Question: Hi! I have quite a few questions actually: 1) Your journey to becoming a bioinformatician is quite fascinating! From your experience, as a 17-year-old who does not know what field of biology they want to go into, would you say a generic biology or biological sciences degree is the right way to go?

Theresa Wacker answered on 2 Jul 2020:

Hi Elle,

thanks a lot for your questions! Keep them coming 😉
regarding #1:
I would choose an undergrad that is quite broad (both biological sciences and generic biology are) and then see what field you want to specialise in: ecology, neuroscience, microbiology etc.. I would choose an university that allows you to get an introduction into several specialities in the first half of your undergrad and allows for further specialisation in the second half. In the UK, the structure of the BSc Biological Sciences in the Imperial College London (https://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/ug/courses/life-sciences-department/biological-sciences-bsc/) is a good example for such a broad start with later specialisation. This way you can find out which area you are really fascinated in. I started out thinking that would be neurosciences and ended up specialising in Biochemistry in my undergrad. I simply had no idea that I liked chemistry that much :).
I hope that answers your question!