My husband is an epidemiologist. While he works with many MDs, he is a PhD. He was definitely not a premed major. His initial undergrad degree was in sociology but he later went back and got his BSN (nursing degree) and practiced as a nurse for a few years before continuing to get his MPH and PhD. If your son has a passion for applying his analytical/math skills to health issues there will be great opportunities for him.
Bioinformaticians are typically ancillary scientists working with a number of labs/researchers at once, although some also work independently. These people help design experiments, extra information from experiments, and in some cases help interpret the data (these are the most in demand but requires more than just statistics/computer science knowledge). The datasets analyzed are very large (think 100,000 hypotheses tested in one experiment) involving proteomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, lipomics and many other “omics”; hence, the computational aspect of the profession.
It is a very high demand profession now and can be quite interesting.
Typically, the bioinformaticians I work with have an education beyond the bachelor’s degree. Most often it’s a Master’s degree. PhDs are out there too.
There are a growing number of undergraduate degrees with a bioinformatics component (Wofford and URichmond come to mind for LACs). However, I think grad school is more important than getting an undergrad degree in the field. Someone with knowledge of biology, statistics, and computer programming would be the most employable. My advice would be to major/minor in biology and computer science as an undergrad and get the bioinformatics degree in grad school.
My son’s best friend’s father (so an acquaintance of ours) has a PhD in bioinformatics and works in the research world. Most of his colleagues took their knowledge of math and computers to Wall Street and are enjoying their retirements. He is mid-50s and still chugging away, married to the paycheck, support staff for the hands-on researchers.
My wife worked with one of those docs who was very smart but not personable. He drove away so many patients that they had to lay off two providers before the organization moved him to a walk-in clinic.
Another friend has a PhD in computer engineering and wrote some genetic algorithms for disease vectors among other things. Not all in the health field planned to be there.
A selection of where-are-they-now stories on former pre-meds who never made it to medical school in the US. All at relative fancy colleges, unless otherwise indicated. The first two are my generation; after that it’s 20- or early 30-somethings.
- After struggling with pre-med requirements, became an English major, then spent three years as an English Lit graduated student at Oxford. Went to a top-3 law school. Practiced law only a short time, became a conservative policy expert on criminal justice and poverty, affiliated for many years with a well-funded think tank. Not exactly a household name, but viewed as an important figure in right-wing intellectual circles.
- Became a science journalist, then went to law school. Clerked for a Supreme Court justice. Worked at a Washington DC law firm for a while, then in a large conglomerate's law department, which at the time was well-known as a collection of star lawyers. Became general counsel then CEO of a pharmaceutical company. Then lost his job when his performance was sub-par.
- Went to medical school in the Caribbean. Did a residency in NYC. Now part of a family practice in a wealthy community where his wife (whom he met during residency) is doing a specialty fellowship at a highly-regarded teaching hospital.
- Got a job doing biology research. Worked as a paralegal for a number of years on one significant class action, thought about law school, but ultimately went back to biology research, and got an MPH for free from the university where he was working. Working in a policy position at a state health department.
- PhD in biology, working as a management consultant at one of the top-three consulting firms.
- PhD in biology, doing a post-doc in cancer research at a top medical school.
- History major. Did a great job raising money for her LAC. Got hired as a sales person for a Silicon Valley start-up, and was instrumental in its success and "unicorn" IPO. Saved enough in five years to pay for an MBA at a top business school (where she is now), and has significant net worth left over.
- Sociology major, plus MA in sociology. Working at a university-based social science research institute. Marrying an MD.
- Music major (composition), now MFA candidate in conducting at a conservatory.
This has developed into a very interesting thread, I appreciate all the contributions from the epidemiologists, bio statisticians and doctors here!
- US dental school is hardly a notch lower than a US medical school.
- I know a half dozen students who took a year after graduation to pump up their application and are currently thriving at lower tier US medical schools.
- As for backup plans, hospital administration and grad school for public health seem to be two popular choices.
PhD in Epidemiology. Some programs are more quantitatively oriented than others. Check out Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Univ of Michigan, UC Berkeley, Harvard.
