Biochemistry degree - Other options ?

[oneteen]

DD was looking at doing medicine but now she is in the LS she is loving Chemistry (which she hated in Yr 11 and Chemistry wasnt initially on her A level subject radar)....feedback from the school is that she doing brilliantly which is good!

I think she has some natural ability in terms Biology (one of her other A Levels) and isnt having to work too hard to gain great results....her other A level is Physics which she has always been a high achiever and loved - although out of all three A levels this is probably her least favorite now.

School are encouraging the girls to look at Uni's/Courses in more depth and she is talking about Biochemistry (although she is not doing Maths and I am unsure whether this will be a drawback?) any other options that she should consider she has stated that she does not want to give up Chemistry and feels that going down the medicine route is probably not the right pathway now.

Biomolecular science?

www.st-andrews.ac.uk/subjects/chemistry/biomolecular-science-bsc/

DS2 looked at this before deciding on a chemistry degree.

Look hard at entry requirements as many science courses do want maths.

Have a look beyond uni to think about potential careers...
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www.biochemistry.org/Education.aspx]]
How about pharmacology? Related to medicine interests. Good salaries for pharmacists after a 4 yr Masters degree & preReg year.
www.bps.ac.uk/careers-development/school-and-college-students

Trying again with the Biochem Soc link ...
www.biochemistry.org/Education.aspx

A lot do want maths, but it is less essential than for straight chemistry. Those that allow them in without maths usually want them to do some extra maths when they get to uni. At least, this is what we found when looking a few years ago. It will say on the universities websites for each course whether maths is needed.

I did Molecular Cell Biology which shared a lot of modules with biochemistry - lack of maths was not a problem at all! What aspect of Chemistry does she like best-inorganic or organic? If she'd like to persue a career in something chemistry related it's a good idea at this stage to look at all the options - for a lot of careers masters and doctrates will be needed, but by no means all!

Why is you Dd not continuing with the medicine route. They want Chem and Bio, don't require maths

How about pharmacology? Related to medicine interests. Good salaries for pharmacists after a 4 yr Masters degree & preReg year

Pharmacology does not lead to a pharmacy career. Pharmacology is a non vocational science degree. If you want to be a pharmacist you need a pharmacy degree. Totally different.

Biochemistry is fucking ace. I found it by accident- i’d never even heard of it as a subject. I had signed up for a microbiology degree, had an hour between lectures in my first week so went with my friend to her biochem lecture. Switched to biochem full time at the end of the year.

I’d say for science a good plan is a modular degree where you don’t specialise until a bit later. I went to dundee which has a world renowned biochem dept- but i found it brilliant for unsure people like me. If you do all four years, first year is basic physics, chem, biology. Second year is 3 (or 4 if you are very dedicated) of more specialised- anatomy, pharmacology, micro, biochem, physiology, botany, zoology, medicinal chemistry etc.

Year 3 you pick your honours subject for two years.

You also used to be able to switch to medicine at the end of years 1 or 2 (assuming quality results) which may appeal if is still is allowed? She could aso continue chemistry/medicinal chemistry or physics until year 2 if undecided.

That’s just my own example. But worth looking at how courses work. I knew none of this until i got to uni. I only knew about microbiology as i’d read it in a james herriot book!! I was first in my family to go to uni and my school were equally clueless.

I did Biomedical sciences, which is a broad degree covering pharmacology/immunology etc etc. If you wanted to specialise in the 3rd year (and get a degree in Pharmacology instead for example), then this could be done. Was a good option for me to keep my options open

newname Absolutely! I was rushing on my phone with multiple tabs open and merged two planned paragraphs.

Pharmacy entry advice...www.rpharms.com/resources/careers-information

Thank you everyone - she has done some research and I am sure the school will give some direction too...

@Sollyfromsurrey - she's loving Chemistry - she has not completely discounted medicine as yet - but she's looked at some courses and likes the sound of Biochemistry - and even Natural Sciences. She has two amazing Chemistry teachers at the moment and I think this is huge influence .

