Genetic engineering. Fermentation. Virology. Put on your safety goggles – you're about to earn one of the best Biotechnology degrees in the nation.
Biotechnology is all about using biological systems – plants, animals, genes, etc. – to develop or design new products. This covers a lot of ground. You could use biotechnology in medicine, agriculture, food science, industrial materials – the list could go on!
If you want to use science to fight diseases, solve hunger crises, and develop new biofuels, then a degree in Biotechnology is right up your alley.
What kind of degree in Biotechnology should you get?
The first step to a career in this area is a bachelor's degree in either biology or biotechnology.
You'll find that biotechnology covers a lot of different areas. Most of these schools help guide you into a facet of biotechnology that best fits your interests and academic passions.
For example, do you want to get down to the nitty-gritty of the natural world? Check out the Microbial Biotechnology concentrations at UC Davis, Cal Poly Pomona, or SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
Do you like looking at the bigger picture? Then take a look at the Plant Biotechnology and Animal Biotechnology tracks at the University of Georgia and SUNY Cobleskill.
Regardless of which specific area of biotechnology you want to explore, all of these programs will give you a fantastic foundational understanding of the basics. If your schedule isn't quite going to line up with a full-time, on-campus program, check out College Choice's list of the 50 Best Online Colleges and Universities.
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How much money do people make with a degree in Biotechnology?
Earning a degree in the world of biotechnology will guarantee you not only a rewarding career, but a financially secure future. You could take this degree in so many different areas, but three potential roles you could find yourself pursuing are a Microbiologist, a Biomedical Engineer, or a Biological Technician. All three of these jobs offer a comfortable annual salary:
Microbiologist: $69,960
Biomedical Engineer: $88,040
Biological Technician: $43,800
These figures, of course, adjust depending on where you are working. For example, working in the pharmaceutical and medical world will earn you a higher salary than working at a private or state-level setting. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, employment in biotechnology careers is expected to increase by over 10 percent in the next 10 years.
What can you do with a degree in Biotechnology?
Biotechnology is a field with virtually no limits. You can take your degree and apply it to medicine, agriculture, transportation, and beyond. If you're more interested in the research side of things, you could work in a laboratory or a think-tank at a university.
If you're the kind of person who likes to get their hands dirty, you could cater your career to field experiments and trips around the world to test soil and plant samples. Here are just a few of the many careers you could pursue with a degree in biotechnology:
Microbiologist
Agricultural Engineer
Food Scientist
Biochemist
Epidemiologist
What are the requirements for a degree in Biotechnology?
Since you're starting with a bachelor's degree, your admissions requirements will look pretty similar to any other degree requirements. You'll take the SAT/ACT, write a few essays, turn in your transcripts, and hope for the best!
But here are a few things you can do to optimize your chances at getting into the best program possible:
Join a science club. It looks fantastic on applications if you're already showing extracurricular interest in biotechnology.
Bring your grades up. This degree is science-heavy, so work hard at chemistry, physics, and biology.
Walk the talk. As much as you can, show that you're invested in this area of your education. Do your own research; read up on current discoveries; find mentors in your area.
What are the best degrees in Biotechnology?
Below you'll find the 10 Best Biotechnology degrees. We took a number of steps to find our list. First, we gathered the academic quality of each program. Then we looked at affordability and the return on investment – a big factor in how you decide on a school. Last but not least, we factored in student happiness using retention rates and graduation rates of each program.
Our methodology draws from our data team at College Choice, the quality resources at U.S. News & World Report, and the statistics at Payscale.com.
Rankings
See our rankings methodology page.
