<p>Well I am trying to decide whether or not I should major in Chemistry or Biology (planning to go to med school afterwards, I know its not 100% but I think I will probably be able to get in, please don't focus on that). I was wondering which major you think is better. At first I thought I wanted to be a Bio major but then I heard that that was all memorization and it seems like after 4 years that would be really annoying. Now I am thinking that I want to be a chemistry major because it seems there are patterns and it is not raw memorization but more figuring out why something works and then applying it. So it seemed that the obvious choice would be chemistry, but I am wondering what then makes chemistry so hard because a lot of people are saying that it is harder than biology.</p>
<p>It’s really a matter of each individual. Some people just get chemistry, some don’t.</p>
<p>I, personally, just can’t grasp chemistry. It is all so foreign to me, and nearly impossible to understand the concepts.</p>
<p>I am good at bio though because I am pretty good at memorizing.</p>
<p>I would say think about which one interests you more, and which one you think you will be better in, and decide from there.</p>
<p>because bio people are thrown off by things like dy/dx=x, y=? in terms of x. math is big bad and scary to them and chemistry needs math. personally i think chemistry is just some common sense + a tiny bit of physics to explain it + some math to explain the physics.</p>
<p>I’d say either Chem or Biochem. That way if you don’t get into med school you could try for pharmacy school as well. Just be sure to have a plan B. Neither degree is very useful and I’d be sure and have a plan B if you don’t get in to med school.</p>
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<p>Yeah, this is good advice. Medical schools don’t care if you know more science than in the required classes or what’s on the MCAT. It doesn’t really matter what you study as an undergrad as long as you get excellent grades.</p>
<p>Yea thanks, I know that kind of stuff. I am just wondering which will help you get “excellent grades”? Why is Chemistry supposedly so much harder than biology? If Biology is all memorization but Chemistry involves math and processes to get your answer then it seems like Chem would be easier. What makes Chem harder?</p>
<p>Because the systems studied in chemistry are a lot less complicated than those in biology, they are more amenable to analysis. It is easier to be more precise and quantitative with chemistry. As such, undergraduate courses in chemistry are a lot more analytical than courses in biology.</p>
<p>Most people struggle with being precise with their reasoning, so on average they struggle with chemistry more than biology.</p>
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<p>They may involve math and processes to get your answer, but the processes aren’t always straightforward. It isn’t like high school where they teach you one type of problem and you repeat the problem multiple times with different numbers. Sometimes it takes a little creativity and intuition about how things work to figure out how to attack the problem.</p>