This coming fall would be my 2nd year at my local community college in San Francisco.
I’ve been undecided on my major, going from Biochemistry to Electrical Engineering, but now that I had some taste of the parts of major, I’m having second thoughts. Here’s what I believe I can do:
-Love Math (Finished Calculus 2, thinking about going for Calc 3, and so on)
-Love/hate on Sciences (I like Chemistry way better than Physics: Aced my introductory Chemistry class, currently in
Physics with Calculus this summer semester with a grade of B- so far)
-Never taken any introductory engineering classes, but now that I have realized that I don’t like physics, engineering might not be for me
-I was a Pharmacy Intern for Kaiser Permanente last summer before my first semester of college; Loved what they do, fascinated about helping people through the language of medicine, BUT pharmacy school will be VERY costly (loans </3) and saturated job market.
Right now, I’m thinking of going back to Biochemistry since a couple of my friends and family told me it would fit me perfectly since I had an internship already. I actually would do pharmacy for the rest of my life, BUT I’ve also been looking to math/computer oriented skills, since technology has been a part of me since I was a 6. Looking at Software Engineering or Math with Minor in Computer Science.
What do you guys think? I would appreciate any of your opinions! Thanks!
Looks like you would like Pharmacology. I think there are programs that are Pharmacology Phd and Pharm.D dual majors so you should keep your eyes open for that.
It might be worth putting up with a greater amount of physics for a short period of your life, as the engineering route is less costly. Also, as you get into physics more, you may come to be able to understand it well and be more comfortable with it.
I did have the same thought, but I think in order to succeed in my future engineering-related courses, physics would be highly useful. I am now thinking about being a math major or biochemistry.
Yes, my friends have been saying that I should go with this route. I’m highly geared towards a biochemistry. I live here in the Bay Area, so I think getting an undergrad job after high school shouldn’t be hard if I go to college fairs and network with many biotech companies such as Genentech, or even any small companies, just to get a head start. However, I still like to become a pharmacist, but I’m not sure if the huge amount of loans, extra 4 years of school, and a saturated market, will be beneficial in the long end. What do you think? Thanks for responding.
@ianin12, If being a Pharmacist is your dream job, go for the Pharm.D. There are plenty of jobs around (though you may have to move) and they make 90k+ a year. If you want to get into making the drugs in a lab setting than you should just do a Pharmacology PhD (which you get paid while you learn, eliminating loans.).
Really though, if you want to do something, do it. Don’t get into a job you won’t like as much because your friends say it is a bad idea. And even if you can’t get a pharmacy job there are plenty of pharmaceutical companies that would love to have a Pharm.D/PhD in their sales team (which is a very lucrative career).
I would say even if you want to do biochem, do a minor in computer science or math or something like that. I’m sure that there are quite a lot of opportunities to combine pharmaceuticals with technology, and having experience in both would serve you extremely well. You can always try an engineering course (maybe in biomedical engineering or something like that that could still be the base to becoming a pharmacist), but don’t feel the pressure to go into some sort of engineering in fear of loans, since you may get your degree and decide you don’t want to go to pharmacy school but still want to go into the industry.