Hard or easy major?

[CorrieNC]

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I am a senior in highschool and plotting out my college years.

I am try to figure out which is more of an advantage when it comes to pharmacy school admittance. I originally was planning to major in Biochem with a double minor in Spanish and 'Health, Medicine, and Human Values'. However I am wondering if it would be better for me (and I would probably have a better gpa) to get my major in Nutrition instead. Simplified my hardest classes in the Nutrition major would be the same classes I would take my sophomore year in the biochem.

I would still get all of the pre-req's accomplished but would pharmacy schools see me as taking the easy way out?

-sigh- If I didn't have to worry about my gpa I would jump head first into the biochem. BUT I do have to worry about my gpa so....

 

[pharm B]

Are you intending to finish the four year degree or just have this as your major for the two years before you attend pharmacy school?

Plus, the two majors could influence your usefulness as a pharmacist in different ways. Are you intending to pursue research, community, clinical, etc...

 

[CorrieNC]

I definitely want to get a 4 year degree. Ideally I want to work in a clinical setting but I am not set on that for sure. My grandfather used to run a chain of pharmacies so it would be really neat if I could start up my own with his help, of course that is just dreams and ambition at that moment.

 

[rxlea]

I definitely want to get a 4 year degree. Ideally I want to work in a clinical setting but I am not set on that for sure. My grandfather used to run a chain of pharmacies so it would be really neat if I could start up my own with his help, of course that is just dreams and ambition at that moment.

Hey, if you want to start up your own pharmacy, you should consider the pharmacy schools that have the dual Pharm.D./MBA. You might then think about some business oriented health majors. I don't know what your school has, but I would tailor my classes to what I would enjoy and what would give me the best opportunities in the area I want to work in. Maybe even throw a health policy class in there?

 

[onychophagia]

I don't think majoring in nutrition will make it look like you took the easy way out. I was a history major and it was suuuuuper easy, but made me look more "well-rounded." Just remember that even with an easy major, it won't necessarily make your gpa better -- as the pharm pre-reqs could easily bring it down if you don't do well even with really good grades in your major-required classes.

 

[UES Girl]

From someone who graduated with biochemistry degree:

MAJOR IN SOMETHING EASY. Major doesn't really matter for acceptance like others have stated and biochemistry major will bring you nothing but trouble unless you are genuinely interested in science.

1. Biochemistry major is nothing like humanity majors. People who think pre-reqs like Ochem are hard, don't actually realize that for science majors like biochemistry, pre-reqs are typically all the easiest lower division classes.
2. Biochemistry major is an insane amount of work and it gets only harder the further you go. People who major in humanity can't really give you advice on what's it's like to major in science because most don't have 6-7 pre-reqs necessary to take upper division senior sciences. Based on my experience of taking upper division humanity classes and upper division science classes, they are day and night. It's not even possible to compare the amount of work required for a class like physical chemistry where you are proficiently use calculus to solve physics problems on the subject of chemistry to any upper division humanity class.
3. If you go to public university/school when you have to enroll yourself in classes, you will most likely not graduate in 4 years with a biochemistry degree. Most people in my school with a biochemistry degree took at least 5 years to graduate due to the lack of classes being taught. Biochemistry degree requires a ton of labs - far outside the typical pre-pharmacy pre-req lab requirement, depending on your school you will have to take:
analytical chemistry lab
definitely a biochemistry lab
possibly an upper division physical chemistry lab - 400 or 500 level
depending on school you will have to take labs for physics wiith calculus
physiology lab or microbiology lab or immunology lab depending on your elective requirements
These take forever to complete and may be sequential, meaning if your school has limited class availability, you may not be able to take the classes you need and will take longer to graduate.
Looking back, my friends that majored in humanities were able to sustain a full time job, a comfortable fun lifestyle and an excellent GPA. All my friends that majored in biochemistry, including myself and my ex, had a drastically different college experience. Do yourself a favor, and major in something fun, something non-science that will let you have a life and a good GPA.