I loved to see this:
"9. Music major (composition), … " - my D. who did not see herself to be anybody else, but MD and who has accomplished this goal and is finishing her first year of residency, graduated from college with the Music Minor (Composition). She had it strictly for her personal interest but it helped her at college tremendously, providing great and meaningful R&R away from the rigor of her major. She had experiences that she was very excited to share with us like having her peace performed by the Music Major at one of the concerts at school and recording her music in the real recording studio (she mentioned respectfully “very expensive equipment”). She also said that Music in her life has helped her to “thiink outside of box” in classes like Physics. She had no plans to pursue any music career, but played piano since she was 6 yo.
Aside from the career goals, I would suggest to pursue any unrelated interests at college as after they graduate, they simply do not have time for anything any more. In fact many pre-meds around my D. had un-related minors like language, art,…etc.
Btw- medical school does not require as much intelligence as PhDs typically do, it is just a ton of work. The difficulty lies in learning a massive amount of material,- in a relatively short time period not learning difficult concepts or hard to grasp theory. Residency is likewise very time consuming. For some medicine may not be intellectually challenging enough- plenty of memorization but not abstract principles such as in math.
Mom- don’t worry about your son. Have him check on colleges that have strong programs in his interests without considering the possibility of medical school. He will do his best where he is happy. Of course finances do play a role. Your flagship could be a good choice for sciences, many are. Remember you are turning the reins over to him, it is HIS life and his choices. Once he is in college he will discover a lot about himself and adjust his path accordingly.
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My son’s interest has been in Biometry/Bioinformatics. He always talked about working for the CDC statistically plotting outbreaks. He is a very strong math student. He does not want to be a “hands on” medical doctor dealing with being a GP or getting a degree as a Physicians Assistant or Occupational Therapy. He is more about the dx than the person.
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I don’t know if he wants to be an MD or not. It sounds like he doesn’t want anything to do with Primary Care, and that’s fine. At an appropriate time, he should begin shadowing some of those non-PC specialists and see if any of those might appeal to him. He may want to become an MD/PhD, if Academic Medicine fits him.
@Wis75 “Interesting- never heard of Lehigh University outside of CC.”
That is funny to me because it is the very next school after Wisconsin on the US News Ranking. lol
The student has hopefully picked a major he/she “can live with” and pursues a career path w that major.
I have two siblings that graduated from Penn. Both were premed one majored in biology the other biomedical engineering. (over 10 years ago) Neither went to medical school. The bio major worked a year at a heath care consulting firm. After that attended Georgetown law and is now a top notch healthcare attorney. She is also an adjunct professor at two law schools and speaks at healthcare legal conferences.
The biomedical engineering worked a year with the FDA and then switched to IT consulting. She worked there several years and saved money for her MBA which she completed at Columbia. She now works in Data Analytics in a Pharmaceutical company in NJ.
I know of a rent graduate (Biology major) who works for a medical device (knee replacement) company. I think he will u attend surgeries to show how their product works.
People are mainly familiar with schools in their region. For those of us in the Midwest with top public flagship schools there is no reason to research the myriads of schools in the east, regardless of various rankings. In fact, when you have a highly ranked flagship it is a lot harder to justify exploring many good private schools- why pay more for a lesser/equal education concept.
@wis75 "People are mainly familiar with schools in their region. "
Agreed, Lehigh is a great school, but like Emory, William and Mary, URochester, or Case Western, it is not a household name outside of the area.
I am not so sure. Anyone who is interested in medical schools is very familiar with Emory, UR, and CWRU. The BS/MD applicants are very familiar with UR and CWRU but those interested in top 20 and merit money apply to Emory because it is also quite popular with premed crowd.
I was really referring to fact that all of these schools are very good, but may not be widely recognized outside of their area, because none of them are very large, and they don’t have nationally known sports teams. For example, among Lehigh, Emory, William and Mary, Rochester, and Case Western, how many of the school mascots can you name? I am guessing that even among the college geeks on cc: (which is almost all of us), very few can name all five, even though 2 of them are D1 schools.
@Much2learn It is true I don’t know what their mascots are. My popularity index is solely based on the schools’ popularity on CC.
