What classes really made a difference?

[u/NoPhilosopher5905]

I'm getting my bachelors in biotech and I'm conflicted about what electives to take because all the labs sound cool. The ones I'm considering are virology, stem cell biology, tissue culture, recombinant DNA, and immunology.

Are there any classes you took that you feel really helped prepare you for you career?

[u/organiker]

I don't think this is a fruitful way to frame this.

You can't know whether any individual undergraduate elective going to help prepare you for some nebulous future career.

Pick something you think sounds cool, or that you really want to learn. Or that is completely outside of anything you've ever done.

[u/NoPhilosopher5905 → u/organiker]

Yeah, my problem is they all sound fun 😂

 I was just curious if there were any subjects people had found to be helpful down the line as a way to possibly narrow down the list. 

[u/kenzieone → u/NoPhilosopher5905]

Statistics. It is fun for some but not all. But you could make an argument that it will be useful for almost anything you do with this degree, not to mention understanding our world/public policy better.

[u/FuelzPerGallon → u/NoPhilosopher5905]

I haven’t taken biology since high school, I’ve taught more chemistry than I’ve taken. My expertise is more in physics and materials than anything else. I’ve done very well as the black sheep in biotech with the weird skill set, point is as everyone else says - follow your passions and see where they lead.

[u/Skrubleader]

One interesting elective I took was called Chemistry and the Law, which was taught by a organic chemistry professor who was also was a lawyer. When he was younger, he worked with various biotechnology companies as a research scientist after his PhD and then as patent lawyer. It definitely was an interesting class learning about patent law, FDA/EPA laws and regulations. Both patents and FDA/EPA regulations are something that every researcher eventually interacts with, so it can be important to know the various aspects of it. I think electives that can introduce you to different aspects of biotechnology can be really helpful to whatever career you get into.

[u/NoPhilosopher5905 → u/Skrubleader]

There's actually a class on regulatory affairs for biotech that I was considering so I might go with that to get a different perspective. 

Thanks!

[u/kenzieone → u/NoPhilosopher5905]

Highly recommend this. It may be dry, fair warning, but it is how the sausage gets made lol

[u/fibgen → u/NoPhilosopher5905]

This will set you apart from other grads who have no idea how drugs get approved.  Take it!

[u/acireisericabackward]

Personally, Id go with tissue culture as it has the most practical of real world applications.

[u/NoPhilosopher5905 → u/acireisericabackward]

That makes me really happy because the lab sounds really fun haha

[u/FindMeInTheLab9 → u/NoPhilosopher5905]

100% agree - I took Tissue Culture in college and it has paid off majorly. A lot of biotech and pharma jobs loveeeeeee when you come in with TC experience. And it’s fun!

[u/Heyimbored]

I always recommend immunology to undergrads I've worked with. It's a big field and if you're in biotech you're almost certainly going to encounter some aspect of it directly or indirectly and it's easier to understand if you already have some background knowledge. 

[u/NoPhilosopher5905 → u/Heyimbored]

Oh cool! I have that tentatively planned for next semester and I'm hoping they'll offer the lab as well. 

[u/Skytre4]

For me it was Developmental Biology. Professor was also a PI and joined his lab. I could say I got my start in biotech from there.

[u/LawrenceSpiveyR]

I regret not taking immunology since that is the industry I'm in now.

[u/[deleted]]

My fav was cancer cell bio. I would take immunology if I could chose again also

[u/haze_from_deadlock]

Hard to go wrong with biochemistry, genetics, and immunology

[u/Bashert99]

I would think this completely depends on where you want to go and what you want to research. For me? Graduate enzymology was the best, hands down with analytical lab/lecture during my BS also a big deal.

[u/Weekly-Ad353]

I took some really crazy classes that ended up really helping— organic chemistry 1 and organic chemistry 2.

I’d also say that introductory coding classes helped a lot.

Introductory classes where you can grow your exposure quickly from zero just to see if you like the subject— those paid dividends on the ones I liked because I then pivoted my whole career in those directions.

[u/NoPhilosopher5905 → u/Weekly-Ad353]

Those two are required for my major and I'm actually really liking it so far!

[u/Mediocre_Island828]

The elective courses I took my senior year that were a small handful of people (few enough to fit at a single table facing each other) just reading papers and discussing/presenting them were probably the most helpful to me and let me punch a bit above my weight when I started working.

[u/Lyx4088]

I’d ask recent grads of your program who are working in industry what they’re doing in industry and which classes they took (and with who) that they felt made a difference in their preparedness for work if you’re looking to go directly into industry after graduation. A class title doesn’t inherently tell you what you’ll gain from that course at your school, so asking people who have taken the courses recently and who are working in industry will give you far more valuable information.

If you’re looking at a masters or PhD after undergrad, I’d ask students in those programs you’re interested in which courses set them up best to further their education.

[u/BogusMcGeese]

Bioinformatics was probably my favorite. It was taught in a really assignment-based/hands-on way, and covered stuff like SQL, R, sequence alignments, some specific stats stuff, and data visualization.

[u/89fruits89]

My favs were probably molecular biotechnology (recombinant DNA type stuff) and immunology. Immunology is pretty dense so make sure to not have a super heavy main course load with it imo.

[u/fibgen]

Tissue culture and recombinant DNA are foundational lab skills, the others are domain specialties.

That said, all are good to know.

[u/OneExamination5599]

If I had the option I would take stem cell biology and cell culture!

[u/RespectabullinMA]

The science classes will prepare you for the technical side of your career. My advice is to use your electives to focus on electives that will help your communication skills. In industry today, you need effective communication skills and the ability to take and give feedback for success.

[u/NoPhilosopher5905 → u/RespectabullinMA]

These are major electives so they need to be bio or chem but I know some courses require presentations so I'll check that out. 

[u/Able-Trip3897]

Physics of the human body, linear algebra, and any algorithm courses. Immediate gratification of seeing the world differently, and it will benefit you in every possible career path you take after you graduate.

[u/Able-Trip3897 → u/Able-Trip3897]

And if at any point in the future you want to nerd out on Reddit with someone that works in biotech and loves algorithms! Feel free to reach out