<p>I'm a high school senior, and I've applied for and am accepted to a combined biology and mathematics major (it's just one major with courses that emphasizes on biological applications of mathematics). The school makes us choose general majors (either bio/life science or physical science for the sciences, and this major goes with the former), and I applied to this major because I really like biology and science in general but wanted a more practical approach to it, hence the math (and also because I love applied math). I am also considering med school in the future, although I'm not sure how likely that will be.</p>
<p>I do think this major is really fascinating, but then there's the practical aspect to it, which is what I would be able to do with such a major, especially if I do decide I don't want to go to med school. Since it's not that easy switching between life or physical science, if I chose biomath I would probably stick with it (unless I absolutely hate it).</p>
<p>Right now I also have the option of accepting an offer of admissions for electrical engineering. I know engineering really well, since my parents (and two of my grandparents) are engineers, and I know that I'll love engineering, especially since with electrical engineering I would be able to work with nanotechnology and electronics.</p>
<p>So what do you think I should choose? And if I do choose the biomath major, what kind of things can I do with it aside from going to med school or working as a lab technician (or maybe as a researcher, but I can't really see myself going into academia either)?</p>
<p>If you do choose the biomath major, you may want to take sufficient courses in computer science, economics / finance, and statistics so that you will have more options at the bachelor’s degree level (e.g. software development, quantitative finance, actuarial science, bioinformatics), since biology job and career prospects at the bachelor’s degree level are generally poor (due to lots of pre-med biology majors who did not get into medical school flooding the job market).</p>
<p>Pre-med can be done with any major, although squeezing the pre-med courses around an engineering major other than bioengineering or chemical engineering may be a tight fit schedule-wise. A large percentage of pre-meds major in biology, but does not leave them much of a “plan B” if they do not get into medical school or decide not to go for some reason.</p>
<p>Engineering may be considered a “safer” choice job and career wise at the bachelor’s degree level, although job and career prospects are affected by industry cycles (e.g. civil recently and computer science / engineering during the .com bust did not have too good job and career prospects, although computer science / engineering is doing well now). If you do electrical engineering, you may want to include some computer science courses to open up the possibility of job and career in software development.</p>
<p>Here are some career surveys that can be used to compare majors:</p>
<p>[Cal</a> Poly San Luis Obispo](<a href=“http://www.careerservices.calpoly.edu/gradsurvey/]Cal”>http://www.careerservices.calpoly.edu/gradsurvey/)
[UC</a> Berkeley](<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm]UC”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm)</p>
<p>Thanks, ucbalumus. I’m definitely going to take compsci and stat classes, no matter what I end up choosing. But, say, for a job such as software development, does it matter if I haven’t majored or minored in anything related to computer science, if I’ve taken a lot of the classes?</p>
<p>Math is related to computer science.</p>
<p>The computer science courses whose concepts are likely to be the most helpful in industry software development are: whatever the introductory / prerequisite sequence is, operating systems, networks, introductory algorithms and complexity theory, and software engineering.</p>