Major switch? Alternatives?

College Search & Selection
1

I recently got accepted into UCSD for my alternate major (biochemistry and cell biology). However Im not sure if that is really what I want to study for four years. I expected to study BioE but I understand that it is so competitive there that my chances were very slim in the first place. I am devoted to going to UCSD, I fell in love with the campus when I visited, however i do want to go into the school with my major of interest.
So my question is:
-Should I continue with my accepted major, if so how good is the school at it and what careers are associated with it?
-Is it possible for me to still switch into the bioE program, If not a closely related engineering program?
-Is biochemistry and cell biology an impacted major at UCSD?
-Should I choose Berkeley, Davis, Irvine BioE over UCSD biochemistry and cell biology?
Thank you for your responses!

2

Look, BioE is like super broad stuff. For example, Berkley’s BioE has these routes:

Biomaterials , Biomechanics and Cell & Tissue Engineering
Biomedical Devices
Computational Bioengineering
Imaging
Premed
Synthetic Biology

All of them are quite different. You won’t be building medical devices with a biochemistry degree for example.
What do you exactly want to do with your degree? Are you into making devices, working on tissue, going to med school… And this is just me, but I wouldn’t settle for a major I’m not fond of just because I like the university more…

3

I’d pick UCD BioE then.

4

Is minoring in bioE an option? ( I really don’t know what a minor is but plz inform :smile: )

5

Biology majors tend not to have that great job prospects at graduation. Bioengineering majors tend to do a bit better, but not as well as many other engineering majors. See Berkeley’s career survey at https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm .

Bioengineering and several other engineering majors are impacted at UCSD, according to https://students.ucsd.edu/academics/advising/majors-minors/impacted-majors.html . You may want to ask the departments how difficult it is for current students to switch into those majors. Note that engineering majors may require more math intensive courses in some subjects than biology majors, so you may need to take the courses for engineering majors if you want to try to switch.

6

@bukbukchicken‌

I highly doubt minoring in it would be possible. Even if it would, I doubt that’s a good idea. Also, do you know what Bioengineering is? Or are you just choosing it because of the Bio in the title? What do you want to become? What do you want to do?

Also, I highly doubt you’d transfer from Bio program to Engineering one… Though I’m not sure. My point is, Biology and Bioengineering are NOT similar, despite similar names. They’re like Computer Science and Computer Engineering. Computer Science deals mainly with software and Computer Engineering with hardware. You can’t really transfer from one to another easily and they aren’t very related despite having similar names.

7

@bukbukchicken‌ Lots of people are asking questions. I’m a bioengineering undergraduate at Revelle College in UCSD. Let me answer your first four:

  1. I can’t say whether or not you should continue, but the school is highly regarded for biology and biochemistry majors (up until very recently they were also impacted); it’s easily the largest department on campus. Biochemistry can lead to careers in medicine, pharmacy, pharmaceutical research, and everything on here http://www.prospects.ac.uk/options_biochemistry.htm. A bit of poking around career.ucsd.edu finds that most biochemistry graduates tend to pursue research or healthcare as their fields of study. San Diego has a ton of biotech firms, many of which also hire biochem graduates. That said, if your heart is set on bioengineering (which is understandable, because as @dudefromeurope‌ said, they’re different), you may want to look elsewhere.

  2. It is possible but difficult to switch into an impacted major. The bioengineering application period for continuing students is the fall quarter of your second year. They select applicants based almost entirely upon GPA. Not a lot of people get in; some do.

  3. Biochemistry and Cell Biology is not an impacted major anymore.

  4. That’s for you to ultimately decide. I strongly recommend touring the campuses or attending their admit days; at Triton Day you could speak to biology and bioengineering professors and academic advisers to determine if this is really what you want.

You aren’t allowed to minor in a Jacobs School of Engineering program, and the converse is generally true too: an engineering major has so many units that most students elect not to minor. If you got into the other bioengineering programs you listed, Berkeley’s is almost on par with UCSD’s.

That said, a lot of people do find that they don’t like their major and switch out, only to find that they’re not at a school which they like. Ultimately you’re going to have to decide whether you’ll be happier with four years at UCSD but not BENG or four years somewhere else studying BioE. That has to do with the campus as much as it does the major, so I wouldn’t discount UCSD until you check out some of the other schools’ programs. Good luck with your decision, and let me know if you have any further questions!