Career in genetic engineering - wrong undergrad degree?

[jellybeans]

Hi all, I'm currently a freshman taking a genetics major university. I would like to pursue genetic engineering as a career in the future (preferably doing research on the human genome), however I'm afraid that I might have taken the wrong undergraduate course?

 

The research I have done online all seem to suggest that I should be doing a biomedical engineering undergraduate major, instead of pursuing a genetic major.

 

Question: Will I need to switch to a biomedical engineering course from my current genetics major?

 

Would love to hear everyone's advice and suggestions.

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

[CharonY]

Degrees account to astonishingly little, it is more important to figure out the career path. E.g. genetic engineering is not a career in itself, but a discipline. You mentioned you wanted to to do research. From there you have to ask yourself where and what type of positions.

The vast majority of jobs will be in the private sector, though not necessarily in research.

Academia, on the other hand, is more research-focused but is very competitive with very few jobs. So the first step is figuring out what job you want to have and decide from there what strategic decisions you have to make. Courses will not give you that.

[chadn737]

Agreed, sometimes your background may give you a distinct advantage. My undergraduate degree was in Agronomy. About half-way through when I was more certain I wanted to do basic research in plant molecular biology and genetics, I considered switching, but didn't. As a result, I have taken a lot of classes in soil science or agricultural management. This actually has been advantageous because I understand agriculture at a level many of my colleagues do not. As plant geneticists, our ultimate end user is typically the farmer. So this often plays out nicely.

 

By the way, biomedical engineering is often more along the lines of creating devices and other things with application to human health. If you are interested in genetic engineering and biotech, then genetics is perfectly suited to that career choice.