gerard crossan

I have to choose my university courses in a few weeks and I am stuck between
microbiology and molecular biology as my first choice.
I am interested in a research career, probably in immunology and I was
wondering which would be the best suited for this.

Thanks in advance
Gerard Crossan

bob

Gerard,

Are you already at a particular university? If so, look at their
programs, and see which you prefer. If both interest you, talk with
some faculty in each dept.

The problem is that dept programs of a given name vary quite a bit
from one univ to another. There are a lot of fine folks who could be
in either of those depts. Further, immunology is a broad field.

So you should judge from the specific programs and your interests.

bob

scott coutts

It's hard to judge without knowing the courses, but I'd tend towards
molecular biology. The best thing you can do is to to the university
who's course you're thinking of taking, and speak to the coordinator or
careers advisor. They will know best which course will suit your goals.
You need to know what material is included in each course!

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy your studies, whatever the field.

Scott.

lesley robertson

A lot of good universities offer a fairly general biosciences first year,
which allows students to select their specialities after they've had a
chance to try a few things and see what's involved. With care, you could
find somewhere that combines microbiology and molecular biology (the 2
fields seem to be rapidly merging). Mind you, if immunology is the final
target, I'd think that courses in zoology or human biology would be needed
as well.
The most important thing is to choose stuff you enjoy - research can be
frustrating enough without finding that you hate the subject as well!
Good luck,
Lesley Robertson
http://www.beijerinck.bt.tudelft.nl

scott coutts

Yes, I completely agree (I'm a molecular microbiologist!) But I had
assumed that these were two seperate choices. If you can find one that
does both, then that's even better! Our university seems to be
separating them more and more, but it's still possible. We also have the
'general' first year, and more specific subjects from there onward.


Yes, and I wouldnt be surprised at all if your 'tastes' changed as you
went through your degree. I thought I was going to be a geologist, until
I realised in 1st year that I really, really hated all the earth science
subjects we did! THen it was biochemistry, and then I realised that what
I really liked was the molecular aspects of bugs and how they 'do their
thing' in interacting with their hosts (plant or animal). So if you can
find a course that gives you a taste of a few different things in 1st
year, that's even better than trying to make an educated guess as to
what you want to spend the rest of your time doing.

Scott.

gabriel james

Etirely aggree, I am in my second year of a science degree and found myself
changing my prgram considerably this year. My field of interest is
neuroscience, in the first year began with a biology major with psychology
and a little computer science. That has changed to double major in biology
and physiology with a molecular focus, still some computer science or more
specifically bioinformatics to assist in reasearch going foward. This year
has included a number of molecular biology and physiology prerequisites
still at stage I. Next year will be taking the more specific courses
including molecular biology, biochemistry and neural physiology.

I just wanted to highlight to you that the above advice is good, don't be
too concerned about change if faced with it. Having said that, I do suggest
you plan your degree and work out a full program. For myself, studying
across multiple disciplines, I need to ensure that all the prerequisites are
meet for stage III and the timetable works. It seems at our university the
science schools prepare the timetables to suite their majors. If you are
doing combinations of stage I and II papers or perhaps a hybrid from
different sciences the scheduling might be a little tricky.

Gabriel

gerard crossan

Thanks all for your replies. I will definitely research the course on the
net and at the universities. I will probably end up doing biological
sciences and then specialising

Greatly apprehiciated
Gerard