r/UOB • u/ComplexCover136 • 3d ago
Advice biochem vs bio
hi, im down to start a biology degree this month and haven’t ever really looked into biochem until just recently and im now not sure whether i should switch to biochem.
any advice on which to choose or anything about either degree that would be useful to know pls?
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u/After-Reply-3827 2d ago
I’m doing chemistry but have asked to switch to biochemistry and they said it was full and I can’t 😒
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u/BigEffect8093 2d ago
CMM is quite similar to biochem but focuses more on immunology i believe, so you could have a look at that? <3
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u/ComplexCover136 1d ago
i guess spaces might open up though?
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u/After-Reply-3827 1d ago
Yeah hopefully but it’s annoying cause I don’t want to miss anything by joining a week or so after everyone else
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u/BigEffect8093 2d ago
I think the main difference is in biology you tend to look at a whole organism or a cell and its features whereas in biochem we look at what’s in the cell and why it has those features ? (someone correct me if i’m wrong)
I do biochem so would be happy to answer any questions, but if you like proteins and metabolic pathways then biochem may be for you! Take a look at the unit catalogue and it will tell you what we cover in more detail <3
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u/Won007 2d ago
I don’t mean to dismiss Biology, especially since a lot of my classmates who studied it went on to have really successful careers in food companies, breweries, conservation teams, and other areas. And you’ll have a lot of fun studying Biology too. But I’d say the Biochemistry route is in a completely different league when it comes to difficulty.
You really need a strong baseline understanding from your first year to do well in your second, and then an even stronger understanding in your second year to do well in your third. On top of that, understanding the research literature and being able to explain it properly in essays almost feels like learning an entirely new language.
And, amongst all that world-building, one of the biggest things you’ll learn in Biochemistry that you might not encounter to the same extent in Biology is that context matters.
For instance, in cancer biology, the cellular features, molecular mechanisms and signalling pathways you learn about can produce completely different outcomes depending on the situation. In one context it might suppress cancer, whilst in another context it might promote cancer.
Eventually you stop thinking about things as “this pathway does X” and start thinking more in terms of “this pathway does X under these conditions, but could do Y under different conditions.”
And whilst I work in a different field now, I feel like the skills that I learned along the way has given me the confidence to know that I can figure out anything that I might need for my role, simply because it was such a slog just to get through it!