I have close to no idea how majors work to get to a specific career, please help me

College Majors Science Majors
1

I’ve decided I want to be something of a genetic engineer. That is to say, I want an occupation specifically in the process of creating artifical or modifying organisms, ultimately getting involved with experiments on human tissue.

I’ve searched on the path to that career but from all I’ve seen there is no specific major to become a “genetic engineer”. Many sources have told me to look up biomedical engineering, which was what I was heading for, until conflicting sources have told me that that is more to engineering than biology, things like prosthesis for example. Biomedical engineering itself is a very niche major, only seen in larger schools.

Since then, I’ve been told to head for biochemistry, biotech, and even just plain biology. I have no idea if an undergraduate degree is good enough for the gen engineering and I’ve also been told that its the doctoral degree that will determine if I’m qualified. I do not know the difference between a BA and a BS, and to which is better overall. I personally find a state college to be rather attractive, though I’m worried it might not give me a qualification as acceptable as if it were from a “better” university.

I also plan on taking computer science as a minor, though, as you might guess, I have less of a clue on how minors work than majors. I’ve been told certain majors cannot be taken with certain minors, and some sources are near certain bio fields and comp sci seldom mix. The college sites never help, I can read the course catalogue but never figure out which subjects are allowed with which. In my more naive years, I even considered taking a double major in comp sci and bio, despite all sides telling me of the sure suicide of the plan, should the two subjects be incompatible.

I’m an average international student, from a country where GPA doesn’t matter and is probably insufficiently recorded. My first SAT score came in at 1780, though I plan on resitting next month. I have some extra-curricular certification, but nothing significant.

In short: What undergraduate major is best suited for gene splicing? Can I get a job in that field with an undergraduate degree? Any significant difference between a BA and a BS? How do minors work? Can double majors work?

2

It’s Molecular Biology. You can get there through any number of different undergraduate tracks.

Most commonly it will be a BS in Biology. The larger schools have Biology degrees with emphasis in in a variety of biology subspecialties. Typically, the BA degrees are light in the classes you need to go to graduate school. If you stop with the Bachelor’s you will enter as a technician or a Research Associate working on a team and it’s unlikely you will be a Primary Investigator. You will need a PhD to be selecting and guiding your own work.

As the databases of what we know about genomes grow and systems become more complex, Computational Biology, which is the application of computers to Genetics has also grown and you can get specific degrees in this as well. Other things to look up in this regard are Bioengineering, Bioinformatics and Genomics.

The minor will be unimportant in getting a job in the field. Potential employers will be interested in the actual labwork that you were doing your last couple years.

3

So if I understand correctly, the undergraduate school’s prestige is unimportant if I intend to get a PhD, and I only need to aim to transfer to a “better” institution for post-graduate education? Prestige and brand-names aside, how necessary is it to look for an undergrad school with good research oppurtunities? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m under the impression that you can work as a lab tech or a research assistant while persuing a PhD. I’m also getting the impression that post-grad schools prefer grads with a BS over a BA.

As for computer science, it’s not so much an occupational qualification I’m looking for as it is a personal endeavour. You see, I’ve always had an interest in making games, though none such for working for a game company. I’m aware it’s fairly easy to teach yourself using online materials, but having a proper graded class makes it harder to procrastinate and ensures that I’m learning proper techniques.

4

We don’t really care about prestige; you have to be competent or you are a waste of time as a Research Associate or graduate student.

Graduate students get stipends in exchange for laboratory or teaching work.

If you are on the PhD track, it will help to have some research experience and some recommendations from established scientists for graduate school admissions.

All BA’s and all BS’s are not equivalent. You can’t make sweeping statements. It’s really about the coursework it’s built on.

Scientists have all kinds of hobbies, including game programming, I imagine.

5

Prestige is not so important but having access to research opportunities as an undergraduate is essential if you want to get into a selective Ph.D. program. Most universities have opportunities for undergraduates but universities which offer Ph.D.s give you the opportunity to work side by side with graduate students on funded research projects. This is not as possible in a non-Ph.D. granting institution.

That being said, the most important part about choosing an undergraduate school is finances and fit.

6

Well that clears up a lot of things, but I’m still worried about the possibility of restricted minors. Are there minors that can’t be taken with certain majors? Is CS and Bio usually one of them?

As for finances, I plan on going to a state college, but the out-state fees are almost double the in-state fees, none of the colleges I looked up specifically mentioned international student fees, though there were separate application and financial aid pages. Would an international student fall under out-state tuition, or is there a separate case by case, nation by nation tuition fee?

I also don’t understand what scholarships/financial aids are evaluated on.

7

Whether there is room in the curriculum for a minor depends on the university but i would guess that both Biology and Computer Science have room for minors. However, if you plan to go into a graduate program, make sure that your major is one that prepares you for that field adequately so there is no remedial coursework required.

International students fall under “out of state” and many public universities give little or no financial aid to international students. Certain private universities give significant financial aid to international students.

Financial aid comes in two forms for U.S. students. Need-based and merit. The former is not available to international students so merit aid is what you need to look for and as I said, public universities generally don’toffer much in that way to international students.