Would it be a good idea to change my major to bioinformatics?

[morrian14]

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I have an early acceptance to LECOM that I received in high school. Not the greatest school on the planet, but it's cheap and close to home. Anyway, I recently asked about changing my major to computer science instead of biology and my rep from there acted like I was cutting off his limbs. Needless to say, I decided not to do that. I thought it would be taken slightly better if I changed to bioinformatics instead. It seems so much more interesting to me than straight biology. Juniata does not offer it as a major, but we're able to design our own majors as long as it is approved by a board. If I do this I will have the ability to avoid a lot of awful classes and take classes that I actually find interesting. I could take more computer science, math, and genetics classes, while also avoiding ecology classes like the plague. Would I be more prepared for medical school as a biology major or should I change to bioinformatics?

Edit: As a bioinformatics major I could also receive the genomics certificate that Juniata offers. All of the classes needed would fit into my designed major.

 

[deleted407021]

Med school will prepare you for med school. As I'm sure you know, it doesn't matter what you major in. I suggest bringing it up to whatever board you mentioned determines these things and see if they will allow it because it's very important you do what interests you.

I totally understand. A big reason I switched from biology to psychology is because taking a "plants of the coastal plains" course was highly unappealing.

 

[morrian14]

Med school will prepare you for med school. As I'm sure you know, it doesn't matter what you major in. I suggest bringing it up to whatever board you mentioned determines these things and see if they will allow it because it's very important you do what interests you.

I totally understand. A big reason I switched from biology to psychology is because taking a "plants of the coastal plains" course was highly unappealing.

Freshman biology, AKA biodiversity and ecology, has turned me off to ecology classes forever. I am really interested in marine biology and environmental studies because I'm in the hobby of reef keeping. I thought I would enjoy ecology classes. But boy, was I wrong. When you're memorizing fifty phyla, ecology is not fun anymore and you keep asking yourself when you're ever going to use it as a doctor.

 

[deleted407021]

Freshman biology, AKA biodiversity and ecology, has turned me off to ecology classes forever. I am really interested in marine biology and environmental studies because I'm in the hobby of reef keeping. I thought I would enjoy ecology classes. But boy, was I wrong. When you're memorizing fifty phyla, ecology is not fun anymore and you keep asking yourself when you're ever going to use it as a doctor.

Aye, while bioinformatics may not necessarily prepare you better for med school, it could certainly give you a better set of tools and more applicable understandings which might help make you more prepared be a better healthcare provider more immediately. What I mean by that is, for example, a problem based understanding of reinforcement, extinction and punshment of behaviors has definitely helped in how I work with and understand patients in the free clinic in which I volunteer and has allowed me to make informed decisions about certain individuals. My abnormal psych class will help me better deal with the large numbers of bipolar and major depressive patients we have, whereas being able to name a bunch of plant phyla would be useless in such an instance. So I'm learning about something I enjoy whilst investing in something that's applicable to my career goals.

 

[cliquesh]

Bioinformatics could be cool. If you didn't know, informatics is a subspecialty fellowship offered through pathology or internal medicine. A bioinformatics degree might be helpful if you think you might want to informatics.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Major in the easiest thing you can and enjoy the little bit of life you have left.