Joint Chemistry and Biology Major

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvey Mudd College
1

<p>Hm so I'm now really confused on what to do..I received a letter in the mail from the deans of biology and chemistry, since I expressed interest for majoring in biochem. (Probably other people did too)</p>

<p>It seems like the big thing about this major is that it's a lot more hands on, in depth, and cross-disciplinary, and students who can think analytically across disciplines are much more sought-after for grad school and such. I wonder if at other schools (public ones), such opportunities are available and how applicable the knowledge is. If they are, one probably has to make really aggressive efforts to find them, I imagine. </p>

<p>I was fairly set on Berkeley before receiving the letter...so now I don't know what to do ahah. I'm afraid of what I may miss out on if I go there instead of HMC. Hmm any input or anyone in a similar situation?</p>

2

<p>I really don't know much about Berkeley, but I know that Mudd has great bio and chem departments (I'm a sophomore biochem major). Mudd will give you a very in-depth background in both subjects, but you can probably specialize more at Berkeley. It depends what you're looking for. </p>

<p>You probably have one of the school's catalogues that lists all the required courses, but I'll post it here in case you don't. </p>

<p>-Chemistry 51: Physical Chemistry
-Chemistry 53: Physical Chemistry Lab
-Chemistry 56: Carbon Compounds (intro organic)
-Chemistry 58: Carbon Compounds Lab
-Chemistry 103: Chemical Analysis
-Chemistry 105: Organic Chemistry
-Chemistry 109: Chemical Analysis Lab
-Chemistry 111: Organic Chemistry Lab
-Biology 54: Biology Lab</p>

<p>One course selected from:
-Biology 101: Structure and Function
-Biology 108: Ecology
-Biology 109: Evolution</p>

<p>One course selected from:
-Biology 122: Developmental Biology
-Biology 164: Cell Biology and Genetics
-Biology 167: Plant Development</p>

<p>One course selected from:
-Biology 103: Comparative Physiology Lab
-Biology 166: Cell Biology and Genetics Lab
-Biology 169: Plant Development Lab</p>

<p>-Biology/Chemistry 182: Chemistry in Living Systems
-Biology/Chemistry 184: Methods in Biochemistry
-Biology 111: Molecular Biology Laboratory
-Biology 113: Molecular Biology
-Biology/Chemistry 189: Topics in Biochemisty and Molecular Biology</p>

<p>Two successive semesters of
-Biology 191-192: Biology Colloquium
-Chemistry 199: Chemistry Seminar</p>

<p>Six credits of (this should translate to two semesters)
-Biology or Chemistry research</p>

<p>Now, I've been told that the requirements have changed since this list was made, but I'm not sure how. In any case, it is fairly interdisciplinary, which is what attracted me to it in the first place, and there are more classes that examine the crossover between biology and chemistry than the other joint majors at this school get, although that doesn't seem to be your concern.</p>

<p>I don't know if this has answered any of your questions, but I hope it's proved to be somewhat useful, and if there's anything else I can help with, let me know.</p>

3

<p>Thank you for the post!</p>