<p>My plan in college is to major in biochemistry with a minor/second major in international relations or political science. After undergrad schooling, I plan to go to med school, get a Ph.D, and do pharmaceutical research.</p>
<p>The reason I'm interested in minoring/double majoring in IR or PS is because I feel like the second language/broader cultural outlook would be an asset in the sciences field. My understanding is that scientific research is kind of a global thing, and scientists from different countries ideally help each other out; obviously, in this case, knowledge of a second culture (I'm leaning towards Mandarin or Spanish) would be beneficial.</p>
<p>So far in high school, I've taken language courses in Mandarin, but not Spanish. If I were to choose to focus on Spanish for IR or PS in college, how much would not having a basic knowledge of the language set me back? Which choice would be better--IR or PS? Can anyone tell me the benefits or detriments of each? And would the workload be killer, or manageable?</p>
<p>Sorry this is such a long question, but thanks for any help! (:</p>
<p>You get a MD from med school, not a PhD.</p>
<p>And all of the collaboration I’ve seen between professors at different countries has been due to their sharing of interests in a research topic and getting along well. I imagine a psychology minor would be marginally more useful than anything like IR or PS. Heck, I’d say one of the most beneficial minors you could get would be in Technical Writing since so many people in science are horrid writers.</p>
<p>Having a broader cultural outlook is a useful aspect of one’s education just for your personal development. So, there is nothing wrong with minoring in an area that interests you, even if it is not directly related to your major or career goals.</p>
<p>Certainly, China is aiming to become a major player in science and technology, which would include pharmaceutical research. International scientific and technical collaboration takes place on many levels, not just researcher to researcher. There are business and policy aspects to this, too. However, I don’t think IR or Political science would necessarily be that useful for your stated purpose. Yet, cross-cultural understanding is useful for that purpose, as well as for researcher to research contacts, though that depends much more on shared research interests. If your interest is cross-cultural understanding or a broadened outlook, why not consider a minor or certificate program (depending on youtr particular school) in East Asian Studies or Latin American Studies, instead of an IR or PS minor? Alternatively, if your interests also include business and policy aspects of science and technology, you might consider a second major or a minor in studies focused on some combination of the history of science, medicine, & technology; drug policy; sociology of science; science & technology policy; biomedical ethics; health care economics & policy, etc. Even if your school doesn’t offer formal programs in these areas, you might be able to put together a set of courses on your own, either through an independent major/minor or careful selection of electives.</p>
<p>BTW, there are many MD researchers who also have a PhD, and some universities offer a joint MD-PhD program, geared to those who intend to become biomedical research scientists.</p>
<p>Personally, I’d do mandarin and international relations. Those open you up to some technical advising role if your Med School somehow doesn’t offer you a PhD.</p>
<p>Anything relating to China will help get you funding for research from the government, and international relations is more fun than political science. You might try minoring in psychology, as that would fit into medicine better than the other minors you suggested.</p>