Natural sciences or Biochemistry at uni

Hi all,

I am currently stuck between the two courses to apply for at uni.
I don't know whether to apply for NatSci (bio + chem) to some unis e.g bath and then biochem elsewhere e.g Bristol, or just apply for all biochem etc, is there an advantage for applying to all with just biochem because the personal statement content would be rather similar.
I also have some questions:
Is the content in NatSci harder as the majority of offer appear to be A*A*A in comparison to AAA/B for biochem?
However pick Durham for example, which offers both courses, I am stuck on which to chose as like the look of both the course specs.. Any insights?
Does Biochem contain more maths than NatSci? - as I only take, bio, chem and latin at a-level currently
Any insight or recommendations would be greatly appreciated

Reply 1

bl0bf1sh

15

Original post by evjohn1

Hi all,

I am currently stuck between the two courses to apply for at uni.
I don't know whether to apply for NatSci (bio + chem) to some unis e.g bath and then biochem elsewhere e.g Bristol, or just apply for all biochem etc, is there an advantage for applying to all with just biochem because the personal statement content would be rather similar.
I also have some questions:
Is the content in NatSci harder as the majority of offer appear to be A*A*A in comparison to AAA/B for biochem?
However pick Durham for example, which offers both courses, I am stuck on which to chose as like the look of both the course specs.. Any insights?
Does Biochem contain more maths than NatSci? - as I only take, bio, chem and latin at a-level currently
Any insight or recommendations would be greatly appreciated

I do NatSci (at Bath, incidentally) and really enjoy the fact that you study multiple subjects as part of just one degree. It's quite flexible so you can (at Bath at least) change things to suit you best, such as swapping your major/minor subjects, or even changing to a single honours degree. One of the subject options available at Bath is biochemistry, which might interest you?
Would recommend having a look at the Natural Sciences page on the website (https://www.bath.ac.uk/topics/natural-sciences/), course selection guide etc.
Any questions, just ask :smile:

Reply 2

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

15

Original post by evjohn1

Hi all,

I am currently stuck between the two courses to apply for at uni.
I don't know whether to apply for NatSci (bio + chem) to some unis e.g bath and then biochem elsewhere e.g Bristol, or just apply for all biochem etc, is there an advantage for applying to all with just biochem because the personal statement content would be rather similar.
I also have some questions:
Is the content in NatSci harder as the majority of offer appear to be A*A*A in comparison to AAA/B for biochem?
However pick Durham for example, which offers both courses, I am stuck on which to chose as like the look of both the course specs.. Any insights?
Does Biochem contain more maths than NatSci? - as I only take, bio, chem and latin at a-level currently
Any insight or recommendations would be greatly appreciated

Hey @evjohn1

At most universities biochemistry will be much heavier biology than chemistry, as it is a bioscience degree, whereas NatSci may allow for a more even or chemistry-heavy split dependent on your chosen modules. I chose Lancaster for biochemistry due to the option to take a large amount of chemistry modules in year 1 (7/15 modules were taught by the chemistry department) however it is still notably less chemistry after that initial year. This is important to keep in mind depending on your preferred subject areas.

As I only applied for biochemistry I can't advise you too much on the personal statement. The maths in biochemistry doesn't really get too hard. Typically it includes molar concentrations, dilutions, volumes, unit conversions etc. The chemistry requires you to memorise equations, interpret them, and substitute in data from the questions. The content is harder than A-level but not too much different in tasks you are doing.

If you have any questions I might be able to help with, please let me know!
Rebecca :smile:

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 3

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

15

Original post by evjohn1

Hi all,

I am currently stuck between the two courses to apply for at uni.
I don't know whether to apply for NatSci (bio + chem) to some unis e.g bath and then biochem elsewhere e.g Bristol, or just apply for all biochem etc, is there an advantage for applying to all with just biochem because the personal statement content would be rather similar.
I also have some questions:
Is the content in NatSci harder as the majority of offer appear to be A*A*A in comparison to AAA/B for biochem?
However pick Durham for example, which offers both courses, I am stuck on which to chose as like the look of both the course specs.. Any insights?
Does Biochem contain more maths than NatSci? - as I only take, bio, chem and latin at a-level currently
Any insight or recommendations would be greatly appreciated

Hey!

I’m Oliver and am currently a third year in natural sciences studying chemistry and
biochemistry pathways.

I think this has been said before but the main difference between Natural Sciences and single honours biochem is the split between biology and chemistry modules. Biochemistry at Lancaster includes a lot of chemistry modules in first year but this decreases as you progress through your degree. On the other hand Natural Sciences is lot more flexible and allows you to tailor your module choices to your specific interests across multiple departments.
Both options are great and there is often also the opportunity to switch between the two programs since the first years are so similar (assuming you take chemistry and biochemistry nat sci pathways) so I wouldn’t worry too much about the choice. I don’t know if this is the case for all unis but I know many people that have made the switch here.

I wouldn’t say that natural sciences is any harder in terms of content, the main challenge is that your work won’t necessarily be spread evenly throughout the year and you may end up taking more modules in one term than another. It can be a bit more difficult to manage the varying workload which is why the entry grades are generally a bit higher.

In terms of personal statements, you’ll be absolutely fine applying to more than one program. I applied to both natural sciences degrees and chemistry degrees and didn’t have to alter what I was saying at all. My main advice would be to simply talk about the areas you’re interested in and you’ll generally find that you cover all bases.

Hope that is helpful and best of luck with your decision :smile:

Feel free to ask me any other questions if
you have any.

Oliver (Student Ambassador)

Natural sciences or Biochemistry at uni

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you