The CBS career readiness team supports you in exploring careers and majors whether you're in your first semester, about to graduate, or are an alum making a career pivot.
Making sense of majors and careers in CBS
- Major: The focused set of courses you choose to complete in biology or a sub-area of biology that lead to the degree you receive when you graduate. (For example: Bachelor of Science in Biology, Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience, etc.)
- Job: A position you work in to earn income.
- Career: A longer-term view of your collection of education, jobs, and experiences that usually offers opportunity to grow over time. Some career paths are well-defined by specific job titles and some are more varied.
- Pre-health student: A student who intends to pursue a career in healthcare. Pre-health students complete specific courses required to apply to health professional schools, but do not declare a pre-health major, track, or emphasis at the University of Minnesota.
- Industry: In STEM fields, the term “industry” refers to employers outside of universities or government.
Meet with a career coach if you're wondering...
- Which majors and careers are a good fit for me?
- How do I evaluate majors, and should I pursue a minor?
- What careers can I do with my major?
- How can I build skills needed for the careers I'm interested in?
Exploring majors in CBS
If you're exploring majors, you are encouraged to talk with a CBS career coach, CBS academic advisor, and professors.
What are my options?
CBS offers 8 majors and 14 minors. You also have the option to add double majors, dual degrees, and minors through other colleges at the University of Minnesota, giving flexibility to customize your degree and study what interests you.
You have time to explore
CBS majors require many of the same courses, especially in the first three semesters, so there is flexibility to explore CBS majors while completing courses that meet degree requirements for your major. Talk with your CBS academic advisor to make a four-year plan for the major you're considering.
What is the impact of my major?
Your major in CBS impacts the depth of study in sub-areas of biological sciences. There is overlap in the courses required by CBS majors and the careers alumni from CBS majors enter. In CBS, we emphasize gaining skills and experiences that prepare you for career fields you’re interested in. Our majors prepare you to enter health professional and graduate school and work for a wide range of employers.
Major exploration resources
- CBS majors and minors
- University of Minnesota Major and Minor Profiles (CAPE): In-depth information about all University of Minnesota majors and minors.
- Center for Academic Planning and Exploration (CAPE): Resources and support for major exploration across the University of Minnesota.
- CAPE Major Network: Sign up to be paired with a student mentor in a major you’re interested in.
- What can I do with this major?: University of Minnesota students can access this paywalled site through Handshake. Go to Handshake > Career Center > Resources > What Can I Do With This Major?
- Major Exploration for International Students (CAPE)
Exploring careers in CBS
CBS students and alumni have varied interests and enter careers in many industries including healthcare, research, biotechnology, education, law, environment/natural resource sciences, and business. Some CBS alumni enter their careers immediately after college. Others choose careers that require graduate or health professional school.
If you're exploring careers, consider:
- What kind of impact do you want to make through your career?
- What skills do you want to contribute to society, your community, or a team?
- What kind of difference do you want to make in the world or your community?
CBS career coaches help students:
- Explore and learn about career options
- Identify skills and experiences to gain during college to prepare for their career
- Apply to post-graduation jobs and schooling
Career exploration resources
- Exploring Careers at the University of Minnesota
- O*NET OnLine: Explore career options by industry, skills, interest areas and more.
- Occupational Outlook Handbook: Browse career information and data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- Explore Health Careers
Strategies for exploring careers and majors
When exploring careers and majors, start with self-exploration and gaining experience and exposure to careers in career courses and at career events. Meet with a career coach at any stage to work through these strategies, reflect on what you've learned, and identify your next step in exploring careers or majors.
Self-exploration
Understanding yourself, especially your values, interests, personality and skills, is the first step in exploring majors and careers and can help you identify careers that are a good fit.
Values
Values define your priorities for your life and career. Explore your values with these tools:
- Work Values Matcher (Career One Stop): Complete this card sort to identify and learn about your values and how they relate to careers.
- Life Values Inventory
- Meet with a career coach to discuss how your values may impact your career and major choice.
Interests
Interests often motivate you to pursue majors and certain jobs. Knowing about your interests is crucial for understanding what you might like to study and which careers might be a good fit.
- Strong Interest Inventory (SII): Make an appointment with a career coach to learn more and gain access to this interest-based assessment to explore how your interests might relate to specific careers.
- O*NET Interest Profiler: Take this quick and free assessment to learn your top interest areas and related careers. (The O*NET Interest Profiler provides the same interest types as the Strong Interest Inventory, with less-detailed results.)
- Meet with a career coach to discuss your interests and how they may guide your major and career exploration.
Skills
Skills are abilities you can aim to develop or strengthen. Identifying the skills you possess and enjoy using helps you identify majors and careers that may be a good fit.
Self-management skills are personal characteristics or traits, such as being accurate, open, logical, or thoughtful.
