Biology and Biomedical Sciences

The largest science degree in Florida by a very wide margin — about 5,000 bachelor's a year at 15 public institutions. ⚠⚠⚠ Two degrees live inside it and the difference decides your career: Biology (26.0101) is the research science, Biomedical Sciences (26.0102) is an explicitly pre-health track. At USF two-thirds of the output is the second one, at UCF more than half, and the department name does not tell you which you are applying to.

The degrees this program covers

⚠⚠⚠ 5,274 CREDENTIALS A YEAR AT 15 INSTITUTIONS, AND 4,997 OF THEM ARE BACHELOR'S — against 183 master's and 66 doctorates, a doctoral share of 1.3%. (Chemistry's, in the same state, is 19%.) ⚠ That does not mean biology needs the doctorate less; it means the bachelor's is being used as a general-purpose science credential by an enormous number of students who are leaving for professional school, teaching or something else. ⚠⚠ THE SPLIT THAT MATTERS: Biology General (26.0101) is 3,787 credentials at 14 institutions — FIU 943, UF 616, FAU 434, USF 407, Florida State 392, UCF 383. Biomedical Sciences (26.0102) is 1,487 at eight — USF 800, UCF 487, UWF 68, FAU 40, FSCJ 28, FIU 26, Florida State 20, UNF 18. ⚠⚠⚠ SO AT USF THE BIOMEDICAL TRACK IS TWICE THE SIZE OF THE BIOLOGY ONE, at UCF it is larger, and at UWF it is a majority. Those are pre-health degrees structured around admissions tests and professional-school prerequisites, not around research. Read the required-course list rather than the department name. ⚠ There is no licence and no programme accreditor in general biology, so nothing external distinguishes one graduate from another — which in a field producing 5,000 a year puts the entire burden of differentiation on specific courses and specific research experience.

Careers this program leads to

Each one sets out the courses along the way, the licence or certification at the end, and the sources behind it.

Biologist and Biological Technician

⚠⚠⚠ Begin with the arithmetic. Florida awards about 5,000 biology bachelor's a year; the biological-scientist occupations hire roughly 13,800 people a year NATIONALLY, and two-thirds of those openings are technician roles at a $57,510 median. ⚠⚠ That is not an argument against the degree — it is an argument for knowing what it is FOR. In practice a Florida biology bachelor's is a preparation for professional school, a research doctorate, teaching or a laboratory career that starts at technician level, and the state's own enrolment data already shows it.

Marine Biologist and Wildlife Biologist

⚠⚠⚠ The numbers first, because nobody puts them in front of Florida students: 19,500 zoologists and wildlife biologists nationally, about 1,400 openings a year across all fifty states, and a FLORIDA median of $52,750 against $76,780 nationally — the widest gap this site has measured. ⚠⚠ Florida awards 98 marine biology bachelor's a year at three institutions, and roughly 5,000 biology bachelor's, many of whom want the same jobs. This page is about what to do with that, not about talking you out of it.

Careers that name this program, but not as a route

Pharmacist

⚠ The other major that contains most of the prerequisites.

Veterinary Technician

⚠ The route to veterinary SCHOOL, which this is not. A science degree's prerequisites lead to the DVM; technology courses do not.

Programs similar to this one

Neighbouring fields that share much of the same coursework, and often the same employers. ⚠ Read these before you commit to a major — which doors a neighbouring degree keeps open is the part no catalog tells you, and it is far cheaper to change now than later.

Medicine 6 Florida schools

⚠⚠⚠ The real destination of a large share of this degree, and the data says so: 1,487 of Florida's 5,274 biology credentials are BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES, an explicitly pre-health track. ⚠ Florida's six public medical schools admit a few hundred students a year against that; the arithmetic is worth doing before committing.

Medical Laboratory Science 14 Florida schools

⚠⚠⚠ The finding biology graduates meet too late. Florida LICENSES clinical laboratory personnel, so a general biology degree does not open hospital bench work that an MLS graduate walks into — and MLS pays better than the biological technician role most biology graduates actually enter. Look at it before the third year, not after graduation.

Chemistry and Biochemistry 10 Florida schools

⚠⚠ The instructive contrast. Chemistry awards 19% of its Florida credentials at doctoral level against biology's 1.3%, on a tenth of the volume. ⚠ The organic sequence (CHM2210, 29 carriers) and biochemistry are shared, and a biology student who takes chemistry seriously is competing against far fewer people.

Environmental Science and Studies 19 Florida schools

⚠ A genuine destination for the ecology and field half of a biology degree — PCB3043 General Ecology and BSC3052 Conservation Biology are the shared courses, and Florida's water-quality, restoration and invasive-species programmes are permanent work. ⚠⚠ Note the wages: Florida pays environmental science $21,390 below the national median.

Public Health 14 Florida schools

⚠ An underadvertised exit that uses the degree rather than discarding it: epidemiology, environmental health and infectious disease all read as biology, the master's is a common next step, and the CHES credential is coursework-based rather than major-based.

Veterinary Technology and Veterinary Assisting 10 Florida schools

⚠ The usual undergraduate route to veterinary school, which veterinary technology is not. A student who wants to become a veterinarian needs a science degree's prerequisites, and technology courses are not designed to meet them.

Marine Biology and Ecology 5 Florida schools

⚠⚠⚠ Where almost everyone actually comes from. Florida awards about 5,000 biology bachelor's a year against 98 marine ones, and a biology degree at a campus with marine faculty and a field station is the commoner and frequently better route. ⚠ It is also far more crowded, which is the trade.

Pharmacy (Doctor of Pharmacy) 3 Florida schools

⚠ The other major that absorbs most pre-pharmacy prerequisites: general biology, microbiology, anatomy and physiology. ⚠ AACP publishes no data on entrants' majors, so neither is shown to be better.

Florida public institutions offering this program

15 institutions awarded a credential in this field in 2023, at these levels: Bachelor's, Certificate (12 weeks-1 year), Doctorate (research/scholarship), Master's, Postbaccalaureate certificate. A school appears here if it awards anything in the field, however limited its offering — a technical college teaching only practical nursing has a nursing program. Listed alphabetically, not ranked.

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

Bachelor's · Master's

Florida Atlantic University

Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year) · Doctorate (research/scholarship) · Master's · Postbaccalaureate certificate

Florida Gulf Coast University

Bachelor's

Florida International University

Bachelor's · Doctorate (research/scholarship) · Master's · Postbaccalaureate certificate

Florida State College at Jacksonville

Bachelor's

Florida State University

Bachelor's · Doctorate (research/scholarship) · Master's

Indian River State College

Bachelor's

Miami Dade College

Bachelor's

St Petersburg College

Bachelor's

University of Central Florida

Bachelor's · Doctorate (research/scholarship) · Master's

University of Florida

Bachelor's

University of Florida-Online

Bachelor's

University of North Florida

Bachelor's · Master's · Postbaccalaureate certificate

University of South Florida

Bachelor's · Doctorate (research/scholarship) · Master's

University of West Florida

Bachelor's · Master's

Source: federal IPEDS completions data for 2023, first majors only — the most recent year published. ⚠ It records what was awarded, which is strong evidence of what is offered, but a program launched since 2023 will not appear here. Check the institution’s own catalog before applying.

Updated 23 September 2026. ⚠ Program pages describe a field of study, not one school’s degree — always read the catalog of the institution you are applying to.