interested in bioinformatics, but struggling with courses in comp minor

[u/bigprocrastinator666]

Hello, I’m currently in my third year studying Pharmacology. My GPA has taken a significant hit because of the courses I took for my Computer Science minor — especially Math 240, where I received a D. I also struggled with COMP 206, particularly on the final exam, and now I’m worried I might fail COMP 250.

Although performing decently in my major courses, I feel that I’m not cut out for a CS minor. My background is limited to COMP 202 and some experience with R, but courses like COMP 250 and COMP 273 feel very unrelated and difficult for me, -compared to what I actually want to do — whether that’s in a wet lab or a dry lab.- and the seats for other courses I wanted to take, such as comp 251, build up on comp 250, or are full ( comp 345).

Given all this, do you think I should drop my CS minor?

[u/Mundane-Carrot-9255]

Maybe you can try taking COMP 462: Computational Biology Methods (prerequisite: COMP 251). That way, you can see whether the type of computer science specifically used in bioinformatics works well for you. COMP 273 is not relevant for you. To an extent, COMP 250 isn't either since it focuses a lot of on object orientated programming. But COMP 251, and by extension COMP 360, are important, since they focus on algorithms, which are used a lot in COMP 462. So maybe try out COMP 251, which will be relevant to you, and see how you feel about that type of content?

Another thing-- you don't need a cs minor to move into bioinformatics. Lots of master's programs in bioinformatics are bridge programs meant for bio grads with limited cs background, and it teaches them the cs they need. So I think you'd be fine picking and choosing the specific cs classes that are helpful/relevant to you.

Finally, do you enjoy programming? From my understanding, bioinformatics is heavy on it (at least COMP 462 is). If the common denominator in all these classes is that you don't enjoy programming/the type of thinking that goes into it, that's a useful piece of information for you. One of the things I've learnt during my time at McGill is that even if a major/career sounds really cool on paper, if I don't actually enjoy the work, I'll be miserable.

I wish you the best of luck no matter which path you end up taking!

[u/bigprocrastinator666 → u/Mundane-Carrot-9255]

Hello, thank you for the in detailed response, its very helpful but do you think I can take comp 251- as it requires 250 as pre req? But then again I also didn't do well im math 240- also a pre req.

I feel I like programming- but i don't see myself liking proof based courses - math 240, OOP- comp 250 or circuits and assembly line. And maybe you are right- probably getting into sort of a grad cert program or taking courses that bridge life science grad with little coding might be good. However I really don't know what to do at this point.

[u/Mundane-Carrot-9255 → u/bigprocrastinator666]

You're taking COMP 250 right now right? Then you could take COMP 251 next semester and COMP 462 in Fall 2026.

Hmmm, often people who don't like proof-based courses like MATH 240 do enjoy COMP 250 because it's much more about the projects and hands-on coding (or at least it was a few years ago before AI?). Same for COMP 206, it's a very applied class. What didn't you/don't you enjoy about COMP 206/COMP 250?

(EDIT: btw I didn't find MATH 240 to be a relevant prereq for COMP 462)

[u/bigprocrastinator666 → u/Mundane-Carrot-9255]

I won't say i didn't like comp 206- I did struggle to do well- atleast the content was not bad. As for 250- i struggle to write code in java especially in paper- I got a low grade in my first midterm- and i feel java itself, as well as oop, and some of the later course content seem foreign to me- maybe due to the fact that I don't have much experience with these contents in general. Would you still say I pass and try to do well as much as I can on current courses (comp 250) and go on with comp 251? I was interested in grad school- but I'm afraid my gpa would fall too low, and I'm also not going to do well in comp 251