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Does it matter what undergraduate degree you do?

Hi guys, I'm currently in year 12 and I want to study Biomedical Science at university, however when I look at different biology related course for university, I can't decide whether I want to Biomed or pick another course, For example: The other day I was curious about medical genetics and had my heart set out on doing that, but today I feel that medical genetics isn't for me. I keep changing my mind every 5 seconds and don't know what to do to help make my mind up!

In the future I hope to become a cancer research scientist, but I'm scared that I'm going to pick the wrong undergraduate degree. That's why I wanted to ask postgraduates whether it matters what undergraduate degree you do if you wanted to pursue scientific research.
(PS: I'm really sorry for the essay😅)
Original post by pineapple201
Hi guys, I'm currently in year 12 and I want to study Biomedical Science at university, however when I look at different biology related course for university, I can't decide whether I want to Biomed or pick another course, For example: The other day I was curious about medical genetics and had my heart set out on doing that, but today I feel that medical genetics isn't for me. I keep changing my mind every 5 seconds and don't know what to do to help make my mind up!

In the future I hope to become a cancer research scientist, but I'm scared that I'm going to pick the wrong undergraduate degree. That's why I wanted to ask postgraduates whether it matters what undergraduate degree you do if you wanted to pursue scientific research.
(PS: I'm really sorry for the essay😅)

Hi @pineapple201


There are a lot of university degrees that can lead you to doing medical research. If you did decide to go for something like biomedical science, lots of unis allow you to specialise in your third year, for example I'll be specialising in genomics next year and will graduate with a degree in Biomedical Science with Genomics. The benefit of doing this over a medical genetics degree for example if that it helps keep your options open to give you time to decide where you want to focus on. Other courses like biology degrees could lead you to medical research but it is a less direct path and the course is less tailored to human biology specifically. If you are wanting to work in the NHS as a biomedical scientist or similar, you need to take either an accredited degree or a degree that offers accreditation at the end, paid for by the university (as we do at George's).

Hope that helps, let me know if there's anything else you'd like to know
Lauren
2nd Year Biomedical Science Student
SGUL Official Rep
Original post by pineapple201
Hi guys, I'm currently in year 12 and I want to study Biomedical Science at university, however when I look at different biology related course for university, I can't decide whether I want to Biomed or pick another course, For example: The other day I was curious about medical genetics and had my heart set out on doing that, but today I feel that medical genetics isn't for me. I keep changing my mind every 5 seconds and don't know what to do to help make my mind up!

In the future I hope to become a cancer research scientist, but I'm scared that I'm going to pick the wrong undergraduate degree. That's why I wanted to ask postgraduates whether it matters what undergraduate degree you do if you wanted to pursue scientific research.
(PS: I'm really sorry for the essay😅)

You will need to 'pick a lane' since the knowledge and scientific techniques you will learn on the different UG courses will mean you will automatically be excluded from following some scientific lines of work.

Why not look at the career paths of some famous cancer research scientists to see what they did at UG and PG level. Click here for a list of cancer researchers working with cancer research UK. You will find most of them did a Masters and then a PhD so be prepared!

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