Microbiology or Immunology and Pathology at USYD? (1 Viewer)

[shiftincognito]

Hi,

So I'm currently enrolling at USYD and am stuck choosing between a major in Microbiology or a major in Immunology and Pathology? I really enjoyed the Search for Better Health topic in biology and I thought that one of those two majors would be good. However, I don't really intend to go into Medical School and spend extra years to become an immunologist so would doing the Immunology and Pathology major be useless? Does anyone currently studing this know if there is anything that I could go into besides further education?

On the otherhand do I need to go into further education to become a microbiologist? And could I possibly get into environmental remediation or conseration with a microbiology major?

Thanks

 

[amloe1]

Hey,

So since no one has answered you in almost a year, I'll try help! (I'm not an Immunology student, but I have had a lot of experience interviewing successful Immunologists and Researchers - for example, you can have a look at my interview with Sir Gustav Nossal here)

Firstly, you could not have chosen a better university to pursue this field. Sir Nossal studied at USYD, as did many other prominent researchers and physicians.

Secondly, regardless of whether you want to attend medical school or not, majoring in something you are interested in will mean:
a) you will get better marks as the content will be more engaging
b) it won't feel like you have to force yourself to study
c) people will see that you are passionate about your field, and will be more likely to engage you.

If you do not want to do medical school, there is still SO much you can do with a science degree. For example, you could do an Honours or Masters and find a topic to research that could contribute to saving lives. This research could be completed in nearly any field related to immunology if you have good enough grades. I completed my degree in Clinical Psychology but ended up doing an Honours research project on the Neuroscience of Consciousness.

You could become a researcher in the field of microbiology, or conservation, even with an Immunology major, and vice versa if you choose to study Microbiology. It all depends on which supervisor you choose (and that's something Sir Nossal says towards the end of the video).

If you are not interested in research, then further education will likely be required to become a medical practitioner. However, you could also leave study altogether and move away from direct science/medicine, and find a job in Government doing something like policy. You could also go into the business sector and become a medical admin or pharmaceutical researcher. You could become a teacher, or a Public Health educator... There are many jobs available regardless of your major.

If you want to visualise your pathway options, in my spare time I made an interactive & 100% free tool called Find My Pathway, that might be able to help with your decisions. It will also give you the information about how long each step of the journey to becoming an immunologist might be - you never know, it might be less than you expect!

I hope my answer helped