Is Biochem a Good Major?

[Chris_Rob]

Hey guys. I'm a high school senior who is going to start applying to colleges in the near future. I'm trying to decide on a major to list (not a critical choice given how much time I have left), and I'm debating whether biochemistry is a good choice. I'm currently interested in medicine (MD/PA) or pharmaceutical research. However, given the state of the economy, health-care and such, I want to have a major that's versatile enough to provide back-up plans, such as possibly business (not really interested in it, but seems to be one of the few healthy fields right now). Would biochemistry give me that flexibility, or is it really not useful beyond medical fields? Thanks for any advice!

[CharonY]

To be honest, I do not think that any major in one of the natural sciences area locks you in too much for anything. Biochem is less specialized than some more specialized bio or chem majors, however, should you want to switch to anything it is usually not too much of an issue. Especially not if you are thinking about biotech/pharm/med etc.

 

More importantly, does biochem interest you at all? I.e. would you enjoy learning it?

[Chris_Rob]

To be honest, I do not think that any major in one of the natural sciences area locks you in too much for anything. Biochem is less specialized than some more specialized bio or chem majors, however, should you want to switch to anything it is usually not too much of an issue. Especially not if you are thinking about biotech/pharm/med etc.

 

More importantly, does biochem interest you at all? I.e. would you enjoy learning it?

 

I'm interested in biology and chemistry, so biochemistry seems to be a perfect fit. I know that it involves body processes among other things, which I personally find interesting. I'm taking a biotechnology class this year in high school, which involves proteins, DNA, and such, so I'll have a better idea once I take that. I was concerned that if I went along the biochemistry track to begin with and the economy tanked in a certain direction, I wouldn't be able to switch. Thanks for the advice!

[hypervalent_iodine]

I'm interested in biology and chemistry, so biochemistry seems to be a perfect fit. I know that it involves body processes among other things, which I personally find interesting. I'm taking a biotechnology class this year in high school, which involves proteins, DNA, and such, so I'll have a better idea once I take that. I was concerned that if I went along the biochemistry track to begin with and the economy tanked in a certain direction, I wouldn't be able to switch. Thanks for the advice!

 

Although very much based on certain concepts of chemistry, I suspect that what you will find is that biochemistry as a whole involves very little in the way of chemistry and significantly more in the way of biology. What you may be looking for is biological chemistry/chemical biology major, which tends to put more of a even focus on the chemical side of things. For instance (and this is just an analogy from a a few courses I did in my undergrad), in biochemistry you would learn about beta oxidation in terms of, 'this is what you start with, this is what happens at the end and it is done by this enzyme". In a more chemistry focused major, you would learn the chemical mechanisms behind that.

 

As CharonY said, you are not locked into any area because of your major. You could easily do a biochemistry major or a chemistry major and end up working as either, or even both. It might be worth while if you have an interest in both chemistry and biology to take on a dual major or simply do courses pertaining to both so you have an in depth understanding. I personally found it much easier to comprehend and remember biochemical pathways by learning the chemistry behind it, though that's not to say you will be the same.

[Stefan-CoA]

As was mentioned before, it really depends on what your main interest is, if it's biology; then biochemistry is a very good option (although I may be biased, having had biochem as my major). If however you are more chemically oriented, what hypervalent_iodine said. But it is possible to even switch between departments, one of the researchers in our department did a full-on chemistry phd, but is now involved in our department.

 

It's a lot broader than most of the other molecular biology courses, but you will also get a lot more exposure since you will be dealing with genetic and microbial techniques (cloning, expressing etc), more mathematical stuff (modelling) and even more chemical things (active-site studies, mechanism of action, enzyme evolution etc etc). I also think you get exposed to a lot more techniques than in most courses (except maybe biotech).

 

Personal opinion remains, biochemistry is pretty darn awesome.

[Mrl4]

Like you just said, you want to have a backup plan involving business...

I don't think a science major (that is not very general) would hold you back.

You see, anyone can do business not just business majors. It's quite easy, you just need a sense of management and numbers, statistics... If you could pull it off in a science major, you would probably succeed in business without the major. You could maybe need some advisors or something like that.