@TheBoots - Yes she is already stating that she will look to do at least a masters and maybe a PHD.

Would she do Chemical / Biochemical Engineering?

Good chem eng courses require maths, my understanding is it's very maths heavy.

There are an increasing number of Nat Sci/interdisciplinary sciences courses nowadays. I don't really know the pros and cons (I'm a straight up chemist) but some of them look interesting- I happened to be looking at the York website for instance.

It would probably be a good idea for her to go to some uni open days to get more of a feel for what's on offer.

Unfortunately maths is required for most courses with an engineering slant such as material sciences, biomedical engineering.
Medicinal chemistry at UCL does not require maths but at imperial it does.
Otherwise apply for natural science type degrees which keep options open.

Errol - I think she has singled out Bham, Warwick and Bath for visits so far....but I think its quite good at this stage to see what the possibilities are..

Medicinal chemistry
Medicinal & biological chemistry
Analytical chemistry
Pharmaceutical science (available with technology & business included)
Cell & molecular biology
Cellular & molecular medicine
Biochemistry
Medical science
The list goes on and on. She needs to do some serious research.

My bachelor's degree was in pharmacology (a long time ago). I think there are other degrees that can get you into medical sciences with a wider range of options, so I tend not to recommend pharmacology unless the student's overwhelming interest is in drug actions or drug handling by the body.

My bachelor's degree was in pharmacology (a long time ago). I think there are other degrees that can get you into medical sciences with a wider range of options, so I tend not to recommend pharmacology unless the student's overwhelming interest is in drug actions or drug handling by the body

This. The thing about biochemistry is it covers a huge spectrum. Even if you do anatomy, botany or zoology or any other biological science a huge chunk these days will be biochemistry based.

Easier to do biochemistry and if your interest turns out to be drugs/plants/dna you can move into that area post grad.

Placemarking so I remember to show dd tomorrow.

Just a note about Bath uni. My ds is having the best time there (3rd year) but he signed up for a masters in physics with placement year. (5 years) He decided not to do the year in industry but a 3 month funded research project instead during his second year summer holiday. This was at Bath uni, much more relevant and an excellent opportunity. As much as he loves Bath he has chosen to do his Masters elsewhere, probably London. I think he feels ready for a new challenge. Bath has suited him very well but from what I can gather the placements are more generic, good opportunies for finance though.

DD will be doing biomedical science in September. She has chosen the university she has because the first year covers a broad spectrum of topics, and she can specialise into different subjects from year 2. The first year will give her an opportunity to decide which topic areas she enjoys the most. She can even transfer to medicine in year 2 if she meets the requirements.

I went to Swansea to do biological sciences the first year was common to all degrees and decided what to specialise in at the end of my first year.
I did genetics but also did a fair amount of biochemistry.
I was also look at sandwich degrees the year in industry is so helpful in getting a job afterwards.

I’m at Uni of Nottingham doing straight Biology, first year. About half my course is Biochem. All Life Sciences do the same 3 modules with a 4th that you choose yourself (I went for a Chemistry one for variation!) for the first year.

The second year they diverge more into the individual degrees but the optionals are still a wide variety.

I did an access course which had no maths and I do struggle a little (I have dyscalulia) but it’s not impossible and the support is great.

Thank you for the responses...she seems to have done quite a bit of research now and has more idea of what she does and doesn't want to do which rules out some courses - so Biochemistry is still the main course she is interested in. She's going to attend Bath, Warwick, York and Birmingham open days in June. She hasn't ruled out looking at Cambridge but we live 20/25 minutes away and she feels that Cambridge maybe a post-grad option.

On the Bristol biochemistry course, in the first year you do the same chemistry as the first year chemists (or did when I was there). If you didn’t have AS level maths, you had to do a top up course but it wasn’t a big deal.

Great thread. My eldest wants to do something sports related and after reading threads here have steered him away from sport science type degrees instead for something more science related. Would biochemistry be a good undergrad that would be looked at favourably for a more sports related masters?