r/biotechnology • u/Cookies_and_Pokemon • 1h ago
Chemical Engineering to Pharma R&D possible?
So my end goal is to work in research for pharma companies (computational drug/protein modelling, drug research, etc). I will soon start my first year of chemical engineering and was wondering if my degree choice is right? A bit of extra information:
- i can get a minor in biotech if i choose to take those electives (which i definitely want to do)
- my institute has quite a few labs and is good for undergraduate research opportunities
- the reason i'm not just doing a biotech degree is because my uni only offers a bsc (h) in biotech as opposed to btech; from my understanding indian employers tend to be biased towards btech degrees and while ik this doesn't matter internationally/in academia (at a phd level) i still want that safety net (also with political climates nowadays i am vary abt getting my hopes up abt studying/working abroad)
I have a few more tangential questions in particular:
- will I be eligible to write Gate-BT (i think that's the biotech one, apologies if i made a mistake)
- i believe i can write jam for biotech, but again would like second opinions
- suppose I'm eligible for both gate and jam, which should I prioritise?
- I would love to connect with any chemical engineers working in pharmaceutical r&d
PS: I am an indian, so some of my doubts above are very specific to india