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.

Evaperonspoodle yes biochem would be suitable for future sports science masters but no more than any other bio science or possible chemistry degree would.

Evaperonespoodle some unis do Hunan Anatomy degrees or Biomedical Science degrees. They would be good too

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?

Difficult to tell. Many of them just stipulate a first degree in a "relevant discipline", which isn't very helpful. Looking at Liverpool as a random example, entry requirements for the MSc in exercise physiology are "a minimum 2:1 honours degree in sport science, or a related discipline". I think it would be a good idea for him to contact a few universities to ask what bachelors' degrees they accept for entry to their sports & exercise masters' programmes before he burns any boats by doing a biochemistry degree. I'd have thought physiology would be more closely aligned, but I don't know how that translates into entry requirements.

My DD is looking at these bio/chemistry type degrees. She’s very very Mathsy and I had suggested chemical engineering BUT it seems there’s not much job prospects (apparently!). Biology is the weakest of the 3 subjects she’s studying so is unsure if Bio/Chem are good options.

I did biochemistry with medical biochemistry at Cardiff. Highly recommended. I did biology and chemistry A levels, no maths. I did have to do a maths module (as did everyone) but it was very much "maths for science" rather than pure maths. A lot of friends went on to PhDs, a few in to a medicine degree, a few in to industry and healthcare roles. I'm a chemistry teacher.

The NHS scientist training programme might help think about direction?

My DD is looking at these bio/chemistry type degrees. She’s very very Mathsy and I had suggested chemical engineering BUT it seems there’s not much job prospects (apparently!). Biology is the weakest of the 3 subjects she’s studying so is unsure if Bio/Chem are good options.

Maybe chemistry would suit her better? Some of the fields of physical and computational chemistry are very mathsy, some are related to biochemistry but not larger-scale biology.
(I have a Chemistry BSc, a PhD in crystallography, and a >30 year career writing molecular modelling/computational chemistry/structural biology software).

An alternative to straight chemistry might be some of the interdisciplinary approaches - I don't have a good feel for what they entail but from the POV of exploring different options, taking a look at some of those courses might help her figure out what appeals to her and what doesn't. E.g.

www.york.ac.uk/natural-sciences/interdisciplinary/

I did biochemistry many years ago at Glasgow then Oxford and work in Pharma as a project lead (chief scientist working with my team developing the process to make a drug then taking it into manufacture).

She should pick what she thinks is the most interesting course, if she's bright and hard working then the exact degree title doesn't really matter career wise. But, go somewhere she has the opportunity to do a year in industry. It will make her much more employable later (even after a PhD). We really rate students from Manchester, they get a lot of lab experience early on so I'd encourage her to look there. And as a fellow Scot I agree with the Dundee graduate that being admitted to a faculty and being allowed to choose your final degre course a bit later is good.

Thank you Errol and count and others as there’s been some great advice on here!

Thank you for all the responses - sorry have been away on hols (early HT) so first opportunity to read the thread again.

Biochemistry doesn't always require maths at undergraduate but the many of the funded PhDs do require maths a level which has caused a lot of issues (third year students trying to pass it in addition to their degree).