the living things we mentioned above, plus the non-living things, like humus and manure. Biology actively explores these vast areas in a way that enables us to understand them better. With a deep knowledge of plants and animals, we are able to improve their productivity and learn better ways to manage and take care of them. I’ll describe in some detail just how deep and wide biology has penetrated our lives and environments in beneficial ways.
Foods and Beverages
We have an endless selection of both natural and ready-made foods and beverages to choose from. From the growing of these plants to processing and packing, a lot of biological processes are involved.
Clothing and Textiles
No one can move naked comfortable – not even mad people do that, except in the case of the exceptionally sick people calling themselves naturalists and move naked from time to time. However, the great majority of us wear clothes. Have you ever wondered how those beautiful dresses you own came about? Most likely not.
Different raw materials are used for making the things we put on. From cotton to flax, fabric, fossil fuels, biology plays a major role in understanding and exploiting these raw materials for use by the textile industry.
There many other aspects of biology that’s evident in our live, like in the areas of “beauty and personal care”, “transportation and leisure”, buildings, fuels, “healthcare and medicine”, and so on.
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4. Great Entrepreneurship Potentials
There is what is generally called a bio-entrepreneur. This term came about due to the immense entrepreneur opportunities in biology. There are many ways to become a bio-entrepreneur – more than a hundred possibilities actually. Books have been written on the subject of bio-entrepreneurship. An example includes “What is your Bio Strategy” by John Cumber and Karl Schmieder.
Because the opportunities to start up a bio-business are too many to count, I’ll discuss just a few to give you an idea of what prospects lay ahead for a student of biology.
Open a Medicine Store
Certain courses in biology allow you to open a run a Chemist legally. Even if you need to learn somethings about selling medicines, it won’t be much and you’ll most likely find it easier to secure a license for your operation.
Start a Firm or Company
Depending on the amount of capital you can lay your hands on, you may be able to start a company or firm that deals in:
- Genetic engineering for creating a wide range of products including snack, fragrances, custom designer products, probiotics that help the gut system or clean teeth while a person sleeps, or cells that can help cure certain diseases like cancer.
- Create companies that synthesize DNA and RNA for genetic editing with the aim of improving certain aspects of living organisms.
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5. Greater Employment Prospects
Career paths in biology depends on the branch of biology you studied. Here are a number of career paths to choose as a graduate of biological sciences.
Research Biologist
This is the largest field of application of biology due to the need for research across all fields of the subject. You’ll be studying living organisms in the environment to discover new beneficial knowledge about how such organisms can benefit or affect our well-being. Some research will even involve non-living things or those that are neither dead nor alive. Some common research fields can be research in health and diseases, neurology, genomics, microbiology and pharmacology, etc. As a researcher, you can work in academic institutions, government and private research labs, or even start your own research firm.
Healthcare Biologist
Healthcare biologists are involved in developing campaigns to find cures for certain diseases like tuberculosis, cancer, Covid-19, etc. This is one of the fields of biology with the largest hiring capacity. However, to qualify to work in many of these campaigns you must have more than an undergraduate degree. still, there are plenty of slots for undergrads to assume well-paid jobs here. with the right qualification in biology, you can work as a doctor, nurse, dentist and more. You’ll find biologists in hospitals and other medical facilities, peace corps organizations, and many others. Environmentalists biologists also help tackle health and environmental problems for humans such as climate change, conservation of endangered species and resources, etc.
6. High Salary Potentials
Biologists aren’t the highest-paid workers, but they aren’t the lowest either. Their pay is considered above average with most collecting at least about $54000 a year. This isn’t bad considering that the job of biologists is mostly fun and adventure-like for those who have a passion for the profession. You can earn a lot higher than this depending on your skill level. To increase your chances of earning higher, try to master skills like technical writing, data analysis, project management, research analysis, and environmental consulting. Biologists with Project Management skills are paid higher than the others.
Also, how much you earn as a Biologist depends on your location. You can expect to earn many times higher in developed countries than in developing countries. And even within the same country, the pay can still vary by location. If you find yourself in a location where your skill is in high demand, your earning potentials automatically increases.
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7. It’s Humanitarian
If you are one of the kind-hearted ones whose heart bleeds at the suffering of people and animals around the world, then you’re likely to enjoy a biology profession. I’ve said a lot about how biology explores nearly every aspect of our lives to help us live better.
Being a humanitarian by nature, you’re likely to find many like-minded people in the Biology profession. Your desire to ease the suffering of humans will give you extra courage and willingness to work overtime while trying to find a cure for an illness or trying to understand how certain environmental conditions are affecting our world.
When your work is driven only by pay, you are likely not to do it well. But when you have a personal interest in the success of something, particularly one you are so passionate about, then no amount of failure would make you give up. Failure will only motivate you to work harder and revisit your approach.
You’ll find environmentalists and health personnel in different communities worldwide trying to help locals cope with certain problems or live better lives.
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8. Help You Protect Yourself and Educate Others
Another great reason for studying biology is the amount of safety information with which it enriches you. Biologists are so aware of their environment that they tend to live healthier lives than the average Joe. Your knowledge of pathogen, bacteria, fungus, and other disease carrying vectors forces you to take hygiene more seriously and also deter you from engaging in or living in environments that are too risky for health.
Not only will biology help your personal health but also you get to teach others, like friends and families, about the potentially harmful risks of certain living and non-living things around them. For example, a dog owner may not be aware that a dog’s feces or kissing your dog can transfer salmonella to you. The family or friend can also learn how to store things like meat, poultry, and fish to minimize the risk of bacteria infecting it.
In a nutshell, biology helps you and your loved ones lead a healthier life.
9. Lighter Requirements in Grades
The requirement to study biology is easier to obtain than for many other courses. Most students are averse to Mathematics, Physics, and pretty much any course that requires intensive numerical calculations. This could be due to the nature of these subjects that requires a thorough understanding of one or more concepts for one to understand another.
Biology is light on pre-requisites in High School subjects. That makes it easier for many people to gain admission into universities to study courses related to biology. Although this comes with the drawback that there could be relatively too many students.
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10. Availability of Scholarships
Because of the humanitarian nature of biology, many governments, organizations and individuals are supporting biologist around the world in schools and research programs. Hardly would you find a scholarship organization that doesn’t include biology-related courses in their offers.
Again, some courses that have scholarship backings might come with pre-requisites. Many health or environmental course will accept a degree in biology as a pre-requisite to study at a Master’s or PhD level.
I have outlined some very powerful factors that should convince anyone contemplating to study biology that it’s worth doing. This by no means makes other courses inferior or less relevant. My aim had been to prove that studying biology or related courses will pay off in the long run. You have plenty of advantages to make a great career out of it. From light pre-requisites to an abundance of course options, employability, entrepreneurship potentials and others, graduates of biology already have much of what they need to make it in life. Only if they don’t know how to use it.
