Agricultural or biological engineering?
Biomedical engineering? (lots of pre-meds, often a more selective major; “bioengineering” is usually this type of major)
Chemical “and biomolecular” engineering?
Statistics or data science applied to biology applications?
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Architecture or Landscape Architecture? Some science and creativity in each.
If they are really unsure of their path, public colleges tend to have more majors and a wider variety of academic options. Look at one online and open their course catalog for Biology majors. See the different classes and pathways they can take.
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Computational genetics may be something to look into, if the student continues with their interest in biology and genetics.
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I’m trying to think outside the box, so here are a couple of programs to look at not because they are the ones she should be considering but because they might get you thinking differently about what’s possible. Check out the following as example of interdisciplinary programs which are integrating different skill and interests:
Synthetic Biology at Stanford
Human Centered Design at Cornell
The Brown/RISD dual degree program is an example of a program where students set up an individualized program in which they integrate Art with a second major of their choosing. Tufts has a similar BFA + BA/BS program. The Art component of the Tufts program is with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, which has been part of Tufts for the past decade after having been a stand-alone Art School school for 130 years. Nonetheless even though it is all within the same university, it is similar to the Brown/RISD program which is a collaboration between 2 separate institutions which are independent of each other.
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Also, don’t assume tech/engineering schools don’t have good art options. In WPI it is easy to minor in media arts (which includes visual art). There is also an Art and Humanities track, but I don’t know much about it. RIT has a good art department, but I’m not sure how easy it is to integrate art as a double major or minor.
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If they come back from camp without that “aha” moment (which is very possible) then my recommendation would be to apply as an engineering major. It is much easier to transfer out of engineering and into something biology related than the reverse.
Hopefully the camp will provide for discussion about different career paths within the field. If not…it’s fine. They may change their mind several times over the next few years.
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Just echoing some of the points above:
Hopefully the Clemson camp provides some clarity about whether Bio is of interest. If they emerge with an interest in a specific branch or subfield of Bio, that is fine, but if not, that is also fine. Starting off just in general Bio is not a bad idea at all, they can and probably should take time to get a better understanding of the many different Bio subfields and related careers before committing to any given path.
And I would not let the presence of a lot of premeds in some of the initial Bio and Chem classes be a major deterrent. Soon enough a lot of those kids will choose other paths anyway, and then if Bio is the ultimate pick for your kid, and they are starting to choose their advanced classes in light of evolving interests, possibly choosing a specialty major, that may end up including few or none of the surviving premeds.
All that said, I agree if Engineering is a serious option, perhaps they should begin in Engineering, particularly since if they are looking to do it on a shortened schedule it may be pretty intense. My two cents is I would not try to do that just because of a career assessment, but if they are truly interested in the possibility, it will very likely be easier to start in Engineering then switch to Bio (or something completely unexpected at this point) than the other way around.
We don’t have enough details to really do a Match Me, so consider this just an illustrative example. But in my circles, a kid with these sorts of interests would likely be looking at Pitt, which is a really interesting university overall in a great location in a fun city, plus is very strong in these areas.
Pitt Engineering (Swanson) is one of the engineering colleges where all entering students are considered undecided, even if they have some idea of what they think they want. But unlike some such engineering colleges, there are not competitive admissions or restrictions on any of the engineering majors:
So if Bioengineering ends up the choice, great. But I agree Materials Science might also end up interesting to this student–so maybe that instead. Or so on.
But then lets say they realize engineering is not really their thing. It would then be easy enough to transfer to another college at Pitt, say Arts and Science (Dietrich) where Bio and other related majors are hosted:
See here about halfway down discussing Internal Transfers:
Note, though, there are some credit requirements basically making sure you do enough of your actual work at Dietrich. I don’t think this is atypical, just something to keep in mind that if they didn’t really want to explore Engineering AND wanted to graduate as quickly as possible, it would make more sense just to start at Dietrich.
But the other path is fine academically, it just might not be quite as quick in some circumstances.
Anyway, again all this is just illustrating how exploration can work at a given university. Pitt has the things I would be looking for–no big restrictions on specific Engineering majors, and no significant barriers to transfer to Arts and Sciences instead. But lots more colleges with robust Engineering options, and Bio options, and more besides, work like that, and thus would be academically suitable for an exploratory student.
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Look into Colleges of Agriculture - they offer lots of biology-related majors, often with excellent professional outcomes… And often not exactly where you’d think of when you hear “agriculture” (often, it’s become the college of applied biology, wildlife, etc.)
What about climate change and all the jobs related to that crisis?
Someone upthread mentioned Food Science - which applies a lot of biology&chemistry to something we need to live (for instance, some brands are going to replace chemical colorings with natural colorings: how do you find natural colorings that are aesthetically pleasant, leave no taste, and aren’t dangerous?) Can you make kid cereals that aren’t 40% corn syrup? Think of the story of Impossible Burgers…
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These are some great fields to research, thanks!
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Other options to look into include “bioengineering” and systems biology.
Ohio University Honors Tutorial College has a biology major with a lot of flexibility in terms of course focus: Biological Sciences | Ohio University
“In the sophomore and junior years, students take advanced tutorials each semester. Tutorial format, which may include directed readings, laboratory research, field research, etc., is determined by discussion between the student and the faculty tutor. There are no limits to the field of study, and upon permission, tutorials can be taken with a faculty tutor in any department on campus.”
One downside is that the engineering options at the school are limited to a bioinformatics degree.
One upside is that the HTC requires no gen eds other than a writing course. Also, a significant portion of the coa can be knocked off with merit scholarships. (Last I checked it was around $50k after? Not sure)
UCSB offers a similarly focused program in biology:
This is likely to be more selective and expensive than OU and will still require gen eds that her prior coursework may not transfer and fulfill.
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Synthetic Biology. See the program at Stanford as an example.
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Your major doesn’t have to match your research position, internship, or career. I would choose something of interest and go from there.
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