okay, well the question isn’t quite worded how i like. i know you can’t decide for me, but i need help.
i am currently a biochemistry major in undergrad. i really really enjoy this major and i know i picked the right one. my school doesn’t have an undergrad genetics program, so i can’t really explore much. however, after school i want to research the genetics or biochemistry of bipolar disorder and other mental disorders. what does genetics entail? what does biochemistry entail? i also prefer to stay in the UC system, so do you have any recommendations for schools or programs?
Speaking as someone who did intensive research in neuropharmacogenomics:
If you want to do research in the biochemical processes underlying mental health disorders, it is best to pursue more vertical training in biochemistry. That foundation naturally extends to research on gene expressions and dysregulations. Going vertical into biochemistry also allows you better access to adjacent fields like neuropharmacology and the pharmacogenomics of psychiatric disorders, which in turn helps you transition into neurobiology and general neurological diseases if you choose to do so.
Of course, no two graduate programs are exactly alike. When pursuing graduate research education and training, keep in mind that you should approach it from the bottom up. Like, heavily consider the PIs you want to work with, in the field you want to work in. The strength of your graduate research experience depends heavily on the reputation of your PI and, by natural extension, the department, rather than the institution as a whole. This is one of the biggest pitfalls that uninformed or unguided graduate research applicants fall into.
I am not very familiar with the PIs in the UC system, so I do not really have any specific recommendations in that regard.
You first fall in love with a field and with research in the field. Then you decide whether you want to go deeper into a research and commit a lot of time and effort into understanding more, and then you figure out whether the career that you want in research requires a PhD.
You do not first decide to do a PhD, and then try to figure out what field you want to do the PhD in.
A PhD is a research degree. A PhD is only for people who have the urge to find unanswered questions in their field and answer them, or find unsolved problems and solve them. Even then, you only need a PhD if doing this requires full research projects.
There are people who really like the technical aspects of research, but are less interested in the questions and the solutions. That is extremely common in my field - ecology. A lot of people just love the field work. For these jobs a masters is the right degree, or even just a bachelors.
Before you decide whether you want to do a PhD, the very first step is to find out which field (or fields) you really like. Concurrently, you see how much you like lab work in different fields that interest you, because the longest part of any research project is the lab work, followed by the analysis of the results.
My advice for you is:
A. Find lab work (for credit or for pay, or for experience, as long as it is official) in labs that do something related to what interests you. Look for summer internships for undergraduates, and apply for them.
B. This is an important one, and, unlike lab work, does not depend on anybody else: read peer-reviewed articles. The best articles for you to start with are articles written by faculty in your department. That way, if you find an article to be interesting, have questions about it, or just want to know more about it, you can reach out to the faculty member.
There are few faculty members who would not like to talk about their recent articles with an undergraduate. Just make sure to read it and understand it as much as you can. That is also a really good way to get a tech position in a lab.
C. Take the most advanced classes in the fields that interest you, after you have taken all of the classes that will provide you with the basis for your field.
Follow these until figure out what field or fields you like, have a better idea of what research entails, have an idea what a person who has a PhD does, and figure out whether it is something you want to do.
My younger daughter for example had a few years of experience working in a lab doing research before she decided to go for a PhD. The motivation was the research. The PhD is the way to get there.
Also, admissions for PhD programs can be very, very competitive. You need both the experience already working on research and an explanation of why you want to do this, as part of what helps to get accepted to a very good program.
The good news of course is that you can get some of this experience as an undergraduate student, and optionally can get more on a job after completing a bachelor’s degree. Some students do go straight from a bachelor’s to a PhD, or straight from a bachelor’s to a master’s to a PhD. A lot of students however get some relevant work experience during a gap somewhere along the way (eg in some cases after getting a bachelor’s degree before applying to graduate programs).
Quite a few students arrive at university, take classes in several fields, do a bit of research or a bit of patient shadowing or a bit of software engineering or a bit of something else, and at some point find the thing that is right for them. At some point it clicks. This might be biochemistry related research, or might be something quite different. You have plenty of time to figure this out.
Personally I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and still did not know what I wanted to do with it. I tried a bit of this and a bit of that (apparently there are quite a few fields that need math). Eventually I found the right thing. It took some time, but that is perfectly okay and relatively normal. It worked out well in the end.
And I think that this is a very important field, where making significant progress is likely to be hard but where if you make significant progress there is the potential to really help a lot of people.
I think that you are asking reasonable questions and thinking about reasonable things. It might take some time to find the right answers for you.
i shall backtrack some more and think about undergrad. i am currently waiting to see my total GPA for this quarter to make my research applications stronger. while i do that, i am considering a biochem/neuroscience double major. there is a significant overlap between the two majors at my school. should i go for the double major, or just stick to biochem and take neuro classes as electives?
My advice is to take classes that interest you, get involved in research, internships, get to know your profs, etc. Once you have a better idea as to where your interests lie and the type of work you might want to do, you will be in a better position to decide if you want to get a PhD or possibly a different degree. There is no rush.
A PhD is a long and often very stressful commitment.
Many genetics PhD programs are really basic science oriented. As in they work with organisms such as fruit flies, yeast, nematodes etc. You have to decide if that is what you want.
I would start by finding research that interests you, and then seeing who has done it and where. Find out whether you are more interested in more basic science, more applied science, or even more of a philosophical lens. For example if you are familiar with the work of Eric Turkheimer out of the University of Virginia, does his approach interest you?
This is important. I have family members with genetics degrees (PhD and MS) and their research and clinical work is/was in hereditary, infant metabolic disorders, etc.
There is a lot going on in this field, but you need to learn whether you actually enjoy research or would prefer something else.