You do understand that biologists and chemistry majors who work for the right companies make serious bread right?
You make a good argument, better than most
I was in that very field, and IF they got on with the RIGHT company, if they pick the right job withing the company, they can EVENTUALLY make "big" money. (typically topping out 100-200k after 30+ years)
But the dude in Technical Sales typically does better than the tech s/he brings along to talk to the scientists and engineers who know how the stuff works.
There are a lot of broke chemistry majors, not even cooking up meth
But don't take my word for it
Here's some anecdotes
And here's some data from the Fed in terms of salary
www.bls.gov
Those #'s are decent, but then look at
Entry level jobs per year - 7,200
# of Chemistry Graduates - 15,000
You're thinking 80K-90k after 4-5 years is nice, but people doing that in IT in 12-18 months.
The old economy actually makes stuff - which is why they pay so poorly relative to the brain power and time and energy of the employees.