<p>So I am off to Union College (NY) next fall. I had to put down my major for the school to assign me an advisor, and I chose Biochemistry as my major. However, I am still not so sure about my choice. I used to want to major in Economics and Sociology. However, I have done Biology in the last two years so I have gained a new interest in this subject. I am interested in Biology at the molecular level (not so much at ecology or evolution stuffs). My plan is that after undergrad, I will enter grad school and then stick with the academic field (become a teacher, researcher or professor). My concern with Biochemistry is that I have not done any Chemistry in the last 2 years (I have never taken the AP class or exam). Therefore, I don't know if I will be able to do well as Biochem major. However, I understand that a strong background in Chemistry will help me a lot in the long run studying molecular biology.</p>
<p>Base on this, is Biochemistry a good way to go or should i stick with Biology ?</p>
<p>i’m no expert, but i’d say go with biochem unless you’re set on being a doctor, in which case a bio major might be easier to get a good gpa, although that is still very doable as biochem. biochem seems to me like it might be a better idea (its my backup major in case physics doesn’t turn out as well as i hope) because there is more potential research and such in it than there is in bio, due to the sheer volume of bio majors relative to biochem majors. </p>
<p>and for not taking chem much, take a class this summer to brush up on it, or start on the intro classes when you get to union. i wouldn’t worry at all, lots of people do this I’d assume. chem isn’t hard at all to learn if you have a good teacher, so don’t sweat it at all</p>
<p>in either case, do a little research and try to figure out some of the current, cutting-edge research topics in biochem and see if they interest you. if they do, more than those in molec bio, stick with it and you’ll be set!</p>
<p>yeah np at all. i’ve been having a similar debate with myself over the past few months, and i realized that you’re better off going with what you want to do rather than what might be easier. in your case, if biochem is what you want to do but bio is easier, than you’ll be hurting yourself in the long run by not doing biochem.</p>
<p>and besides, they’re fairly similar too so you won’t be hurting too much. and HS chem is pretty much just going to be the basics of what you do in college anyways, so you probably wouldn’t be behind anyone much at all in terms of knowledge</p>
<p>Yeah. I have this debate going on for the last two weeks. Basically, my college wants me to put down a major to assign me an advisor. Because I am more interested at Biology at the molecular level, I feel like chemistry becomes very important and being a Biochemistry major will help me quite bit (plus it will help me satisfy a GenEd requirement because it is an interdepartmental major).</p>
<p>You are right about going for what you want instead of what is easier. I guess that with passion and interest, nothing will be too difficult. I have never thought that I would be interested in the field of science in general and biology in specific because I have set my mind on history and social sciences. However, after taking 2 biology courses in high school, I am now interested in bio. Currently, I am yeast gene silencing at a bio lab at University of Rochester (just for a month for my Senior Study project).</p>
<p>Hopefully, I will be able to brush up my chemistry skills this summer so I won’t be too far behind when school starts in September (I kinda want to test out of 101 if it is possible).</p>
<p>Do you guys think that it is possible to take 2 languages (Spanish and Chinese), minor in East Asian studies (or another social science) as Biochemistry major ?</p>
<p>Molecular Biology and Biochemistry are essentially the same thing if you ask me…at least at the undergrad level. A great deal of chemistry knowledge is very helpful if you’re looking to get into mol bio. And after your first one or two chemistry classes in college, they will change completely from what you’ve seen in high school (they become much more interesting, imo).</p>
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<p>Aren’t languages majors/minors as well? Minors seem pretty useless to me, you’re going to want to be doing research in college…not extra studying for some unrelated classes.</p>
<p>depending on your school, your “bio” and “biochemistry” may not even be that different. my school’s “biosci” program is completely molecular based, absolutely no “easy” things like comparative zoology or ecology; it’s pretty much all cell, dev, micro, neuro or biochem. the 2 majors are just 3-4 classes different from each other. you’ll still need to complete organic chem and basic biochemistry for both.</p>
<p>in my school, biochem majors, instead of things like the various applied genetics classes, microbiology, cell biology, etc. they take things like advanced biochem, immunology, virology and associated labs. but the skills you gain are almost the same, you gain competence in doing PCR, immunoblot, IHC, microscopy, cell culture, etc.</p>
<p>Yeah, thanks for the comments. I agree with Mr. Bojangles. I understand that a good knowledge in chemistry will serve me well in Molecular Biology. That’s why I put down Biochem as my intended major.</p>
<p>I don’t really want to major or minor in languages. I just want to learn them so that I am able to communicate well with people from different parts of the world. I would definitely try to get to do as many researches as possible but I think being able to speak another two languages will open up some more opportunities for research, don’t you think ?</p>
<p>I agree that molecular biology and biochemistry are essentially the same thing at the undergrad level. I am an undergrad in molecular biology; biochemistry majors have to take a year of quantitative analysis, whereas molecular biology majors take a developmental biology class and a molecular biology class instead. Look at your course catalog to see the exact differences at your college.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about not having had chemistry in the last 2 years. AP classes and exams are waaaay overhyped here on CC compared to the college world as a whole. Freshman chemistry will probably be a very large class that’s very easy and will get you eased into the chemistry part of your major. Besides, in most of the core classes like genetics, molecular biology, microbiology, etc. there will be very little actual chemistry and more of an emphasis on a conceptual understanding of what molecules do and how the cell works as a whole.</p>
<p>This is kind of old, but since it’s still summer…</p>
<p>It will likely be far cheaper and quicker to teach yourself the languages than learn them in school. And the important part for language qualifications is do well on the proficiency test (e.g., HSK for Chinese), not to have a minor in the subject. With Spanish especially, there are lots of low cost options, and many, like those in your public and university library, and FSI programs are free. And both languages are easy to find people to participate in languages exchanges with (in fact, Chinese is most definitely the easiest language in the world for that for English speakers.) </p>
<p>That said, if you are looking for easy A’s, Spanish is good for that, but you might have mandatory homework, even if you are far ahead of the class, which can be quite boring. And Chinese classes are often small, so you can get pretty individualized attention (you can see by looking at how many spots are filled in the class). Also, I would consider taking first semester Chinese just so the teacher can make sure you are pronouncing your tones correctly. Also, you can learn about the culture which is important when you are talking to others. And Chinese classes are fun and languages classes in general are a good way to meet people and make friends, and in a small Chinese class you will probably get to meet everyone pretty well, and they will probably all be pretty smart (because of Chinese’s reputation.) But if you move quickly in Chinese it can significantly cut into your free time when you have 30 characters to memorize or whatever (hopefully your teacher will be from the PRC at least).</p>
<p>One more thing to consider is that the difficult part of Chinese (once you master the tones), is the writing, so if you just want to talk you can keep learning words by the pinyin and using audio, instead of having to learn the characters. Of course, if you are planning on traveling there, it is not much fun being illiterate, and that won’t be helpful if you want to read about Chinese research in the original language or things that haven’t been translated.</p>