Advice for future STEM majors on course selection at Emory

Colleges & Universities Emory University
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@Waiting2exhale Is your student interested in the health sciences or physics?

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@BiffBrown: My kid has shifted focus from BioChem to QSS. Going in I was able to pass along some of bernie12’s information on the shifting landscape there at Emory in terms of the requirements in the Bio department, and the rigor was something which was definitely known.

I am hoping to find a return to BioChem, considering my kid’s interest in genetics.

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@Waiting2exhale

The QTM major at Emory has a biology track, which allows the study of population/evolutionary biology (which tends to be heavily genetics based) with QTM’s statistical science courses. There is also a QTM with a neuroscience track:

http://quantitative.emory.edu/documents/forms/QSS_major_checklist_biology_2017-12-6_fillable.pdf

Finally, there is QTM with an informatics track; informatics is the study of genetics using modern computing techniques:

http://quantitative.emory.edu/documents/forms/QSS_major_checklist_informatics_2017-7-27-fillable.pdf#i

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^^Forwarding


I do remember going into the course offerings and seeing what was possible, and discussing the varied ideas coming from kiddo. Something about this, above, is a bit different than what I’d looked at, but very clear. I am sure my kid has worked this out, though it helps to have something solid on this end to introduce.

Thanks.

1 Like
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@Waiting2exhale : Sounds like your kid isn’t pre-med
which means that they can theoretically do whatever degree he wants. If they wants a job or grad. school in science, they will scrutinize the actual courses he takes at a more fine-grained level than if they are say
applying to medical school where the volume is too high. They’ll just expect rigor, solid performance, and true intellectual engagement (typically via academic research, but industry opportunities are just as well-received). If I were them, I would choose a track, do that and dabble in other areas of science as they please. Again, in such a case, the goal should be to learn to think about and do science and gain as much interdisciplinary perspective. If they aren’t pre-health, there is a lot of freedom. One doesn’t have to “settle” for mediocre instruction just for the sake of fullfilling requirements or padding a GPA as much.