<p>I'm currently a bioengineering major, and I'm thinking of applying to graduate biology or bioengineering programs (depending on which department my research interests fit into best for each of the universities). I've also been doing research in my field for over a year now, and am planning to continue doing research for the rest of undergrad. </p>
<p>However, I've been toying with the idea of switching to a computer science major (I would still graduate in 4 years). My research interests are still strictly biological, but I enjoy programming immensely, and would be glad to take this opportunity to learn. I'd definitely enjoy it more than my current major. I'd like to stress that while I'm not enjoying my major, I love my research. My research is in an interdisciplinary field, and very few of the classes that I'm taking for my major are related, anyway. </p>
<p>If I continue to do biological research and take some biology/chemisty classes (o-chem, p-chem, immunology etc.), would switching to a CS major lower my changes of getting admitted to biology/bioengineering PhD programs? This is, of course, assuming that my grades in the CS major are good. I'm thinking (or maybe just hoping) that I won't have problems if I take this route, and I'm definitely also planning on asking my PI and professor's opinions. I'm most worried that I'll seem unsure and not focused about what I want to do in grad school.</p>
<p>My feeling is that it shouldn't have an impact as long as you are still taking upper-level biology and chemistry classes -- they'll care less what's on your diploma and more what's in your head. I do think it's advisable to chat with your PI and any other trusted professor types, as you plan to do.</p>
<p>Just in terms of being able to graduate without having to take a ton of extra classes, though, would you be able to do something like minoring in CS? I do think having a CS background could be a big plus when applying to biology programs.</p>
<p>Have you thought about computational biology? There are a lot of graduate programs popping up now applying cs and numerical methods to problems in the biological sciences. You'd seem to be a natural for them with a cs major but a lot of biology background.</p>
<p>You can apply to straight biology programs with a mostly cs background as well. In my lab there are several graduate students in the molecular biology department who came in with mostly computational backgrounds. They seem to want to do mostly computational thesis, but with some wet-lab work. As long as you take a couple of bio classes and do some research you should be more than fine. If you are interested in more the biology side of things than the computational side of things you may want to make sure to get some wetlab experience as an undergrad, although you can certainly gain admittance without any.</p>