Pathway
Life Sciences & Research
Working out how living systems actually function, in a lab, a field site, or a dataset. Slower and more repetitive than TV suggests, and genuinely thrilling if the question grabs you.
Majors
- Biology
- Biochemistry
- Neuroscience
- Microbiology
- Genetics
- Bioinformatics
Jobs people do
- Research scientist
- Lab technician / research associate
- Genetic counselor
- Biotech process scientist
- Science writer
- Bioinformatics analyst
Watch out
The choices that quietly close a door here
Taking AP Biology in 10th grade before Chemistry.
Molecular biology is chemistry. Students who take AP Bio first usually find the second half of the course opaque and their grade shows it.
Instead Chemistry sophomore year, AP Biology junior year.
Treating math as the part you can drop.
Genetics, ecology, and neuroscience are all quantitative now, and bioinformatics is essentially programming. Weak math narrows the field to its least employable corners.
Instead Stay in the math sequence and take Statistics. It's the most-used math in the field.
Course ladder
Grade by grade
Course names differ at every school, and graduation requirements differ by state. Take this list to your counselor so the two of you are working from the same page.
Grade 8
- Algebra IWorth doing
Grade 9
- BiologyLoad-bearing
- GeometryLoad-bearing
- English 9Load-bearing
Grade 10
- ChemistryLoad-bearing
- Algebra IILoad-bearing
- World language, year 2Worth doing
Grade 11
- AP Biology or AP ChemistryLoad-bearing
- PrecalculusWorth doing
- PhysicsWorth doing
- Intro programming or statisticsWorth doing
Modern biology is data work. Learning some Python or R now pays off fast.
Grade 12
- Second AP science (Chemistry, Physics, or Environmental)Worth doing
- Calculus or AP StatisticsWorth doing
- Independent research course or science capstoneIf you have room
Outside class
Science Olympiad or Science Bowl
Broad exposure, and it tells you which science you keep gravitating to.
From grade 9
Email local university labs asking to volunteer
Most students never try. Write to five professors whose work you actually read about; one reply is all you need.
From grade 10
Regeneron ISEF / state science fair
The main way high schoolers get real research on the record.
From grade 10
Citizen science projects
eBird, Zooniverse, local water monitoring. Real data, no gatekeeping.
From grade 8
Things to build
Design and run one experiment with a real control group
Doesn't need a lab. The skill being demonstrated is designing a fair test, not owning equipment.
From grade 10
Read one actual journal paper a month and write what it said
PubMed is free. Being able to read a paper is a genuine differentiator at 17.
From grade 10
Is this actually a fit for you?
Ten minutes of questions, and Bearing turns this into a plan that starts from the grade you're in.
Take the survey