Well.....a bachelor's degree is a four year degree, so it would take you four years! But a bachelor's is typically preparation for only an entry level position - depending on your actual career path/desired job, you may find a higher degree of more benefit. And 'botany' is more of a field of study rather than a specific job title. There are numerous positions where a degree in botany would be appropriate but you may not be called a 'botanist'. Salary data bases indicate a rough salary range for this type of position from $25K to around $95K, depending on job title, education and years of experience.

All of this data is available online if you search for it. And it would seem to me that if one is interested in becoming a botanist one would have some basic research skills developed already........you sure as heck are gonna need 'em later.

It took me 6 years to get my Bachelors. I think they say 4 years but in reality most people I know took longer than that. I think 5 years is probably average. It only takes 4 if everything goes perfectly.

Similarly, they say it takes 2 years to get a Master's but I took 3 and a half. I changed degree plans midway so that slowed things down, but most of my cohorts took more than 2 years as well even though they stuck to what they started with.

However, if you want a science job it's what you have to do. And yes, it's true that a bachelor's degree is usually not enough and you have to get at least a Master's and a PhD is even better.

Also, why's everybody acting like teaching is so horrible? When I was a teaching assistant while I was a graduate student I kind of liked it. Enough so that I might try to get a position at a community college, at least until something better comes along (I'm trying to have realistic expectations with the economy here and will take what I can get). Yeah, you don't get paid as much with the same education as someone who got a different job (which is really messed up, but that's how it is), but at least you get off for all the holidays.

And the other thread was right that it's rare these days to find an actual "botany" degree plan at a university. A few biology departments still have it, but a lot of them will have you choose between something like "microbiology and genetics" vs. "ecology and evolution" and both of those will have both plant and animal stuff. Genetics will probably get you a lot more jobs and money because then you can work for Monsanto or something, but ecology will get you working outside in the forest instead of in a lab, so it depends on where your priorities are.

Good luck!

I know right? Without teachers no one would know anything and the world would be full of ignorant people... (well have MORE ignorant/stupid people). Riddle me this, are these 4 year degree things on average or at least... because some people say thats the quickest others say thats the average so on.

If you are in school full time and take the full work load and pass all your classes a bachelor's takes 4 years. If you need to work while in school or have any problems (fail required classes, switch majors, etc) it can take you 5 or more years.