As some of you know from my incessant posting on the subject im thinking of changing my major. My current idea is this.
A dual BS in chemistry and biochemistry with a minor in biology.
There is about 20 credit hours of difference between just getting the BS in chemistry and getting the BS in chem & biochem with a minor in biology. This will open more doors for me in the job market i think, having these 3 things.
However, is a minor in biology worth anything? Will it open to door to biology graduate studies? will it qualify me for biology related careers (i have my doubts on this).
Graduate departments don’t necessarily care about your major. They care more about the specific courses you’ve taken. For instance, a bio grad department typically requires in-coming students to have taken a year of calculus, physics, organic chemistry, and introductory biology. You’d probably have these covered without doing a bio minor. I recommend looking at the admissions criteria of a few randomly selected graduate departments just to be sure, but I don’t think you’ll have any problems what so ever getting into grad school.
Having interdisciplinary experience will be an advantage in grad school, not a disadvantage. Especially when it’s experience in that enigma known as chemistry!
yep i’d have those covered. As well as about 10 hours of advanced bio classes for the biochem degree (virology, cell biology, microbiology). i also have Anatomy & physiology I & II done because my current major (which im thinking of changing) is nursing.
You can get into grad school in biology without much bio at all if you’ve majored in chem. Two friends of mine even majored in computer stuff and are now first years in my graduate program (PhD in cell and molecular bio, fairly highly ranked nationally). I think they’re both in a bit over their heads right now, but they’ll figure it out eventually. Bottom line, with a degree in chemistry and some biology (the equivalent of a minor probably, the year of freshman bio plus lab plus at least two of cell/molecular/biochem/genetics with labs), you’re totally admittable, at least here, plus you’d be able to actually keep up with the coursework. At least as important as all of that is what lab work you’ve done outside of your coursework - a summer working in a lab is the absolute minimum, and coming in with only about six months of that, I felt pretty inexperienced when compared with most of my fellow students.
What sort of biology-related careers would you be thinking of? If you want to tech, the above is also true, although your previous experience would probably be even more critical.