Thanks to the Gore Gone Wild or general environmentalist movement, jobs in the life science sector are booming. And by booming, I mean if you have a degree with "Bio", "Chem" or a combination of the two with another word, "Tech", you could probably write your own paycheck if you were an outstanding student in your area of study.
Last month alone, the cover story in three magazines that I subscribe to was about cellulosic ethanol studies and the push to produce this next-gen fuel alternative at a mass distribution level. That movement alone will result in thousands of jobs for all of you future scientists out there.
Science has changed dramatically in the past decade with the introduction of affordable super computing to aid research. If you get a degree in Biotech or Bioinformatics you would be a hot commodity. The point here is to be a scientist with the ability to use technology to complement your research, and not to be a computer scientist with a minor in science as some schools offer. Getting the tech-heavy degrees with very little scientific background is not as attractive degree as they make it out to be.
Science and math are not hot majors for most American higher education students for multiple reasons: not gaining grade school and high school students' interest early on, our perception of the American business person and the glamorous occupations that they have, and the complexity and high degree of intelligence and creativity that is required to strive in the field. I'm sure many high school students enjoy math, but they may not be good at it - a common excuse. If you enjoy math or science, stick with it, work hard, and there will definitely be jobs for you in the industry or academia.
Most business jobs involve fitting into a mold and performing a required function with little room for creativity until you get into a management position or if you are fortunate enough to work for an innovative company. Having the ability to research, strive to find something new, and to create something useful seems like it would be very rewarding. I'm sure you would have days as a scientist where you are just running standard tests, but it seems like you would be able to share your ideas and create your own projects based on research initiatives which would be amazing.
Go for a hot degree if that is where your interest lies rather than going for a degree that seems like a conventional and safe bet.
