Hi! So, I’m feeling a bit indecisive about the major I chose to do for pre med (Biochemistry). I feel that I need a major to fall back on if anything goes wrong. I’m really interested in biology and chemistry. I don’t mind physics or math but I feel like I would not enjoy an engineering course. I’m also interested in research (especially involving new treatments for diseases). Does anyone have any suggestions?
It’s always good to consider a Plan B when you’re a pre-med.
My daughters each had a second major in math/applied math that provided them with lots of alternative career paths had they not been accepted to medical school.
The difference in job opportunities for biochem majors vs. bio or chem majors is fairly minimal. (At least with a bachelor’s degree.) You can go to work as a lab tech in industry/academia/pharm or as clinical research assistant with any of those majors.
At what level are you interested in disease treatments? Are you interested in the basic cellular/biochemical level? At the animal model level? At the clinical trial level?
Each level will require a different skill set and often a different educational background (major).
Some other majors you may want to consider depending on your interests : data science; biostatistics, public health, animal sciences, clinical laboratory science.
One thing that is always useful in getting a basic laboratory or clinical research position regardless of you major is some computer programming skills (MATLab, R) and biostatistics and/or an upper level statistics & probability course together with experience using statistical analysis software packages.
@WayOutWestMom I’m interested in disease treatments at the clinical trial level. What sort of educational background do I need for this?
Another problem I have is that I’m not so keen on computer related subjects. I might still end up adding a few courses though. Public health sounds promising but I don’t think I’m interested in statistics.
Also, how hard was it for your daughters to manage their coursework since they had second majors and still had to complete pre-med pre requisites?
Thanks for your help.
Public health, data science, biostatistics, applied math all provide excellent backgrounds for clinical trials. If you want to do recruitment and enrollment rather than data analysis, then it really doesn’t matter. Anyone literally can do that. One of D2’s sorority sisters majored in sociology (and was a B student) has ended with career managing the enrollment and recruitment side of several major clinical studies. (At places like Yale, Harvard and NIH.) It takes people skills plus the ability to understand the legal & administrative side of things.
Both of my kidlets acquired computer skills out of necessity in order to help run projects in theirs labs. One formally took a MATLab class. The other was completely self-taught.
One D was a non-trad–completed a double major in physics & mathematics. She went back and picked up bio, ochem and biochem after she graduated. (She already had all the other pre-reqs done as part of her physics degree. She used the ochem, biochem credits plus pchem to complete a minor in chemistry.)
The other D finished both her majors (biological neuroscience and mathematics) in 8 semesters with only 1 summer class. (She didn’t need to take a summer class, but she had a summer research fellowship on campus and took a anthropology class on the side just because she wanted to.) D2 had AP credit for Calc 1 & 2, but her college didn’t allow pre-meds to use AP credits in bio and chem, so she started with the intro classes just like everyone else.
Freshman & sophomore years, she took 3 science/math classes every semester; junior & senior years she took 4 science/math classes every semester. She also TAed for 7 semesters, did research for 3 years (including summers), volunteered like crazy and was an officer in her sorority. I even think she slept occasionally… 
If it’s important enough, you will find the time.
@WayOutWestMom Your daughters sound very busy 
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Do you think Forensic science would be harmful to a pre-med? It looks quite interesting, all the same.
It’s going to depend on what college you’re talking about. At some colleges, it’s a variant on a clinical laboratory science major. At others, the emphasis is criminal justice & law enforcement.
In general, med school adcomms do not care what your major is, though there is evidence that vocational majors at a disadvantage. It’s not that you can’t get into med school with a vocational major (nursing, clinical lab science, emergency medical services, athletic training, nutrition etc), it’s that people with these majors are less likely to get an acceptance, statistically speaking, even when their lower GPAs and MCAT scores are taken into account.
@WayOutWestMom Thank you so much. You’ve really helped me. I might end up majoring in public health because it look rather interesting. Thanks again