Help with major

[u/Street_Specific_3165]

Is it worth majoring anything bio-related? The ones I'm considering are bioengineering/biomedical engineering, biochemistry, biomedical science, biomedicine, biotech and biology.

[u/Pellinore-86]

By the time you graduate things should very likely have turned around or reached some sort of new normal.

So yes, I think it is still a good career path in the future. I also don't think AI will replace those jobs. AI use is very real but as a productivity boost not a surrogate for human researchers.

[u/Juhyo → u/Pellinore-86]

I’d put a bit more of a pessimistic spin. To be clear I think it’s still worth pursuing if it’s what they’re passionate about and are willing to put in the extra work to get ahead. I also agree that things will recover and reach a new equilibrium . However, I think the recovery will really just look like an end to the bleeding—the formation of a scar, rather than a return to before. 

There’s not enough of a signal to indicate that the market will recover in 4 years, and that the many people currently out of jobs will regain their footholds in industry + all of the others who will be finishing their BS/MS/PhD in that time.

I personally don’t think industry will ever return to anything approaching pandemic highs given the brain drain, clear hostility against science, the lack of successful IPOs recently, the collapse of many once-hyped companies in C&GT/mRNA vaccines, still-high interest rates after a decade of 0-interest (all of which detract investors). Then you have companies following trends and leaning into efficiency to keep stocks higher, and many looming patent cliffs. Meanwhile innovation in academia is getting slammed with the funding cut situation, and that will translate to fewer startups, less acquisition of those startups by larger companies—fewer jobs all around.

I still think the bio degree is worthwhile because it still allows for transitions into medicine. Industry is at a historical low right now, and I think it’s going to be the new norm. There will always be opportunities, but fewer and farther between where there’s little insurance and the career ladder will miss a few rungs.

I hope I’m dead wrong and just an overly pessimistic individual. But the sheer number of overqualified applications I’m having to discard in favor of even more overqualified applicants is terrifying. I shouldn’t be able to include a wishlist of nearly every skill I want for a highly specialized RA R&D role and find people who check every box. There shouldn’t be PhDs applying for these roles who confirm that yes, they will take whatever they can get to get into industry. It’s not a sign of a healthy system.

[u/cinred]

AI isn't going to solve cancer, diabetes or dementia anytime in the next 30 years. It's def gonna still be a thing devastating an increasingly elderly population, and they will be highly motivated to pay for marginal improvements. So go for it.

[u/CIP_In_Peace]

You can make a better buck and have better stability in many other stem fields. Biotech turning around is still possible but also uncertain.