I’m confused between biochemistry/chem/bio and bioengineering. My question is, will I be able to change from an engineering major to a science major and vice versa? Basically I LOVE biochem, but my parents think bioengineering may be a more lucrative option. One add question: Bioengineering seems different everywhere, but does it have a lot of biochemistry IN it?
You need to check each school that you are considering. At some schools it can be very difficult to transfer into engineering majors.
The school websites will also show you course requirements for each major.
Easy to transfer out of an engineering major, usually difficult to transfer in. Plus you usually have to start foundation coursework right away. How hard it is to transfer in to biochem I don’t know, depends on school but likely easier than engineering. Everyone here seems to say you need a grad degree for those fields.
OK, so its better to apply to engineering schools first, then transfer to biochem if I want to? In some colleges, I’ve noticed that there’s a diff school for engineering…does this mean I can only change to OTHER engineering majors, and not anything else?
You can usually do an internal transfer to, say, the school of arts and sciences fairly easy, so no, you don’t have to stick with engineering. Transferring into the engineering college is typically very difficult, however.
a problem here is you don’t seem to know what it is that bioengineers do. Before you start down that road it might be useful to read up on it, talk to some in the field, figure out if it might be right for you. Your parents assurance “it is more lucrative” may or may not be true (talk to some petroleum engineers about that, with the dive in oil prices), and even if it is the more important thing is what do YOU want to do for the next 30+ years?
BTW as far as biochem itself, the sad truth is that science majors are a dime a dozen. With only a BA your job prospects are for entry-level jobs with little possibility of advancement; the degree for a job in the sciences is a PhD. See for example http://cenblog.org/just-another-electron-pusher/2013/01/a-glut-of-chemists-with-bachelors-degrees-as-well/ or spend 15 minutes doing a search on this site and the general web.
As for transferrring, it is usually easy to change from a major in the College of Engineering to one in the College of Letters and Science, but not the reverse. To complicate your game plan, though, it is harder at many schools to be accepted as an engineer. So a kid that would have got into L&S at UCLA may be rejected if they apply for Engineering, and many schools don’t consider 2nd choice of major (but some do). You’ll need to look up the schools where you are applying.
For life science, having a master degree is a lot easier to find a job in industry than having a PhD. That is not only my personal experience. One of my friend actually needed to hide his PhD degree (he has a master degree as well) to get a job in California. Nevertheless, to find a postdoc research fellow position in academia is easy.
OK- about my interests- Actually, I am thinking of med school, but I am definitely not 100 % sure about it yet. My initial interest was in biochemistry (still is, actually- it was kind of my childhood dream)- I’m interested in research in fields like neuroscience, genetics, Alzheimers, Parkinson’s- you get my drift. I would be interested in doing a PhD. @mikemac: I’ve heard that even with a PhD, its not so easy (PhD glut?) and many don’t get permanent jobs. There are many threads on this on CC, and SDN too. My parents are mainly concerned that I will end up as a forever-post-doc, and personally I’m not sure that I’m ready for that. Recently I’ve discovered a few fields that I like in medicine as well. Not only that, I could go into the fields i mentioned above, after medicine too. Of course, unless I have experience in any of these, I can’t tell- I might hate lab work,and love seeing patients or vice versa. The only reason I’m not 100% sure bout medicine is because I don’t think I’ll be too comfortable with people unloading all their problems on me. My question was mainly about my premed degree- my parents feel that even if I don’t go to med school, bioengineering is a better degree. Biochemistry is my choice. If I can go into the fields I mentioned above, then bioengineering is ok with me too- does bioenginering have a lot of biochem classes?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/science-majors/1590092-is-chemistry-biology-a-lucrative-career-option.html
One of the threads I was talking about. money is def not the biggest factor for me, and I’m not running after 6 figure salaries, but I would like to be decently paid to do something I like (kind of utopian, but oh well :P) I don’t know if this much uncertainty about a career is worth it, and if I really like biochem enough to live, breathe, biochem for the rest of my life, that’s all.
Exactly. That’s why the job market is tough with just a BS, they can find people with advanced degrees w/o too much trouble. Contrast that with the current SW market (who knows if it will last?) where the NY Times reports
It really depends on the college/university. Where I go, it’s soooo easy to transfer between schools, but I don’t think it is so at other places. Talk to people from different universities you’re interested in, or look deep into their websites.
For Biomedical Engineering, you likely need a master degree to get a real job. One can get a master in BME even after BSc in Biochemistry. There are actually 4+1 program like that at some school. Major in Biochemistry (or other life sciences) may be a better choice as pre-med track as you are more likely to get better GPA than in BME. If you are still undecided between research or practice after you BSc degree, you may apply to MD/PhD programs. In those programs, they usually have a more lenient requirement for the PhD part. At least that was what I have observed when I was doing my PhD in neuroscience.
In general it is easier to switch out of engineering and into a science major. Transferring into an engineering program is normally difficult as they start with a program first semester freshman year so if you miss engineering classes you may have a hard time catching up since many of the classes are sequential in nature. As an engineer you will typically take science classes but as a science major you will not take engineering classes which again, makes the case for starting as an engineer if you are not sure of the path you want to take…