What are your personal aspirations regarding a career in botany? What do you see yourself doing with your education?Why are you focusing on botany rather than...say....horticulture? I'm just interested.

Have you sen this great site, and the link?

Here is a link that might be useful: Careers in Botany

Check out the catalog of the U of Maine and read the descriptions of plant oriented courses in biology, forestry, horticulture and agriculture. If those descriptions turn you on, you can get further information on academic matters from the catalog and the departments, and you can visit the campus to see what people are doing in those departments. Take advantage of your "local" campus and see if you feel you'd fit in with what they do there.

Kate, I wish you the best of luck. I wish I had the kind of resources and the advice you have been given when I was just starting out.

Botany is one of those fields in which a graduate degree will usually be helpful when it comes time to enter the job market. Does your local university have a graduate program? Look closely at the "Careers in Botany" link and see if you can follow the career that most interests you locally or if you'll have to follow the job instead. If that's the case, are you willing to relocate? How many people do you know who hate their job and have ulcers or emotional problems because they've followed the dollar instead of their heart? Do what you love and don't let anyone talk you out of it because it doesn't sound practical to them. If you are really good at what you do and love it, you'll find a job that you love.

Let me tell you a little about what happened to me. I'd always loved science, nature, and plants especially, so when I returned to college Botany was the perfect match. Of all the classes I studied, I loved taxonomy and ecology the best, however, when it came time to choose a graduate program, I listened to the advice of the department chairman who told me that as a single mother I'd be better able to find employment after graduation if I learned lab skills. So, instead of doing the field botany I loved, I specialized in cell biology and physiology instead. I didn't hate it but would have been miserable had our department not required students to take courses in all areas and not just in their "field of interest". What is most ironic is that my daughter graduated from high school the same year I got my degree and was in college supported by her father at the time I was looking for employment. One of my fellow graduate students is now the director of the Center for Plant Conservation at the Missouri Botanic Gardens, and another is the director and senior botanist at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Others have university faculty positions, and one directs a science camp for kids. My undergrad advisor was right; I've had no problem finding employment, don't hate my job or have ulcers. Still, I regret that I didn't listen to my heart instead of my wallet.

Hi Kate,

I work in a botany research laboratory, doing genetic research, but this is just a fraction of what botany research entails. If you want to do somethin related to "PLANT" research in one way or another, such as actually discovering things and publishing papers, you will without question need to get an undergraduate degree in botany, and then further obtain a masters/pHD degree. Areas can include the hard-core molecular biology and genetics stuff, to plant conservation and population research, to plant physiology...you will learn which area you are more keen on as you learn more about botany, but you will need to take courses to see what you enjoy and what you don't (for example, after my first botany course, I decided I would NEVER want to work with algae...)

If you want to do something more industrial (ie working in a plant research facility doing quality control...your typical 9-5 lab job) then an undergraduate degree will most likely be enough. For this, basic laboratory skills are adequate. These are secure positions, and the pay is ok (here in canada, maybe 30k-40k a year canadian dollars..unless you land a government position)

Then of course, there is the horticultural aspect of botany...for instance, you could train to be masters gardener, a landscaper, an arborist etc...These people generally get paid for their services, whether it be to consult whether a particular type of tree should be planted, or how to beautify a garden.

I think the bottom line is, options are always open. You can come out with a botany degree, and decide you want to do environmental research, and vice versa! There is alot of versitality. Talk to people in your area, learn what people are doing, and you can't go wrong!

I wholeheartedly agree with Calvin. In order for you to know what aspect of Botany you really love, you need to take courses in a lot of different areas. For example, I discovered in Plant Anatomy that liked microscopy and that influenced my choice to specialize in plant cell biology because the only way to view individual cells is through a microscope. Believe it or not, I loved working with algae and did. So, you never know. What one person despises might just be what turns you on.

Like Calvin I worked several years in a plant research lab, but my side of the research was proteins. Plant tissue culture is widely used in plant research labs. Not only is tc used in research, but it is also used in the horticulture industry. There is so much crossover between Botany, Horticulture and Agriculture now, having a degree in one area qualifies you for another. My last position was in a quality control lab in agriculture, but my graduate degree qualified me to be lab manager and not a technician, and the salary was higher. I discovered in that job that I loved seed technology, a field in Agronomy - something I'd never explored being so focused on Botany. The bottom line is to be flexible and look in other related areas. There may be courses such as mycology, plant pathology, seed science in another department that might be for you and if you don't take the courses, you'll never find out. Above all, seriously consider continuing to graduate school and getting at least a Master's and preferably a PhD. If you say, "I can't afford it.", don't worry too much about that. If your grades are high enough, many schools waive tuition for graduate students and even pay a salary for teaching while you are in school. It is very doable.