 

[Passion4Sci]

Major doesn't really matter at all. The institution will be more important than what you majored in, so long as you get good grades.

I mean, if you can get a 3.85 cumulative in Psychology + pre-requisites, is that any worse than a 3.2 MCB major when it comes time to apply? I think it's better, honestly. Again though there's no way to be sure but plenty of us, myself included, have non-science bachelor's degrees and have gotten accepted at great schools... so do something that you'll get GREAT grades in and there you go.

 

[coral407]

Major in something that you can be able to use in case you don't get into pharmacy school. Always good to have a backup plan you don't want to get stuck with a major you can't use if you don't get in.

 

[YeaYea]

Major in something you're genuinely interested in. Otherwise you're not getting your money's worth for your education.

For the person above that said biochemistry is a crazy hard major...it's not all that bad in my experience, so I would say it depends on what school you go to and where your academic strengths lie.

My experience in a top 30 school wasn't bad, like I said, and I've felt like I've learned something useful in all my classes. Physical chemistry was probably the most interesting and useful class I've taken, although the hardest. But even it's not too bad, definitely very possible to get a decent grade in it. For classes you're gonna have to take you're looking at something like gchem, gbio, mol bio, biochem (and advanced versions of those classes, which are actually easier and more interesting), ochem, analytical chem, pchem, 2 semesters of calc, stats, physics (at my school didn't have to do the calc version), and a few upper div science electives. Upper divs (after sophomore year) are actually more interesting and usually easier than lower divs, so don't worry about that.

So bottom line do what you're interested in. To me, science isn't too hard. You have to analyze your own strengths. I was definitely able to have a balanced life - honestly I think engineering is 10x harder and even they are able to have fun. It all depends on your self-discipline, your skills, and time management. Good luck.

 

[UES Girl]

For the person above that said biochemistry is a crazy hard major...it's not all that bad in my experience, so I would say it depends on what school you go to and where your academic strengths lie.

I didn't say it was crazy hard major , I said it's a lot harder though than majoring in psych or literature for example. Units wise, it requires a lot more units to graduate -over 30 extra units at my school and the classes are more intrense than humanity classes. It's definitely doable, if it wasn't doable, it wouldn't one of the two most common majors entering pharm school.

Classes are definitely fun if you are interested in science and thinking about pursuing science career further, but if the OP isn't even that into it and from what it sounds wants to work in retail, why burden yourself over something you have little passion for. 😕

In all fairness I should probably talk about the benefits of a biochem major too:

Biochem major unlike biology majors ( I also doubled majored in physio so I am speaking from my experience comparing two majors) teaches you analytical skills and develops your math/problem solving background. This has helped insanely so far during my first quarter of pharmacy school where nearly every single class was math based. My As in both semesters of undergrad Pchem transcended in a beautiful A in a 4.5 unit pchem in pharm school and nicely bumped up my GPA.

 

[docss26]

If I could go back I would have picked a major I really enjoyed. I like biology but I think I would have been better as a psych or philosophy major. Your gonna be dealing with 4 years of science in pharmacy school so pick something you find interesting and fun.

 

[bugg]

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[sunnyeyedme]

I would recommend following a major that includes a lot of the pre pharm requirements. Some pharm schools tend to have a lot of requirements so if you pick a major in which the required classes don't overlap with pre-pharm requirements you might be making it harder on yourself. I came across a few people in college who where doing pre med or pre pharm but chose to do non science majors like Psych or Lit and they ended up with some pretty hectic schedules because of all the classes they were trying to fit in. So I would suggest some sort of Bio major. If you really are interested in other things as well you can try to squeeze in a non science minor.

Every person is different and everyone takes a different path. I think you are very ahead of the game if you are thinking about this already in high school. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do after college so I did a Bio major. With a bio major you can go in a lot different directions besides pham if you do end up changing you mind.

Good luck!