Transferable skills are acquired in one setting and can be applied to other settings. Interpersonal skills used working as a teaching assistant can also be applied to working as a healthcare professional.
Work content skills are crucial to performance in certain careers, like specific lab skills, Spanish fluency, or knowing how to operate certain types of equipment. These skills are developed in your classes and through on-the-job training.
Explore your skills:
- U of M Skills Card Sort: Download these slides to complete this interactive exercise designed to help you identify your top skills.
- Meet with a career coach to discuss skills you have and want to develop and to understand how your skills may align with certain careers.
Personality
Your personality may influence how you work independently and with others and your preferences for a work environment. Learn more about your personality through assessments, self-reflection, and talking with friends and family.
- Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory (MBTI): Learn more about your personality profile and how your personality might influence the work environment and professional relationships you encounter. Make an appointment with a career coach to learn more about taking the MBTI assessment.
- 16 Personalities: Gain insights into your personality with this free assessment.
- Sparketype: Free assessment to understand the type of work that gives you meaning.
Gain experience
Engaging in experiences in and outside of the classroom is a hands-on strategy to explore majors and careers. Experience is a broad term to describe things you do in and outside of the classroom, like jobs, volunteering, and research that help you develop career-related skills and knowledge.
New experiences help you:
- Understand which work environments and roles you do and don’t prefer
- Develop and identify the skills you want to use in your career
- Learn about career fields from people you meet during the experience
- Connect with people working in fields or studying in an area you are interested in
Looking for a new experience?
Review tips for finding a new experience and review previous CBS Student Internships and Experiences. Meet with a CBS career coach for support with identifying the type of experience to look for and searching and applying for experiences.
Career events and courses
CBS career readiness events and CBS career courses offer the opportunity to:
- Learn about career fields
- Meet employers and organizations hiring students for jobs, internships, and other valuable professional experiences
- Connect with peers, employers, and alumni
- Plan for graduate and health professional school
- Develop career readiness competencies
Networking
Networking is connecting with people who work or study in an area that interests you. Talking with people studying in a major you’re curious about or working in a career you’re exploring helps you gain perspective into the pathway you’re considering. These conversations can help you decide which major or career is a fit for you, learn how to prepare for the career path, and possibly learn about related experiences you can apply for as a student.
Informational interviews and shadowing
- Informational interviews allow you to talk with someone one-on-one who is working or studying in an area you’re interested in to learn directly from their experiences. This is a great first step to explore any career.
- Shadowing allows you to observe someone working in a job to learn about the role and workplace. Shadowing is most common for healthcare jobs.
- Talk with a career coach about how to find and reach out to people to connect with and prepare for informational interviews. University of Minnesota students, faculty, and alumni are a great place to start.
Get started with networking:
- Expand your network/mentor (UMN Career Services)
Career coaching
Career coaching can help you explore majors and careers by providing focused conversation about your values, interests, and skills and how these play a role in your career and major planning.
- Learn about career fields
- Understand your values, skills, and interests
- Find and apply to jobs, internships, research positions + more
- Identify and connect with alumni and other people in career fields you’re interested in
FAQs
Which major should I choose as a pre-health student?
There is not a best or required major for pre-health (pre-medicine, pre-dental, pre-physician assistant, pre-veterinary medicine, pre-pharmacy, etc.) students. Health professional schools require specific courses (prerequisites), but you can choose the major that best fits your interests, career goals, and skills. CBS academic advisors and career coaches can work with you to identify and plan for prerequisite courses for the health professional program you are pursuing.
What careers can I pursue with a CBS major?
You can pursue many career pathways in the life sciences and other fields. Learn about CBS alumni Career Pathways & Outcomes, including biotechnology, healthcare research, education, and more. Meet with a CBS career coach to discuss your career options.
When do I need to choose a career path?
There is no specific timeline for choosing a career path. You might enter college with plans to pursue a specific career after graduation and work towards that goal throughout undergrad. Or, you might continue exploring careers throughout undergrad while gaining experience in career fields you’re interested in. Some careers require earlier planning to ensure you complete required courses and experiences, including health careers. CBS career coaches can help you learn about the required courses or experiences for careers you’re considering.
What does it mean to declare a major?
“Declaring a major” means you choose and complete a form indicating the specific set of courses you want to focus your undergraduate coursework in.
When do I need to declare my major?
Typically, CBS students declare their major their first year. If you enter CBS without declaring a major, talk with your CBS academic advisor about when you need to declare a major. If you are still exploring majors after you complete foundational CBS coursework, work closely with your CBS academic advisor to find classes that overlap between majors and allow you to continue to explore your interests.
How do I declare or change my major?
Complete a change request form to declare or change a major or minor. Talk with your CBS academic advisor.