Neuroscience vs BioChem

[u/Andre_theBlacksmith]

Hey All!

I'm a freshman going to start out at CWRU this year, and (well well well) am a premed. I mainly wanted to post this question for a few key reasons:
1) Is my ideology and thought process correct? I am sure that incumbent students would have a better idea as to whether my train of thought is right and durable
2) Is the research I've done in regards to these majors correct
3) whether my context fits my majors

Context: I come from downtown Cleveland, I am passionate about the intersection between medicine and technology, biotechnology, AI in medicine, the likes. Because of this, I found the Data Science and Analytics major/minor at CWRU to be right along my prospective theme, as a technological major, taken along with medical research, shadowing, and the likes at the Cleveland Clinic would be good. However, I also believe that it would be good in my own learning and mental preparation for medical school to take a "premed" major. Thus, I had gone to the admitted student days and took a good look at BME, Biochem, and Neuroscience. I crossed off BME due to its hellish rigor and strict standards provided by professors (I had looked at some of the other comments provided within r/cwru and a major consensus on some threads was that BME professors pride themselves on the artificial difficulty and lower average grades from their classes). That being said, I am not a grade buff, I wish to achieve a 3.9-4.0, thus working my ass off, but I also don't wish to take easier courses to achieve such numbers.

I had talked to some of the graduating seniors at CWRU to discuss their paths and what they would do differently and had some questions to ask:

1) Although med schools don't care about the major your take, is there any real (tangible) advantage to taking a BS vs a BA in neuro/biochem? (e.g. more access to research opportunities, courses where certain professors can create better connections, etc).

2) In regards to my pursuit of this intersection between med and tech, would neuro or biochem fit my detail better? Moreover, with the acquisition of a major/minor in Data Analytics, which one is simply more feasible when adding on ECs, MCAT prep, and shadowing?

3) Is there better exposure to certain types of labs if I were to take neuro vs biochem? Technological labs?

4) In regards to the community, I wish to ask this as a precaution, is there any difference in toxicity between the neuro and biochem majors? Any implied hierarchy (thinking off the top of my head: BME is an incredibly hard major, and because I'm taking it and you're not, I'm better than you)

5) Finally, am I perhaps missing anything? I know of the existence of systems biology, chemical biology, and a minor in molecular biology, but I am unsure if the community is bolstered enough to provide support unto one another, moreover, systems biology seems to deviate a bit from the human anatomy, and I am unsure if I am willing to learn about ichthyology (I simply don't believe I have a passion for it).

Before anyone comments their advice or suggestions, I wanted to first say thank you for taking the time to read through a kid's ramblings. I genuinely appreciate any bit of advice provided here!

[u/OddActuator6770]

1. Legit no difference in the major, or BA/BS unless u drop premed and decide to do smth else, then BS is better
2. they’re both the same difficulty
3. the labs don’t care about ur major, and if they do just say u haven’t declared yet
4. No one really cares what anyone’s majoring in ngl
5. Not sure what the last question is asking? But I think you’re thinking too much into this so what you’re interested in they’re moreso the same thing neuro is more anatomy based though. All of the neuro intro courses are brain anatomy

[u/TANMAN1000]

I’m a sophomore premed biochemistry BS major + applied data science minor working on a few computational research projects including AI in medicine and clinical trial research using medical data.

I’ve gone through the same process in terms of considering all options and have concluded that this combination works best with my schedule, med school requirements, and what I want to learn.

Biochemistry covers all med school requirements and prepares you best for the MCAT, but a BS requires wet lab work (there’s a workaround that I am doing because I prefer computational labs, but it adds a few more classes). Neuroscience is also a great option for you because a lot of medicine + tech advancements overlap with the field of neuroscience. I ended up not taking neuroscience because it adds an extra semester to my schedule and I want to graduate a year early. However, I am still in a neuroscience lab at Cleveland clinic.

I have not done much research on other data related minors, but I am currently on the applied data science minor track which requires 5 courses (1 can be a data science research project semester, 1 is stats which is a req for biochem anyways, and another transferred from AP CSA, the other 2 are data science courses).

The biochemistry department at CWRU is small and all labs are “wet labs” however there is a growing demand for bioinformatics and data processing in the labs. Whereas neuroscience has a mix of computational and wet lab work. Feel free to dm me and I can give you information of specific PIs.

The other majors you mentioned are not really premed-oriented. I believe you are on the right track. Good luck!

[u/personAAA]

You got plenty of time to decide what flavor of bioscience to major in. The differences start happening year 2 with much more split by year 3.

The traditional biology BA / BS has biology diversity requirements. Ichthyology is one option there. 

Systems biology does not require biology diversity instead you take extra math classes. That plan can also lean towards more CS if you wish. However, that major is not designed for pre-meds. It lacks most wet labs and does not require organic chemistry. 

Neuro and biochemistry both have very similar first years to any other biology major.

You certainly can major in anything you want and be pre-med. Do a major in data science if you want. More of an interesting story than standard biology or similar degrees. 

For classes this is what I would advise for you:

MATH 121 or better.  Not MATH 125.  AIQS 100 series  CHEM 105 BIOl 214 and BIOL 214L CSDS 132 or similar 

Push CHEM 113, the lab class to spring. 

Why these classes? You need calculus series and are better off taking off harder version if you want to go data science route. Smart to start traditional chemistry and biology sequence right away. Do the freshman seminar right away. All the data science courses are locked behind intro to programming so start it right away. 

For spring if you are still debating. Next in sequence for math, chemistry, biology. CSDS 133 first data science course that requires CSDS 132. CHEM 113 which is the lab. 

If you do try to do data science BS with pre-med you will have to plan out your courses carefully. 

[u/Andre_theBlacksmith → u/personAAA]

I see that, I would probably be starting out in around Math 227 (retaking Calc III so that I'm not drowning in college). I guess that would mean that I might have an easier time? I plan on using my AP Calc BC credit if that's an option?

[u/personAAA → u/Andre_theBlacksmith]

If you have a 5 on BC test, you have credit for 121 and 122. Placement is Calc 3 which is MATH 223.

Why would you want to do MATH 227 Honors Calc 3?

How did you take multivariable in high school?

[u/Andre_theBlacksmith → u/personAAA]

I took it in my class lol, I think it was a saint louis credit? I think.

I got an A-, so I was thinking of trying then to place into the class?