Does a major concentration help... or a lack thereof hurt?

Graduate School
1

<p>Hey everyone =).</p>

<p>So, as the title suggests, I am currently considering a major concentration. Right now I'm a Biology major and I'm on my way to having an Environmental Science concentration. This could be helpful as I'm currently working in the environmental health field and would really like to continue doing so. However, I'm not sure I want to take two of the classes required for the concentration because 1) they aren't entirely what I'm looking to get out of my education and 2) they would keep me from taking three other classes (O-Chem and, thus, Medical Bio-Chem) that I'd like to take just to have experienced-- also, not doing the ES concentration might allow me to minor in Chem.
But, things get trickier. I'm starting to like molecular Biology more and more (and that could help in the health portion of environmental health)-- with my course schedule, though, there's no way I could ever have a documented Molecular Bio concentration, but I could still take some more classes in the field if I bucked the ES concentration. Anyhue, so I guess the 3 main questions are: </p>

<p>1) Is it worth having a blander Biology degree with no concentration and maybe a chem minor (but not definitely) to take a couple more courses that I want to take (that will probably kill my GPA [3.2, but rising as, of the end of 1st semester sophomore year] anyways-- as far as O-Chem and Bio Chem go... or so I'm told), or should I grin in bear it to get the ES concentration for reasons that might look good if I apply to an environmental-based job or grad school? I mean, I've got a bit of research experience with chem/ES/EnviroHealth, and am getting more and more as time goes on, but would that cut it with just a plain old Biology degree?</p>

<p>2) Will having an ES concentration look not as good as just a plain old Bio major if I apply to a molecular bio/genetics/immunology grad school or even med school?</p>

<p>3) Will the concentration in a particular field represented by my course selection by substantial enough to show a grad program that I had some focus even if my degree does not?</p>

<p>Anyhue, any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>cheers!</p>

<p>Drew</p>

2

<p>My feeling is that your actual major or concentration would not matter much to graduate schools, as long as you have taken some upper-division classes in molecular bio, genetics, and/or immunology. Different schools have different names for their majors, so it's probably not likely anyone would know that the various concentrations were available to you unless you mentioned it yourself.</p>

3

<p>if you want to apply to mol grad schools you may need to take orgo and biochem though</p>

4

<p>Oh, yes, definitely. I missed that in the original post.</p>

<p>Check out some programs to which you might be interested in applying -- some of them have suggested coursework in chemistry and biology listed on their websites.</p>

5

<p>heh, yeah, that's a great idea. Thanks for the help =)</p>