Biomed/Science double degree, thoughts?

[thetaromochi]

Hey guys, I'm having a bit of trouble deciding whether or not I should do biomed/science (chemistry) as a double degree or just choose one over the other. I'm a lot better and more interested in Chemistry however I wouldn't really mind doing biomed either, I'm just a bit worried that if I do chem over biomed I might be missing out bc of the large difference in ATAR requirements and the fact that I can do both.

Also, is doing a double degree significantly harder than doing a single degree? Also, what are my job prospects for either (not too fussed about the kind of job yet since I don't really have a set idea of where I want to end up, but I want to know whether or not I will be able to be employed without too much difficulty after graduating)?

Any advice at all would be appreciated, thanks!

[vox nihili]

Hey guys, I'm having a bit of trouble deciding whether or not I should do biomed/science (chemistry) as a double degree or just choose one over the other. I'm a lot better and more interested in Chemistry however I wouldn't really mind doing biomed either, I'm just a bit worried that if I do chem over biomed I might be missing out bc of the large difference in ATAR requirements and the fact that I can do both.

Also, is doing a double degree significantly harder than doing a single degree? Also, what are my job prospects for either (not too fussed about the kind of job yet since I don't really have a set idea of where I want to end up, but I want to know whether or not I will be able to be employed without too much difficulty after graduating)?

Any advice at all would be appreciated, thanks!

imo it's a pointless combo. Most of the content you'd cover in a biomed degree you'd still get in science. I guess which you choose depends on your interests and, ultimately, what you want to do with it.

[Aaron]

Is this a Monash question or a uni question in general? If so, I will move it to General Uni Discussion.

Overall - a double degree does take up more time and energy than a single degree. But of course, there are benefits to putting up with it (two separate degrees at the end for 1-2 years more). However in saying that, usually with a double degree you do somewhere around 5 units a semester. While this doesn't sound like much to you at the moment, it can take its toll. It's quite difficult to maintain 4 units, let alone 5. I would personally only be opting to do a double degree if both degrees have meaning to you and will be useful in your later life. One example that I can think of that is a good combo is the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education (they mould well together for obvious reasons) - certainly not limited to this though.

In terms of employability - I really can't comment on that because I'm not in this area, but i'm sure someone else will elaborate soon

[thetaromochi]

Is this a Monash question or a uni question in general? If so, I will move it to General Uni Discussion.

Yeah I am looking at the Monash biomed/science double degree in particular, it's pretty much my best option at the moment

imo it's a pointless combo. Most of the content you'd cover in a biomed degree you'd still get in science.

If I did science I'd like to major in chemistry; would you say that the content would be pretty similar even then?

[Hopelesshopefull]

I agree with above, especially with the fact that you could learn all science stuff in biomed.
You could actually pick up Chemistry as an elective throughout your degree and minor in it (though its not mandatory that you have a minor to graduate in biomed).And most people in biomed actually end up doing chemistry for their elective throughout their first year (mainly because they want it to help them in the GAMSAT- my reason, also).
Also, I've meet a few biomed/science students and one of them said it opened more doors (she was stuck between becoming a vet or a doctor and said - sci can lead to becoming vet and biomed to becoming a doctor. Don't know much about sci--> vet pathway tho cause not something I'm interested in ). I feel like unless you have a specific purpose for the science (besides chemistry which can be fixed by doing it as an elective) you probably should do biomed

hope this helps

[thetaromochi]

Thanks everyone for the advice! I think I'll go down the double degree route actually, I decided I wanted to study Chemistry more in depth than just doing it as an elective, and I think I'll be able to explore more areas of science and see what really suits me best, since I'm really not sold on doing biomed by itself.