Right now I'm a biology major thinking of following the immunology track at my school. However, after learning that there is very little you can do besides teaching and bench work with a biology degree, I was thinking of minoring in computer science in hopes that would help me get a bioinformatics job if I fail to get accepted into medical school the first time. Is it worth it to get a CS minor for this reason? I like computers a lot and think I'm fairly tech saavy, however, I don't know if a minor is enough to do what I want. There is a biochemistry and CS track at my school, however I already am taking biology courses that don't coincide with the biochemistry track. I'm a sophomore at the moment. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Worth minoring in computer science?
- Thread starter Snoopy92
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I have no experience in the real world concerning bioinformatics, but I certainly think you'll learn all you need in a computer science minor to be able to tackle bioinfo. (Object-oriented programming, data structures, boolean searching, etc).
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It's sounds like you may have some doubts about your ability to get into med school, which I think is pretty normal. Only you can put the value on your undergraduate education if you don't make med school. Do what you really enjoy because med schools don't care what you major or minor in anyways. It would suck to fall back on something you really don't like. I started out planning to double major and minor then found what I really enjoyed and stuck to just one major and probably no minor. In the process your transcript will look very well rounded though.
K
kpcrew
I've always thought that bioinformatics was really boring so you should look into it more deeply before committing to anything. Liking computers and being computer savvy has nothing to do with computer science. You can think of it as applied mathematics, where you learn about things like calc and algorithms. A nascar driver doesn't need to know how to build a car to drive it quickly.
I wouldn't say that I have any doubts about my ability, I've done a lot of volunteering and shadowing and really like the work but I find that things rarely happen smoothly. So with that in mind, I want a back up plan that would allow me to pursue something worthwhile. I'm thinking of either minoring in sociology or computer science. If I minor in CS, that doesn't mean that I have to pursue bioinformatics but it opens more options.
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I'd go with the option that has a higher guaruntee of job opportunity in the future. This *is* your backup; it might as well be a sturdy liferaft
I see where your coming from, but this is true no matter what you do. If you become a doc, the computer science minor could be useful if you want to dabble in electronic health records at some point in time. They need to be designed better for doctors anyways. I don't see a whole lot of benefit in using the minor for a computer science career, but I might be wrong.
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From a Nontrad point of view I'd say that any programming background you can bring to the table will be helpful. I'm an aeronautical engineer and while I don't code for a living it's helpful in my job. Not only the ability to write programs but in the thought process and mental organization that comes with good coding technique.
Even if you don't go to medical school it can only help you.
Even if you don't go to medical school it can only help you.
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Some of you are confusing computer science with computer or software engineering.
The first is rather theoretical, the other two are more hands-on and are what you think about when wanting to learn programming and skills used for designing and implementing systems.
The first is rather theoretical, the other two are more hands-on and are what you think about when wanting to learn programming and skills used for designing and implementing systems.
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Muscle, while what you're saying is true, a computer science minor isn't going to be much different from a minor in software engineering. The fundamentals, which are more or less common to both fields, are what the OP can use to his/ her benefit.
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+1 It's a great skill to have in your tool box. It's also kind of like math or physics in that people tend to view people that are good at it as smart, which can only help you in your life. I don't think you'll get this same advantage with a sociology minor...but what the heck do I know.
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Well, in that case, is a minor in accounting usable or worthless?
