<p>I'm a sophomore in high school, so I have some time. I'm still really curious.</p>
<p>I'm thinking about genetics (I'd major in molecular biology in that case), biochemical engineering, biomedical engineering, or something related to oncology.</p>
<p>I really like genes and I want to understand and prevent genetic disorders. I also have an interest in cancer. By that, I mean a cure that's safer and more effective than chemo.</p>
<p>In my opinion, there's a lot of overlap and that's why I'm confused. At the end of the day, I want to help people and prevent future generations from diseases (not like colds, but ones that are acquired genetically).</p>
<p>I'd like to go to medical school.</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>If you are interested in actually finding out better ways to treat or detect genetic diseases, then medical school is not the best route for that. When I was considering medical school, the way one professor described it to me was very useful: as a doctor, you are limited by the tools that exist, and all you can do is apply them. If you want to improve medical care, go into research. That was a factor in my decision to switch from med school to grad school plans.
Not that I’m trying to discourage you from pre-med. It just sounds like what you describe before that med school statement sounds more in line with a research route. You also don’t have to decide that now. I didn’t decide until 3 years into college. Depending on what route you want to go with this, exactly, any of those majors would be suitable to get you started on the right path. See how the next year pans out before you have to start thinking seriously about college, and also remember that it is possible to switch majors (especially between related majors) after you start and still stay on track for graduation. (A small note, though: it is generally far easier to start out in an engineering program and switch out of it than to go the other way, just because of the strict requirements of engineering programs).</p>
<p>I was in the same boat as you until recently. In med school you become a physician. Thus you apply already known techniques to heal. As a research, you search for different ways to heal. </p>
<p>For your major, the safest route is chemical engineering. You can go do research, still. I wouldn’t advise biomed or bioengineering, since there aren’t many jobs for either. Companies get chem mech or elec engineers for bioe jobs. </p>
<p>Id say no to bio, because its the most inflated stem major. You need atleast a masters to be taken seriously.</p>
<p>biochemical or molecular biology. </p>
<p>keep in mind, if you want government funding you need a Phd.</p>
<p>“if you want government funding you need a Phd.”</p>
<p>Not totally true. There are physician-scientists and researchers who have just MDs, but it is a much harder route to get into research without a research doctorate. It would require a lot of extra research post-docs after residency to get up to speed, and of course there are no guarantees. If know you want to go into research, go for a PhD. But if you go the medical school route and then discover that you want to get into research, making the change is not impossible (but still very difficult).</p>