What Does A Person Who Wants To Be An Immunologist Major In ?

[Gradof06]

Im currently a highschool senior who is interested in becoming an immunologist,but I have no idea what to major in, should I major is Biology,Biochemistry, chemistry or What ?? any answers are appreciated.

THANKS! 😀

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[Megalofyia]

You might be able to find a school that has an immunology major. Or a microbiology and immunology major.

 

[fun8stuff]

Im currently a highschool senior who is interested in becoming an immunologist,but I have no idea what to major in, should I major is Biology,Biochemistry, chemistry or What ?? any answers are appreciated.

THANKS! 😀

immunology... heh. basically, you want a major that will have a lot of lab intensive courses with as many immunology classes and labs as you can get. you will also take advanced classes in biochemistry, biology, microbiology, genetics. The key is getting a lot of advanced lab-intensive courses. After undergrad, you would then look into applying to graduate school to get your PhD in Immunology/Microbiology or getting a job as a lab tech doing immuno/micro work. As a lab tech, you could either work your way up the ladder or go on to get your PhD after you have some work experience.

You will also want to look into doing research in the area of immunology/microbiology after your sophomore year. A good time to do this is over the summer between junior and senior year (through a summer internship). You may want to do a research internship at a large university where you would want to go to grad school- it would give you an "in" if you did a good job. After my research internship, the physician that I was working for basically told me that if I wanted to go to grad school or medical school at his university he would talk to his "friends" on the administration board and I would have an automatic in (he wanted me to continue research in his lab).... and it worked. I was accepted to the medical school about a week after I interviewed.

Talk to your advisor. Probably best to go to a large university.

 

[Gimlet]

My school had immunology courses under the umbrella of the major "Medical Microbiology and Immunology." Definitely go to a university with an immuno program if that's what you want to do with your life, rather than going to someplace where you'd have to major in Biochem or biology and try to break your way in.

 

[Rendar5]

EDIT: the following assumes the OP wants to become an allergist/immunologist MD, not a scientist.


omg, what are you people telling him? this is college he's talking about, not med school electives.

to the OP: major in whatever the hell interests you. Your major will not determine your ability to get into medical school. If you honestly want to do nothing but immunology from college on, then go w/ the other posters advice. If, on the other hand, you just want to become an immunologist as your end-career, then that is not something you will have to worry about until you get to med school. For college, just develop all your interests, and figure out what sorts of courses you both enjoy and will be able to do well in. You will learn plenty of immunology during medical school, your residency, and your fellowship. Someone mentioned doing research in immuno or microbio. That I do agree with, since u're obviously interested in it. That's not something you'll have as much time to do in medical school. But you don't have to major in that area, that's the point.

 

[Bubchik]

You do not have to be an MD to be an immunologist,you can be a PhD if you want to do basic science research. At UCLA they have Microbio, Immunology and Genetics major. Awesome major. 👍 👍 👍
By the way, in my med school we had only two weeks of immuno and that's it.

 

[Gimlet]

EDIT: the following assumes the OP wants to become an allergist/immunologist MD, not a scientist.


omg, what are you people telling him? this is college he's talking about, not med school electives.

to the OP: major in whatever the hell interests you. Your major will not determine your ability to get into medical school. If you honestly want to do nothing but immunology from college on, then go w/ the other posters advice. If, on the other hand, you just want to become an immunologist as your end-career, then that is not something you will have to worry about until you get to med school. For college, just develop all your interests, and figure out what sorts of courses you both enjoy and will be able to do well in. You will learn plenty of immunology during medical school, your residency, and your fellowship. Someone mentioned doing research in immuno or microbio. That I do agree with, since u're obviously interested in it. That's not something you'll have as much time to do in medical school. But you don't have to major in that area, that's the point.

Definitely was assuming he wanted to be scientist immunoligist in my reply, not an MD. Now that I think about it, it would make sense that he was thinking MD immunologist since he posted on this forum...duh.

And I am a BIG proponent of majoring in whatever the hell you want if you're med school bound. Gradof06, if you're talking about medical immunoligy like Rendar mentioned, you don't need to major in anything even remotely related to immunology....major in ballet if that's what toots your horn.

 

[Rendar5]

Definitely was assuming he wanted to be scientist immunoligist in my reply, not an MD. Now that I think about it, it would make sense that he was thinking MD immunologist since he posted on this forum...duh.

And I am a BIG proponent of majoring in whatever the hell you want if you're med school bound. Gradof06, if you're talking about medical immunoligy like Rendar mentioned, you don't need to major in anything even remotely related to immunology....major in ballet if that's what toots your horn.

