Biology is a popular degree subject and is the study of living creatures; it is heavily concerned with health and science so most tend to take career routes in this area, though this doesn’t mean there aren’t other options for you. The common jobs many people become are academic researcher, microbiologist, pharmacologist, marine biologist, and many others. 

Here is one of the most popular careers graduates go on to after finishing their degree in biology, their job goals, and how much they earn. The handy table class='table table-striped's below each section will tell you the approximate ultimate earning potential you can expect, the likely career progression path you might follow to do that career – and the top ten employers hiring candidates. 

PHARMACOLOGY - IS IT FOR ME?  

A pharmacologist is someone who works to understand how medicinal drugs affect the body and how they can be improved and used more effectively in a way that is safe for the human body to ingest.  

What you’ll be doing in your normal work is also learning how some drugs may cause addictive behaviours and why people react in different ways to them, most likely in academia. Understanding the activity of a drug in the human body is what they do in simple terms. A level of teamwork will be required as pharmacologists need to cooperate with other scientists in meetings and collaborations.  

Even within pharmacology, as a biologist, there are options to pick from in where exactly you will specialise. Some of these areas are cardiovascular pharmacology, clinical pharmacology or if you prefer to work with animals rather than humans, veterinary pharmacology.  

Pharmacologists are very important as they are the ones who study and define medicinal drugs; without them, hospitals and those unwell would be in trouble, and in senior positions in this career you can expect to earn around $138,000. Salaries usually are higher in academia than in the industry, as pharmacologists with a PhD typically earn more. For this reason, the ultimate earning potential below will follow this route. 

ULTIMATE EARNING POTENTIAL FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN THE US

TOP 10 EMPLOYERS

1. Exelixis 
2. US Food and Drug Administration 
3. Abbvie 
4. Seagen 
5. The University of Iowa 
6. Columbia University Irving Medical Center 
7. Medpace, Inc. 
8. UTMB Health 
9. Vertex Pharmaceuticals 
10. Viatris