| Username |
Post |
| anepalikta |
Posted
on 18-Dec-01 11:04 PM
i am currently doing my undergrad in biochemistry, in one of the semi elite schools in massachusetts. my problem is i suddenly lost interest in biochem, i was doing well until last semester but not recently as i lost my interest in it. i am a semester away from graduation. right now i am totally lost.
what can i do to salvage myself.
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| arnico |
Posted
on 19-Dec-01 12:09 AM
A few questions whose answers would make it easier to give you advice:
1) Do you have spare electives between now and graduation, or do you still have lots of biochem requirements to fulfill?...i.e. can you go exploring other fields by taking classes in them?
2) Do you already know what you would rather be studying, or are you trying to explore a large range of alternatives? Or are you sick of school in general?
3) Did you start studying biochemistry because you were interested in the subject, or because it was to be a stepping stone to some other goal (such as medical school)? If a stepping stone... does that other goal still matter to you
4) Does the possibility exist to take a leave of absence in the spring semester, and return in the fall to graduate half a year later than intended?
5) Is you loss of interest in biochem due to biochem itself, or due to a sense of disconnect from the rest of the world? I mean... do you feel that the time spent studying biochem is preventing you from learning other things that are important in the world that relate more directly to society? (that's a struggle I have gone through during semesters that were heavy in math/chem/phys).
6) Are you thinking of attending graduate school or a professional school at some point in the future (in whatever field)?
Feel free to post or e-mail me directly answers to those questions and I will try to help further. The reason I asked the questions is that they give a sense of the direction in which to give advice. Otherwise I would end up writing out a huge decision tree (or being too lazy to start).
You are not the first person to have abrupt loss of interest in the chosen field of study. I hope you will hear from lots of people here.
Good luck!
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| _BP |
Posted
on 19-Dec-01 04:28 AM
My experience is that regardless of your undergraduate degree, you can pretty much do almost anything you want in a non-technical field, or medicine. Maybe you should visit your career counselor or career center.
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| bill |
Posted
on 19-Dec-01 11:20 AM
Finish your studies. That is goal number one right now. You are tired of studying and need a temporary change. Try taking something that you have a side interest in. You are probably experiencing a "fear of success" syndrome. Once you have a degree, you will be more attractive in almost any field of endeavor.
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| anepalikta |
Posted
on 19-Dec-01 02:39 PM
i need to take three more courses required for biochem major. i have to take recombinant dna. i dont want to take that course at all cause i hate bio labs and this course is totally lab oriented.
i am still exploring my talent......i dont know what i want to do as of yet.
growing up ....i wanted to become a mechanical engineer...i used have a very good mechnical aptitude and good in math,physics and chem......
but decided to do liberal art studies in the us.....i should have gone to one of the engineering schools in india or ......
i heard about biomedical engineering...does anybody have any info on that..is it more like growing tissues in the lab or developing machines related to medical field?
by the way amico and bill thanks for your response
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| kale |
Posted
on 19-Dec-01 03:10 PM
if u want to go master in Biomedical engineering, first at least u need undergrad degree with strong math , biology and engineering courses. After u finish biochmestry major, u might get admitted to biomed eng. program but u have to take some prequsite classes like math and some engineering classes. Biomedical eng. program is mostly for students who had engineering background but for ur case u can go too but u have to take some prequsite classes. Search internet abt biomedical engineering, u will see urself.
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| kale |
Posted
on 19-Dec-01 03:13 PM
ok there 3-4 fields inside biomedical enginngeing, tissue engineering, bioinstrumation for electronics background, biomechanics bor mechanics background...more
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| cyberpal |
Posted
on 19-Dec-01 03:41 PM
Biomedical engineering is a pretty diverse field. It can range from growing tissue in rat that can be grafted on human to working on the Star Trak like visor for blind people to see.
There are different ways to get into the filed too. You can either get a bio medical degree or join some bio medical compaines such as boston Sciences(?). Generally for entry level positions the companies look for some math and science background.
However I have to caution you that the Bio Medical industry is not a rapidly exapnding field. Thus you won't find a whole of job postings.
While at it, I'd also like to throw in a field you might want to explore where you can leverage your current knowledge in biochemsitry - bioinfomatics.
I'm not too familiar in this field but it sounds interesting and has lot of potential. Genome mappings and extraction of information from the mappings falls in this realm, I think.
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| Mulla Nasurdin |
Posted
on 19-Dec-01 05:35 PM
Is there someone who is planning to switch(or switched) to
Gradute Course in Bio-Informatics from Computer Science? What
are the pre-reqs?
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| Medical Informatics |
Posted
on 19-Dec-01 10:56 PM
There used to be a person at Nepal Medical College in Kathmandu that headed the Centre for Medical Informatics there. He later came to the United States and went on to do Medical Informatics- straight from a Computer Science background.
Hope this helps!!!!
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| Experienced |
Posted
on 19-Dec-01 11:14 PM
I actually applied for a course of Medical Informatics (MD, PhD joint) in Columbia
last year.
I was told by the dean that my prospect was admirable. That was until I applied.
I couldn't get in, because 120 students applied for 8 positions. Which was the
highest number in their history! I leave you to check the veracity of this info(# of
applicants), but that was what I got from them.
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| anepaliketa |
Posted
on 19-Dec-01 11:42 PM
i have minor in computer science...yeah infact i was thinking
about bioinformatic....
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| Medical Informatics |
Posted
on 19-Dec-01 11:47 PM
Check out the site http://www.hl7.org/ for more information on Medical Informatics.
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| arnico |
Posted
on 20-Dec-01 09:11 AM
Anepalikta:
It sounds like you don't have much choice about sticking to biochem for your degree... which means pulling together your courage and telling yourself that a semester is not unbearably long. Challenge yourself to do as well as possible in something you don't like... you won't be the first one having to do that! It's a pain -- I know -- but you will get through it.
But, do also spend the time looking around exploring your alternative interests. One way would be to take a semester or even a year of leave. If you have been studying for more than a year already then you can take practical-training status and work. Check out work in the fields that seem more exciting, or go to Nepal and do something completely different... I took a semester leave after my junior year... Ashu took time off during college too... it gives a lot of time to think about your interest and your futures, but does come with the disadvantage that your classmates will have graduated by the time you return.
Do also talk to professors / advisors in your college.
And make sure you spend a very restful Christmas break doing something completely different.
If you consider going on for graduate study in any field then do try to avoid having your last semester grades fall far below your average so far. That would look really bad on your transcript.
Finally, keep in mind that what you major in, or what you do graduate study in never represents the full you, nor the full potential in you. For many people what they take away from school is much less the detailed knowledge in their field of study than the general skills in clear analytical thinking and communication...
hope this helps.
Arnico.
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