My D25 is currently interested in a career as a research biologist.
One of the schools she is considering, Cornell Univ., splits their biology program between two colleges: a) Arts and Sciences and b) Ag and Life Sciences. This separation potentially creates a few issues. Based on Cornell’s website, it appears that a BA degree is conferred through CAS and a BS through CALS. Further complicating matters is that you must apply to one college within the university and you cannot double major across colleges. Finally, CAS is now officially test preferred / encouraged, whereas CALS remains test blind for 2025.
Her inclination is to apply to CAS because it has a broader offering of options for double majoring that she may have an interest as compared to CALS. My concern is that if she has a desire for a career in research, is a BS preferred / necessary, or would a BA from CAS be sufficient (especially if combined with research during the school year / summers). Especially for those that are research scientists on this site, or those that have knowledge of those fields, is my concern warranted?
In my experience as a research scientist, what is important for PhD programs is (in no particular order)
Coursework - what courses did you take within your major? Did you minor or have a concentration outside the basic “bio track” of courses? e.g. neuroscience focus, computational bio, biochem.
Grades in those courses
Research experience. Find a lab to work in where the student can pursue an independent research project. This should be more than a summer job - it should be a significant commitment for at least a year. It’s also important for the student to get a sense of what lab life is really like. It’s not for everyone! Ideally work with a professor who has a track record of having students go to grad school.
The actual degree (BA vs BS) isn’t important. The actual name of the major (biology, molecular biology, neuroscience, etc) isn’t that important. The relevance of the coursework and research is key.
Degree title BA or BS is not important compared to the upper level course work relevant in preparation for the PhD major, undergraduate research, and recommendations.
I agree with the others about substance over title, but I also note that my understanding is Cornell’s Bio major has identical major requirements whether you do it through CALS or CAS, with both being run out of the Office of Undergraduate Biology (OUB):
The advisors in the OUB should be able to help kids with a goal of grad study and a research career, including helping them with picking a concentration.
I’m not a research scientist but I’ve noticed a trend among both current bio majors and recent grads.
If you want a spot on a research team- get your statistics requirements out of the way as soon as you can take the courses! Do as well as you possibly can.
Freshmen and sophomores-- no matter how smart and talented-- don’t have a lot of deep content knowledge to make them useful on a research team. But if they are fluent in Matlab/SAS or other statistical programs, they can punch above their weight. Every team needs data skills regardless of the sub-field.
So it’s a little chicken and egg- how does a student get the research experience they need if they don’t have any research experience. Answer- become the statistical whiz that every team wants and needs.
Thank you for your response - and I agree completely with what you have outlined here.
D25 did land a job in a biology lab this summer at a local directional university. Perhaps one of the more important things that she can learn this summer is what skill sets (e.g., data analysis) she can acquire or work on the next year that would make her appealing to be on a research team as an undergrad underclassman.
My daughter had the same question and chose the BS, but in all honesty it doesn’t really matter. What matters are grades, research experience, courses, recommendations etc.
She didn’t do any special activities or lab jobs in HS to set herself up for college research. That’s great that your D landed a job in a lab! Those experiences for my daughter began in college and she was on a research team her first year.
My advice is for her to ask all of the schools she is interested in about the ease of getting on a research team. How common is it? My daughter emailed one prof (after getting his number on the tour) and he never got back to her. That school was crossed off the list. She also asked students how common it was to do research. Some schools say that undergrads can do research, yet it is hard to find any students who actually do. Other schools will tell you that anybody who wants research can do it, and they have the students to back up that claim.
Yes, we are excited about it. She was accepted by the UChicago RIBS (Research in Biological Sciences) program this summer but turned it down for this opportunity - primarily because it is a paid position. I was very encouraged by how she obtained it. I looked at the college’s biology faculty page and saw a professor who did research in an area to which she had expressed interest. D25 emailed and called him and they had a nice conversation, actually multiple conversations. He informed her that he was on sabbatical this summer but introduced her to another professor and D25 and that professor had several conversations that led to the position. I was delighted that she took the initiative to do this all on her own.
Thank you all for the reassurance re the BA vs BS issue.