Does Emory have a Biochemistry undergraduate major? I have come across many colleges, like Case Western, that offer the major and was therefore surprised when it did not pop up on Emory’s list.
A biochemistry specialization is offered within the chemistry department.
http://chemistry.emory.edu/home/documents/undergrad/ChemistryUnboundAdvising%20Grid.pdf
“Do you offer different types of chemistry degrees?
Emory only offers the B.S. and the B.A. degree in chemistry. However, Chemistry Unbound makes it easy to tailor your major to your academic interests. Once you’ve completed the Chemistry Core (see advising grid) you can choose upper level courses on special topics. We also plan to roll out specific pathways for popular chemistry subject areas (Enviormental, Medicinal, Biochemistry…) For now, we encourage you to speak with an advisor to select courses that suit your interests and goals.”
http://chemistry.emory.edu/home/undergraduate/FAQs/index.html#faq4
Thanks BiffBrown
@runvar : It doesn’t really matter. Biochemistry majors at most schools are kind of just “gimmicky” so be careful. What really matters is the coursework offered and the research specialties (Emory chemistry is known for organic and biomolecular as well as some theoretial/physical chemistry. Like most schools with a health sciences center, it also has Biochemistry graduate/medical department that offers a lot of research oppurtunities), and between biology and chemistry there is solid coursework offered. Note that biochemistry majors will not impress health professional programs, and that graduate programs (MS and PhD) will actually read your transcript to see if you have courses related to your area of specialization and not just look at your major. Emory offers nearly all of the types of courses you would see at schools offering biochemistry or chemical biology concentrations. Plus, honestly the chemistry curriculum redo seems like it is more geared towards those in life sciences and other interdisciplinary areas involving chemistry. Either way, for future major investigations of undergraduate schools, I advise getting hold of a course atlas to just see how the courses and curriculum compare (you’d have to check biology and chemistry courses because most schools claiming a major or concentration use both departments). Whether a program offers an actual concentration/specialty major that will be spelled out on your degree matters very little. It just isn’t about labels anymore. In fact, it is barely about the course work even (especially if pre-graduate-some mixture of rigorous STEM course work plus research experience in or near the areas of interest usually is a great start).
Regardless of if a specific major/concentration laid out at most schools, some classes you’d want to take if interested in biochemistry (I’ll go based upon what I know Emory would offering):
Offered in chemistry department:
Organic chemistry/organic like courses, chem 202ish, chem 203
Macromolecules (this is an Emory/LAC specific thing), chem 204
Metabolic biochemistry (maybe?..depends on what aspect of biochemistry you are into), chem 301
Systems chemistry, to be chem 300 (will likely replace chem rendition of metabolic biochemistry, in which case you can also take biology 301).
Chemical biology- to be offered as a 470 special topics/capstone.
Drug Discovery and Development: Offered as a 470 by Dennis Liotta
Offered in biology:
Cell biology (biol 250- ideally by Eisen, but maybe Ciavatta if he offers. You just want a research focused version)
Microbiology (as molecular biology techniques exploiting bacteria and yeast are used in most biochemistry labs), biol 370
Human Genetics (biol 264- teaches a lot of chemistry based techniques used to study genetics so could be great in the case some may study nucleic acid structure and the biochemistry of that)
RNA Biology-a biology 485
Possible other considerations:
Immunology, biol 455
Cancer biology, biol 415
Physical biology, biol 434 when offered.
Computational Modelling, biol 212
Graduate Courses such as bio-organic, chem 574
These are all that I can remember, but ultimately the field of biochemistry is very interdisciplinary and diverse (I am currently pursuing a PhD in it) so you can learn about it and the techniques used in it through many courses when they are taught properly/with the right emphasis, and they should give a good grounding for research (undergraduate and graduated) in the field as well as maybe help you for your MCAT or whatever health professional exam if pre-med/pre-health.