I added my edit when I realized that you were giving really good advice for becoming an immunology scientist🙂 which might actually be what this person would be more interested in.

 

[Rendar5]

You do not have to be an MD to be an immunologist,you can be a PhD if you want to do basic science research. At UCLA they have Microbio, Immunology and Genetics major. Awesome major. 👍 👍 👍
By the way, in my med school we had only two weeks of immuno and that's it.

2 weeks?! really?! do you learn the rest of immunology in other units like microbiology or rheumatology if u have those? we had a month of immunology, 2 weeks of the basics, 2 weeks of clinical info. and the rest we go over in microbio and haematology. I'm just curious since it's on the boards.

 

[drgreeneatutk]

Im currently a highschool senior who is interested in becoming an immunologist,but I have no idea what to major in, should I major is Biology,Biochemistry, chemistry or What ?? any answers are appreciated.

THANKS! 😀

Like the others said it depends on wether you mean MD or PhD. If you are talking about an MD then you can major in anything. But assuming you want to do immunology in undergrad (if that is what really interests you and you love it) another major to consider is Medical Technology. There is alot of really cool applicable immunology, both in clinical chemistry/immunology and also in blood bank (immunohematology). You get to work in a clinical hosptial lab and apply the concepts that you learn from textbooks and see how were really using immunology in medicine, it's really pretty cool. Not every University has a medical technology program and there are two types - 3+1 and 2+2. Three years taking Ugrad work on your campus (taking bio, gen chem, org, analytical, physics, innumology, micro ect..) then one year in clinicals. Or two years on campus and two years doing didactics and clinicals. Anyway, just another suggestion

 

[ASDIC]

ur still in high school....u got a very looooooooooooong way to go 😀

 

[Iwy Em Hotep]

For immunology? Maybe freaking linguistics...

 

[njbmd]

Im currently a highschool senior who is interested in becoming an immunologist,but I have no idea what to major in, should I major is Biology,Biochemistry, chemistry or What ?? any answers are appreciated.

THANKS! 😀

Hi there,
You should find a strong university that offers undergraduate degrees in Micro/Immunology. If you attend a school that does not offer this kind of degree, you can major in Biology/Biochemistry and do undergraduate research in Immunology provided you are close enough to a principle investigator that can take you into their lab. Again, this usually means being in an urban area.

There is no medical specialty of Immunology but you could go for an MD/Ph.D (again, you would need strong undergraduate research) and get your Ph.D in immunology and go into Infectious Diseases (after completing an Internal Medicine residency). By taking the MD/Ph.D option, you get both degrees paid for. This also means excellent grades as an undergraduate so at this point, make sure that you are working on having good study skills and good study habits. You need excellent grades for MD/Ph.D.

You might also look at the NIH website and see if you can get into a lab there as at the high school graduate level for the summer. Many researchers will take talented high school students (especially those who have done well in science). You would be paid for your work and you get an inside track on how to do good scientific research which would greatly assist you in having strong research at your university.

Since it is getting late, you need to jump on this stuff pretty quickly. If you have missed the deadlines, you can get to NIH as a undergraduate researcher if your science grades are good during your freshman year (above 3.5). Start talking with your faculty advisor as soon as you get to college.

Good luck!
njbmd 🙂

 

[fun8stuff]

There is no medical specialty of Immunology

not exactly true....
http://www.studentdoctor.net/guide/medstudent/specialties/allergyimmunology.html

 

[roja]

not exactly true....
http://www.studentdoctor.net/guide/medstudent/specialties/allergyimmunology.html

ditto. allergy/immunology is a fellowship after residency. then of course, there is rheumatology which is autoimmune disorders. Heme/onc is heavy in immuno as well as it encompasses the bodies immune system as both disease and treatment.

Immuno rocks.

 

[yellowcat322]

My question is how did you decide on such a specific career path in high school? Immunology is a great field but I would keep your options open; just make sure you keep up your grades like njbmd said, in case you want to go to med school or for an MD/PhD. Don't pigeonhole yourself into a specific profession though before you see what else is out there.

 

[Mateodaspy]

History.


(i.e. it doesn't matter -- enjoy college, major in whatever the hell you enjoy, THEN worry about med school)

 

[Treg]

I did my undergrad in chemistry, then I went to graduate school in immunology and did my PhD. I plan to do transplant surgery in the long run. The other clinical specialties that have a lot of immunology are allergy/immunology, oncology, hematology, and rheumatology. I think if you are serious about doing clinical immunology, you should at least get a masters in immmunology somewhere along the line. It doesn't really matter what you do your undergrad in, since most schools don't offer a specific undergrad program and thus most graduate programs wouldn't require it.

🙂 Treg