Advice?

[palmprepharm]

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Hi! I am a Sophomore at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina.

When I started college, I was a Political Science major, and had always wanted to become a pharmacist, but was scared of taking the prerequisite classes. During my second semester, I changed my major to Biology to give me more time to think about what I actually want to do with my life. With Biology I know that I can teach high school, go to pharmacy school, or go to graduate school for environmental policy.

I need advice from current and former pre-pharmacy students about my degree and major choice. My school will be starting a Biochemistry program next fall, but since it is a new program, I was thinking of making that my second major and keeping Biology as my primary major.

Any and all advice is appreciated!

Thanks

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Hi! I am a Sophomore at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina.

When I started college, I was a Political Science major, and had always wanted to become a pharmacist, but was scared of taking the prerequisite classes. During my second semester, I changed my major to Biology to give me more time to think about what I actually want to do with my life. With Biology I know that I can teach high school, go to pharmacy school, or go to graduate school for environmental policy.

I need advice from current and former pre-pharmacy students about my degree and major choice. My school will be starting a Biochemistry program next fall, but since it is a new program, I was thinking of making that my second major and keeping Biology as my primary major.

Any and all advice is appreciated!

Thanks

I think the second major would be a waste of time and money honestly. If you want to go the pharmacy route you only need the prereqs, which you know, and you normally don't need a degree, which you also know, but having one may be helpful. Heck, the poli. sci. may even be a good choice because A) you're not stuck in labs all the time (boring) and B) the admissions people will see political science and do a double take on your application, lol.

Oh, and I did the bio. teacher thing. I don't recommend it. 😉

 

[ShadowRX]

Agree w/ Ranger here...

You could continue your PoliSci degree, but add a Bio minor to it. Double-take indeed, guaranteed.

Doesn't matter what you major in, as long as you have all pre-req's done for each school you will apply to.

You want to do policy - honestly it's better for you to stay PoliSci to get a better idea on how to implement them.

 

[crazybob]

Switch your major only if you know for sure that it is what you like to study. It might be easier to complete pre-reqs as a Biology or Biochemistry major, but if you don't like your major, you might be stuck with it for a while.

People in my class have had majors like Math and Political Science.

 

[Passion4Sci]

I'd love to help, as I'm sure others will too, but it seems so general of a "question" that I don't even know where to start.

It seems like you've got a good head on your shoulders, surmising that a BS in BS degree would enable you to have many options (Teaching, med school, pharm school, CLS, etc)... But if you've always wanted to be a pharmacist then what's to debate? It's still an excellent profession despite all the nay-saying going around and if you perform well in school and on the PCAT, you will have your choice of schools... And can then attend a school with decent tuition/fees and in a less expensive area, so your incumbent debt load will be low.

B) the admissions people will see political science and do a double take on your application, lol.

Usually I agree with you, ranger, but we're on different pages here.

1. A double-take, as you put it, is not necessarily a bad thing, whereas you've nested the assumption that it would be.

2. There is no guarantee they'd double-take anything. I have two Psychology (basically) degrees and no one said a word about it at interviews, except for asking why did I go from Stanford to UCD.

I don't think a double major would necessarily be a bad thing provided that your academic pedigree is solid in both.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Usually I agree with you, ranger, but we're on different pages here.

1. A double-take, as you put it, is not necessarily a bad thing, whereas you've nested the assumption that it would be.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I think the double take would be awesome. Like, "a poli sci major. We gotta read this dude's app!"

I think it'd help him stand out from the pack. Sorry if I was ambiguous. I think it'll be good for him particularly if the OP likes that area of study. I only say that because it's got to be one of the more "rare" prepharm pathways. I know others do it. That's a given, but the likelihood of a statistically significant sample of his application pool won't be poli sci majors. Biochem and bio? Probably.

 

[Passion4Sci]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I think the double take would be awesome. Like, "a poli sci major. We gotta read this dude's app!"

I think it'd help him stand out from the pack. Sorry if I was ambiguous. I think it'll be good for him particularly if the OP likes that area of study. I only say that because it's got to be one of the more "rare" prepharm pathways. I know others do it. That's a given, but the likelihood of a statistically significant sample of his application pool won't be poli sci majors. Biochem and bio? Probably.

Ah, I wondered why we disagreed... we didn't disagree! Haha.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Ah, I wondered why we disagreed... we didn't disagree! Haha.

lol

It was Moriarity and his negative waves.

I watched that last night, lol, and I bet no one else here will know what I'm talking about.

 

[Passion4Sci]

lol

It was Moriarity and his negative waves.

I watched that last night, lol, and I bet no one else here will know what I'm talking about.

Kelly's Heroes, y/y?

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Kelly's Heroes, y/y?

ding ding

you got it!

I love that movie. I own it.

 

[palmprepharm]

Thanks for the feedback. I never really thought about the diversity of majors aspect. However, if I stuck with political science and completed just the prereqs, I would have just that: only the prereqs. Also, a degree in political science wouldn't give me the education back-up plan. Also, the biology and biochemistry majors are very similar, I think I would only end up taking four classes for biochemistry that I wouldn't already be taking for biology. The only reason that I was thinking about it is because I've been looking at pharm school prereqs and I noticed that a lot of them require, or at least recommend, biochemistry and physical chemistry, both of which I would take with the biochemistry degree.

Sorry to just continue on and on, I just usually like to have other people's opinions on my decisions before I actually make them.

 

[Passion4Sci]

I think we're under the impression that you wanted to double major - Biology AND Poli Sci (OR Biochem+Poli Sci)

 

[palmprepharm]

OHH! Sorry, I should have been more clear.

I started as a Political Science major, wanting to go into Public Administration. Since then, I decided that I probably don't want to do that and changed my major to Biology. My question about double major is: should I be a Biology/Biochemistry double major?

 

[Passion4Sci]

OHH! Sorry, I should have been more clear.

I started as a Political Science major, wanting to go into Public Administration. Since then, I decided that I probably don't want to do that and changed my major to Biology. My question about double major is: should I be a Biology/Biochemistry double major?

Bio and Biochem would probably seem redundant (As if I'm one to talk, LOL). I believe you'd easily finish all pharmacy classes and then some (P/A chem, biochem) with the Biochemistry degree alone. If it wouldn't be dramatically more coursework, the Biology maj wouldn't be horrible, but why not just focus on getting straight As instead of trying to do a jack of all trades approach?

 

[palmprepharm]

That is a good idea. I have always been a jack-of-all-trades kind of guy. In fact, my major is currently Biology (Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation) with minors in Environmental Science and Political Science. The only thing that concerns me is, what if I change my mind yet again and switch majors? So I like to cover all my bases so that I don't have to make a definite decision yet, which probably isn't a great choice.

 

[Dave4468]

If you have already taken a lot of classes for political science, I would stick with it and just take the prerequisites for pharmacy school while getting a minor in biology. My friend got in to both his top pharmacy schools after graduating with a bachelors in business, he had a 4.0 in his pharmacy prerequisites though. Often pharmacy schools do not care too much about what you degree is, as long as you have a degree and have done the required pharmacy prereqs.