Biomedicine or Science?

[julijulib]

Hi,
I understand this question has probably been asked many times, and honestly I've read about as much info as possible on both, but am still struggling to decide between doing biomed or science, and was wondering if anyone would be able to give me some advice based on their experiences?
At this stage, I have no desire to study medicine, and am thinking of going into research but would also like to see how my interests develop. I've heard that in biomed, practically everyone is geared towards the medicine side of things, making for a pretty competitive/unhealthy environment and so I am almost leaning towards science, but then again I feel science is very general. The website states that biomed is a pathway to research so I was wondering if I could get some perspectives on this from someone who might have been in the same position as me?
Thanks heaps!! 

[Russ]

If you want to see how your interests develop, science will offer you more flexibility over the next few years to pursue that. If all your interests are in the health area and you're just looking to see what direction you want to go then the Biomedicine degree is more tailored towards that end goal.

I don't think there's much of a difference between Science/Biomedicine with respect to heading down a research pathway. The culture was also pretty good, I wouldn't worry too much about it being negative.

[SuperCell.27]

I am a biomed student and I also have friends doing science.

The bottom line is biomed has a tighter, more close-knit cohort, whereas science has more flexibility when it comes to subject selection. Both prepare you equally as well for med or research.

For biomed, you will need to complete core subject(s) EACH semester for EACH year. These are basically set in stone and you have no choice but to do them. In second and third year, you will also choose selectives and choose a major respectively. For those, biomed students have the same selection as science students (and in addition, biomed students have more choices regarding some niche selectives). For the selectives and majors, you will be doing a subject with science students essentially.

The unhealthy/cut-throat competition side of things that people say for biomed is kind of half true but also half false. Competition is definitely greater than science. But having said that, I reckon the competition pushes you to do better in terms of academics. Few subjects, if any, in biomed are scaled, meaning that most of the time your final score is a RAW score. This means you are not effectively compared to your peers.

The subjects you could take for research, such as https://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/view/2017/BIOM30003, are open to both biomed and science students, so it isn't exclusive. In addition, if you really like research, you can do honours anyway.

[julijulib]

Thanks all for your responses - have decided to go with biomed and transfer if it's not for me. At the end of the day I realised that all the majors I might want to do were in biomedicine, and that seemed to make the decision quite simple.
Thanks again!! 

[Joseph41]

Thanks all for your responses - have decided to go with biomed and transfer if it's not for me. At the end of the day I realised that all the majors I might want to do were in biomedicine, and that seemed to make the decision quite simple.
Thanks again!! 

Sounds like a solid decision!

Let us know how it works out next year. I'm sure others, who will be in the same position you are now, will be interested. I hope you love it!

[Russ]

I found that the core biomedicine subjects were very useful for the preclinical medical content (the first year of the MD) and ended up talking to my science friends who graduated at the same time about why that was so. I do still think that the biomedical course is more streamlined and prepares you better for starting the MD program, although there's obviously significant regression after the first year.