Hello,
DD20 is National Merit Semifinalist and was initially focused for Med school as she loves Biology. Lately she has started expressing alternate career interests in case she is not able to go all the way through Med school / education. This is after her soul searching and contemplating on time / resources and effects this long education can have on family life (she thinks I will not be able to sacrifice my family life) for such long time.
What she is hoping now to do undergrad degree in some Biology related major that has good job prospects after Undergrad or Master degree as backup option. She is considering following possible majors (in random order of preference); but she as well as I am not sure which of these will be best major for decent job after Undergrad or Masters degree?
Microbiological Sciences and Immunology
Biochemistry
Biological and Physical Sciences
Biomedical Engineering
Bio-molecular Engineering
She is considering these majors as she thinks in case if she finds resilience to pursue Med school later on, these majors will help and at the same time she is hoping to get decent job in case she decides otherwise. She thinks she will not be good in Physics (has not taken Physics in HS yet) and thinks she is not really electrical / mechanical engineering type of person.
Question:
What you think will be best Biology major that can help her decent future job after Undergrad degree AND can be helpful for Med school in case she pursues that option?
What major from list you think will serve her best? Or any other Biology major that you may suggest will be helpful as well.
Does she like Math? Computational Biology, Biostatistics or Biometrics are very good fields to pursue. Engineering or Biochem would be better options than Microbiology/Immunology.
I would think Biochem would be great for a career in Life Sciences. Older brother is involved in Biologics / Biosimilars. Lots of activity with the drug companies and major research centers around the world. Making drug therapy affordable is a big business.
@Gumbymom ; she is OK with Math but does not like Math as she does Bio. I hear that even Biochem might not be as ideal to decent job post undergrad. Is that true?
Secondly, is it feasible for one to pursue Computer Science with some PreMed pre-requisite courses?
Biochem would have better job prospects than Biology but what really matters is her interests.
Computers science with Pre-med required courses would not be easy since there would be very few courses that would overlap but it is doable. She would have to plan her schedule carefully to try and get all required courses completed in 4 years.
Biology with a CS minor might be more doable and give her better options. Computational Biology is a hot field that would fit the Biology/CS minor option.
Although I agree that Biology as a stand alone major does not offer good job prospects, I also think that students should pursue what they love as long as they are aware of the limitations.
pure Computer Science usually involves a lot of classes where Math is extensively used. There are other offshoots of computer science, like say Data Science that would possibly be less math intensive. In addition to some of the other Bio-majors that @Gumbymom listed, Bioinformatics is yet another area, mostly at the grad school level, that is a pretty hot commodity. I would agree that Computation Biology majors or minors are a pretty hot commodity as well.
If she’s still drawn to the actual job of being a doctor but doesn’t want the huge commitment of that route she could look into being a physician assistant. There are programs with a freshman admit (5 year program) and more that are a masters degree after getting a bachelors (6 years or so). It’s great pay and very much in demand.
Thanks all for your feedback. Very much appreciated.
@MistySteel27 ; thanks for your feedback. My DD20#1 is on this track. I will look further into 5 year program. Is there any Texas school that offers 5 year PA program and how hard are these to get into?
DD20#2 referenced in this post definitely loves Med profession and may very well go all the way. But also looking for alternate track of study; hence this post.