Bioinformatics vs BME vs Biochemistry Major

[123med321]

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My friend will be attending college next year. He is having trouble deciding which major to choose when his ultimate goal is medical school. Can you help decide?

BME
Pros: Solid job backup job, good research opportunities, workload prepares well for medical school.
Cons: Insanely difficult, less time for ECs/MCAT studying.

Bioinformatics (computer science mixed with biochemistry)
Pros: Slightly easier than BME, solid backup job (?), all premed prereqs are built into curriculum.
Cons: Stuck working on computers all day, unknown field by many people.

Biochemistry
Pros: Only one of the three which he will directly use in medical school, research opportunities, easiest of the three, normal major for medical school.
Cons: Bad job prospects, one of the most popular majors at his school (so more competition, I guess.)

Thanks!

 

[cfx]

My friend will be attending college next year. He is having trouble deciding which major to choose when his ultimate goal is medical school. Can you help decide?

BME
Pros: Solid job backup job, good research opportunities, workload prepares well for medical school.
Cons: Insanely difficult, less time for ECs/MCAT studying.

Bioinformatics (computer science mixed with biochemistry)
Pros: Slightly easier than BME, solid backup job (?), all premed prereqs are built into curriculum.
Cons: Stuck working on computers all day, unknown field by many people.

Biochemistry
Pros: Only one of the three which he will directly use in medical school, research opportunities, easiest of the three, normal major for medical school.
Cons: Bad job prospects, one of the most popular majors at his school (so more competition, I guess.)

Thanks!

What is s/he actually interested in? The standard reply is that major simply doesn't matter for medical school, and they should just pursue whatever they're into most.

Aside from that, it's all personal preference. If I were choosing between these three, I'd go for biochem, just because I find it most interesting. If they're on the fence about medical school, or have serious doubts that they will get in, and are interested and would be happy going into engineering or bioinformatics...go for it!

 

[Kuune]

Tell him to major in English. Med schools like that the most.

Seriously, just major in whatever is the most interesting to him. He won't do well if he's not interested in his classes.

 

[UMICHPremed]

I really think majoring in biochemistry has prepared me well for the MCAT, which I recently took on May 27th. Well, at my school biochemistry is one of the hardest majors for premed. Most would agree it is on par with BME. There are a lot of easier options such as general bio, molecular and cell bio, evolutionary bio, general chemistry etc.

I feel like biochemistry prepared well due to the broadness of the prereqs for this major at this school. Not only am I exposed to a lot of biochemistry (which gives me in depth knowledge of the cell bio, metabolic pathways, and macromolecules portion of the Mcat) but the laboratory portion of all the biochem classes gives me a lot of familiarity with Mcat tested lab techniques such as PCR, isoelectric focusing, ligand specific chromatography, various electrophoresis techniques etc.

I am also required to take classes such as genetics, calc based physics, and up to the highest level of Calculus classes. The genetics and calc based physics I took make Mcat genetics and physics really simple. The additional calc classes, kept my math skills sharp so I was able to do calculations extremely fast and accurately by hand.

 

[TreeOfSouls]

FYI, I think, at this point, that most people in the health professions are VERY aware of bioinformatics! As for your friend's choice, I'd recommend whichever he likes best AND will get the highest grades. There is a balancing act to be done between what you like and keeping a high enough GPA to be competitive for med school. The major, especially from those listed, will NOT matter when he applies. But, GPA and MCAT scores WILL.

Many of the med school students post on here not to count whatsoever on your undergrad courses, no matter the subject, to give you an advantage in med school because they will encompass so much more material and be taught differently in med school. I haven't been there, so I can't judge the accuracy of that claim. However, logic would say that many med school students graduate who never had a biochem class (unless it was a required pre-req for a med school they're applying to) before med school, so none of these majors are "required" or necessarily better prep for med school. At that point, the other factors that influence GETTING IN are probably most important at this point in the game.

My friend will be attending college next year. He is having trouble deciding which major to choose when his ultimate goal is medical school. Can you help decide?

BME
Pros: Solid job backup job, good research opportunities, workload prepares well for medical school.
Cons: Insanely difficult, less time for ECs/MCAT studying.

Bioinformatics (computer science mixed with biochemistry)
Pros: Slightly easier than BME, solid backup job (?), all premed prereqs are built into curriculum.
Cons: Stuck working on computers all day, unknown field by many people.

Biochemistry
Pros: Only one of the three which he will directly use in medical school, research opportunities, easiest of the three, normal major for medical school.
Cons: Bad job prospects, one of the most popular majors at his school (so more competition, I guess.)

Thanks!

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Which ever is easiest for them. I'm going to tell you right now unless the engineering classes are curved to a B+ average that you should cross BME off of the list immediately.
Biochem is pretty good, It'll be useful for medical school I suppose.
Bioinformatics seems like probably the easiest one of the list.

But as others have mentioned, major in whatever you believe you will get the highests grade in and enjoy more.

 

[cfx]

Well, at my school biochemistry is one of the hardest majors for premed. Most would agree it is on par with BME.

😕

 

[chman]

😕

I don't see how that is a big stretch at all.

 

[Xiao]

Unless he has a strong interest in biochem, I would highly suggest BME or Bioinformatics.

As someone from either of these majors, you will bring highly sought after and relatively uncommon skills to the table for your employer. A lot of biology is moving towards a more quantitative approach, and many old school biologists do not have training in such areas. As a biochemistry major without a Ph.D., you will really not be able to do much other than run gels and other simple assays, you really need to go to graduate school to take advantage of that biochemistry training.

Bioinformatics and some areas of BME (such as imaging, synthetic biomaterials) are very, very hot areas. If your friend is looking to go into the biotech workforce at all, I would highly suggest either of these majors coupled with some CS training.

Ultimately though, for med school...just go with the easiest/most interested major.

 

[chman]

Unless he has a strong interest in biochem, I would highly suggest BME or Bioinformatics.

As someone from either of these majors, you will bring highly sought after and relatively uncommon skills to the table for your employer. A lot of biology is moving towards a more quantitative approach, and many old school biologists do not have training in such areas. As a biochemistry major without a Ph.D., you will really not be able to do much other than run gels and other simple assays, you really need to go to graduate school to take advantage of that biochemistry training.

Bioinformatics and some areas of BME (such as imaging, synthetic biomaterials) are very, very hot areas. If your friend is looking to go into the biotech workforce at all, I would highly suggest either of these majors coupled with some CS training.

Ultimately though, for med school...just go with the easiest/most interested major.

👍 Good Advice.

Although, and I am no expert, I have heard that BME is not as in demand as people think. Bioinformatics on the other hand, is on fire right now.