UCLA or UMich (MCDBio major)?

firmament2x
Wed, 01 Apr 2020 19:43:39 +0000

@chrisganity . . . UCLA has a multidisciplinary major called Computational & Systems Biology (“CaSB”), which according to one student, combines bio, CS, stats. It’s a five-year program ending with an MS. Here are some profiles in CaSB:

https://casb.ucla.edu/casb-student-profiles/

UCLA also has a minor in Biology, called Bioinformatics. There’s a profile about a woman who majored in straight bio, found the minor somewhat late in her studies, attached it to her bio major, switched her focus, and is now in the PhD program in CS at UCLA.

Then there is a Specialization in Computing program which just about anyone can attach to her/his studies, with its Program in Computing classes:

https://www.math.ucla.edu/ugrad/pic-course-descriptions

A bio major, as UCBalumnus stated, does not by itself present very good job prospects, so it might be wise to add another perusal to it just in case it becomes apparent that med school is not in the works. But there are other health professions also, dentistry, pharmacy which are popular especially in California.

And as you doubtlessly know, you don’t have to major in something in the life sciences to attend med school. There are a decent number of Econ majors from UCLA who attend m-school. A good youtube video to watch is Dr. Michael Burry at UCLA Econ graduation 2012; it’s one of the best graduation speeches ever given. If you have 20 minutes, I’d recommend it.

And all the best!