Careers pertaining to a major in biology

          A major I am seriously considering is Biology, the study of life and how it functions, grows, and evolves. I am particularly interested in evolutionary biology - the study of how life evolves- and physiology, the study of how the body works, two subcategories of biology. Three jobs/careers that can be made out of biology are: 

A Physician  

• Average pay: There is no real average pay for a doctor, seeing as there is a vast amount of specialties and different clinics/practices/hospitals that give their doctors a certain salary. Doctors that work at a practice typically make anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000 a year, while some cardio or neurosurgeons working in hospitals can make over 700,000 dollars a year. It is all very dependent on time and place. If it really must be estimated, it would be around 100,000 - 300,000. 
• Salary according to region: Interestingly enough, the highest payed doctors aren't from big cities like New York or San Francisco, but rather the North Central. Meaning people that work in states like Iowa, North Carolina, South Carolina, Nebraska, Kansas etc. are all making more than people living in California, Oregon, and particularly states in the Northeast such as New York, Boston, and New Jersey. 
• Education: Becoming a physician takes anywhere from 11-15 years of education starting in undergrad. A student must take all of the required courses listed under "pre-med" or pre-medicine that consist of chemistry, physics, physiology, calculus and certain english courses. Then once they have completed their years of undergrad they take the test called the MCAT or Medical College Admission Test to get into medical school. If they have succeeded in getting admitted into medical school they will take a total of four years there, two in classrooms and laboratories, and two in clinics and hospitals as interns. Then they will forgo residency which can take anywhere from three to seven years training under an attending doctor that will train them on general medicine and their specialty. Once they have passes all medical license training and tests-that very from state to state- they are free to practice medicine. 
• Personality/Traits: Doctors must be considerate, responsible, critical thinkers, compassionate, driven, and passionate about what they do. Doctors need to be completely willing to give all they can to a patient/their work and not expect anything in return. They must be patient and willing to listen to what someone they are caring for needs and do their best to give them that. Most of all, doctors have to be good people, and I honestly believe that. Yes, they get paid very well,but I know there is no way the majority of doctors do it for the pay; there is no way someone who is only in it for the money would put themselves through insanely hard classes, grueling five hour test, thousands of dollars in debt, waking up at two a.m. to get your attending coffee, and bodily fluids being cast upon you in an untimely and unforgiving manner, all for money. There is just  no way, I just don't believe that anyone that wasn't in it just for the pure joy of helping people and making a difference would put themselves through that. Not to say that all of that isn't more than worth it, I'm just saying you really have to be a good person to get to where I want to be. 

An Environmental Scientist 

• Average pay: The wage of an environmental scientist can vary from $35,000 to $72,000 once again, depending on various different things such as how long someone has been working, how good they are at their job, who they are hired by, and location. The average pay, or median of the two ends is about 50,000 dollars a year. 
• Salary according to region: Information not found. Guess would be in America, particular the west, since there is a particularly large amount of funding, effort, and research being put in to  help the environment stay untouched and healthy- environmental scientists are vital for this. 
• Education: All that is needed for most jobs is a bachelors in environmental science, but to give yourself a boost in the field, a masters would give a leg up in most job searches. 
• Personality/Traits: Someone who is an environmental scientist needs to have charisma, when cold, hard, facts and data don't come through in convincing someone that they need to care for the environment, sometimes all it takes is a sincere, and honest approach, along with people skills to get someone start taking steps to protect the world. They must also be determined and willing to keep commitments, because environmental scientists go through long hours full analyzing data and measurements, and determining probable outcomes based on observations on food, organisms, soil, and air. 

A Lab Technician/ Researcher

• Average pay: The average pay for a lab technician is about $55,000, once again there are various kinds of lab technicians and places to work. 
• Salary According to Region: Information not found. There is no geographical location where lab technicians are needed more or get payed better. 
• Education: Depending on how advanced of a position you wan will determine how much schooling you will need. The very bottom would only require a training program and a certification test straight out of high school, where other lab tech jobs may require a masters or bachelors degree plus training and certification. 
• Personality/Traits: Like any other job, one should be committed and ready to work. Another quality needed is the ability to work in a team, there could be some projects that require working and collaborating with other people. Being a lab technician doesn't require a lot other than general people skills, it is not a job where you will be constantly around patients or other people. The only people you really see are your co-workers.