<p>I am 23 years old and have a full time job. After high school I went to college, but I dropped out do to some stupid reasons. Now I want to go back and I am interested in biochemistry. Will I be able to complete it while having a full time job? If I made this choice right after high school there wouldn't be a problem, but now that I have to work full time I am concerned about being able to complete it.
I know a guy who has a family, full time job and is majoring in EE, but people like that are rare.
Thanks for your opinions.</p>
<p>What are your academic and career goals?</p>
<p>Biochemistry does not have that great job and career prospects at the bachelor’s degree level. It also has time consuming lab courses that can be hard to fit around a full time job, so it may not be the optimal choice of major for improving your future job and career prospects.</p>
<p>To be honest I was never truly sure what I wanted to do. Lately I realized I am interested in biology and chemistry, then I discovered biochemistry, and it sounded like something I wanted to do. First, I am interested in knowledge. Some of my friends suggested I go for business degree, because it would be easier, but that doesn’t interest me. I looked at the curriculum for biochemistry, and it has a lot of classes I would be interested in taking, like chemistry, biology, calculus etc. </p>
<p>I am also interested in medicine, but it would be premature to talk about med school or anything like that. For now I am interested in biochemistry on its own, not as a stepping stone towards a med school.</p>
<p>Do you like being in a lab conducting research for long hours? If not, the best you can do is either chemical sales or high school teaching.</p>
<p>Do it if only if med school is your goal.</p>
<p>Biochemistry programs are not that great. You usually only get like 3 biochem courses and the rest are biology or chemistry depending on your degree program. Also know that there are two types of biochemistry, the biology department biochemistry and the chem department biochemistry. I would take the latter because is more more emphasis on the chemistry.</p>
<p>What I recommend is doing another major. One that will pay off the time and cost of college. While you are doing that major take the pre-med pre-reqs on the side and classes you are on interested in like biochemistry.</p>
<p>Do you aspire to work a string of $15 /hour jobs with no benefits for the rest of your life or until you are too old to hire? If so Biochem is a great major. If you aspire for something other than complete poverty then science is not for you.</p>
<p>My cousin is approaching college age and scored a 30 on the ACT. However, we’d let her work in a strip club before we let her waste years getting a science degree.</p>
<p>You guys make biochemistry sound bad. What would be better alternative?</p>
<p>Biochem + med pharm dental physical therapy optometry or other professional school</p>
<p>engineering/accounting/finance/nursing/economics/HR/computer science</p>
<p>biology; chem; biochem alone = poverty</p>
<p>There’s also Applied Mathematics. It’s quite diverse and can applied to science as well. Check out this video for a rough example: [YouTube</a> - Megan deBettencourt - Applied Mathematics](<a href=“Megan deBettencourt - Applied Mathematics - YouTube”>Megan deBettencourt - Applied Mathematics - YouTube)
But then again, it all depends on what you want to do.
Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Chances for med school are very low, so its 99.9% that I will be doing whatever I major in as undergrad. I checked out some other sources, and they too agree biochemistry is a poor choice on its own.
I don’t know about Applied Mathematics, it sounds interesting, but not something I really want to do.
I I’ll have to do more research on other majors. I want to do something I like, but it also has to pay decent. One day I’ll want to raise a family, and I want us to live comfortably.
It probably better to finish something I like less(not dislike) and have better job prospects, I can always study other things as a hobby after I graduate.
Thanks for help.</p>
<p>P.S. If it’s not too much of a trouble, can you guys tell me what are you majoring in?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t take people’s advice on biochemistry here. </p>
<p>These are all disgruntled people who have chosen majors for utilitarian purposes. Guess what, it’s a down economy. However, you can expect a career of 35-40 more years. </p>
<p>You sound like you want to go back to college to learn for it’s own sake and biochemistry is the area that interests you the most. That’s the best reason to do it, in my opinion. If you learn to love learning, and learn how to do it, you’ll be fine. Good luck.</p>
<p>Actually I chose biochemistry because I loved science in particular biology and chemistry since elementary school. I also likes that I was actually challenged in college as opposed to my gen ed courses where I did the work and showed up to take the exam sober and got an A. </p>
<p>However, most people go to college to better their career prospects which in the case of science has utterly failed to do so. If anything I’ve worsened my life and career prospects. It is the same story for so many others. As long as our society keeps heaping economic torture on science grads I will continue advising them to opt out of getting science degrees.</p>
<p>Science may be bad. But it could be good, depending on where you live. Something like business is extremely unstable and cyclical. I have many friends and family members who worked as analysts, as well as in S&T, for big firms only to be laid off. They had to take huge paycuts or cannot find work, and now live a life that they are unable to sustain. The financial markets creates way too many bubbles. Its only a matter of time before another one bursts, and that is very soon. Oh and even if you do decide to go into business, don’t just get a generic business degree, like business administration. Everyone has one, and it won’t impress any employer. Also Kaurin, I’m 25 years old. You are never too old to get an education. I’ve been in business classes with people that run buusinesses and go to school full time. Just have to find a schedule that works.</p>
<p>I am still researching different majors. I don’t know about business, but I find economics interesting, but that’s not my final choice. It just sounds like something I could do. Like I said, I like science, but to be honest, I like financial security too. Not a given with any major, but with some more than others. I guess keep researching few more weeks, and I’ll have to make a call.</p>
<p>If you like economics, math, and statistics, perhaps a combination of those leading to actuarial or quantitative finance work may be worth looking into.</p>
<p>How are job prospects for chemical engineers or biophysicists? </p>
<p>If they are good those could be two majors the op might want to consider.</p>
<p>I agree with Classic Rocker Dad; this forum is almost a joke. Everyone on here complains and says every major is terrible because you can’t make $80,000 a year working for NASA straight out of college. It just boggles my mind how there is a slew of people saying nearly every job is useless except for 4 or 5. Maybe it’s because these people screwed off in school and got 2.5 GPAs? There is an ever-expanding demand for Biologists and Chemists due to the boom in biotech, alternate energy, pharmaceuticals, global warming, etc. </p>
<p>The average salary, on the low end, for a Biochemist with 0-2 years of experience is $32,000 a year. Any sane person who was mature enough to realize not everyone makes a lot of money, would find that pretty decent. I’m sure this is probably for the 3.2 or less GPA graduate who went to a basic state school. Keep in mind, too, most Biochemists have almost equivalent Chemical knowledge as regular chem graduates, and almost every single lab requires some kind of chemist. In fact, Chemistry sees a 93% increase in pay with a master’s degree. So with a mere few years of schooling that salary, on the low end, jumps to $70,000 a year which is WAY more than enough to live off of (not counting a spouse’s salary.) But also, why do you need a lot of money? I made $17,000 a year before college, and had some of the best times of my life. More money only gets me bigger TVs, faster cars, and other **** I don’t need. Allowing a blind child to see again due to advances in cell regeneration is more of a payment.</p>
<p>Everything is based off how much you’re willing to work. I’m beginning to think the majority of posters on here are devising the best way to make the most money doing the least amount of work. They forget about devotion, calling, and simple enjoyment. Biochemistry is a great field with a lot of prospects if you look in the right place. Everyone starts off somewhere.</p>