Preparing for biophysics grad program

[casesam]

Im currently a senior at a large state university (LSU), and have been studying economics(major) and math(minor) and have a 4.0 so far. Recently i decided i did not want to pursue economics, and became much more drawn to the pure sciences. I decided to stay in school and study physics and bump my math minor up do another major. At the end i will have 3 degrees, math, physics, and economics(since i have pretty much finished it). This is just how it will end up working out.

Im really interested in biophysics and at this time plan or pursuing graduate studies in that area. Therefore i have also been taking chemistry and biology classes, some of which are required for the physics major anyway. I should add that my school does not have any biophysics program.

My question is which area (chemistry or biology) would it be more beneficial to pursue? I have already taken 2 semesters of intro biology and 2 of intro chemistry. My plan was to not take any more biology and instead take 2 semesters of organic and then 2 semesters of physical chemistry. My reasoning is that i think i could learn any further biology on my own (if need be) more easily than the chemistry.

Second question. Is it ok that I am not planning on taking the chemistry labs? I will of course be taking all the physics labs and have taken 1 biology lab. I am more attracted to theory and mathematical application, rather than experiments. Would grad schools maybe question why i didnt take more labs?

Third question. Since I am not going to take the chemistry labs i will not receive an official minor in chemistry, other than that i meet the requirements. Will grad schools care about this, or will they just want to see certain courses on my transcript (such as physical chem.)?

Thanks in advance, and I am open to any suggestions in general about pursuing biophysics.

 

[Ygggdrasil]

I'm in a biophysics PhD program right now. Biophysics tends to be a very diverse field covering a wide range of topics. Therefore, most biophysics PhD programs tend to have very flexible requirements. Some people in my program came in with pure physics backgrounds having taken very little biology and chemistry. Others (like me), have a stronger biology and chemistry background (but comparatively little in terms of advanced physics classes). So, in terms of admissions, no matter which classes you take, as long as you are successful in those classes and those classes match up with your general interests, you should be fine.

In terms of which classes will best prepare you for a graduate program in biophysics, it really depends on the type of research that interests you. Given your background, I'd say you have a pretty good base of knowledge for doing some research on the theoretical side of things. Chemistry labs would be nice if you were planning to do experimental work (esp in biochemistry/molecular biology) but probably aren't so necessary if you are not interested in doing experiments. I would also tend to agree that taking chemistry courses would be more beneficial than biology courses. As a chemist by training, I may be biased, but I am of the opinion that if you have a strong background in physical chemistry and organic chemistry, the biology (at least molecular biology) is relatively easy to pick up in grad school as most processes in molecular biology have their basis in these two fields. That said, if you are not interested in molecular biophysics but are interested more in systems neuroscience or something else that is considerably removed from the molecular level, biology courses might be a bit more important than chemistry (although I'm not entirely sure because I work in molecular biophysics and not these other areas).

Finally, the best preparation for any graduate program is to do research as an undergrad. Not only does this look really good to admissions committees, but it gives you a lot of working knowledge that you don't gain in classes and helps you figure out what types of research interest you enough to dedicate 4+ years to in grad school.

 

[casesam]

Thanks for the advice/information! While i am a senior technically (by number of hours) i will be in school a couple more years in order to get through the physics program. Consequently, i will have time to do undergraduate research, plus i will be doing an honors thesis. Additionally, i could probably find time to do at least 1 chem lab :)

I'm obviously not sure of all the sub-fields within biophysics, and at this point am not sure in which area i may want to focus. However, if i did decide to take more biology classes, beyond the intro semesters, they would include for the most part only the following due to time/prerequisite restrictions : General Microbiology, Principles of Genetics, Basic Biochemistry, and Cell Biology. I would not be able to get to the neurobiology or more biophysical classes. So i would assume sticking with the chemistry would be my best bet, plus like you said, and as i have read on my own, admittance is flexible with regard to undergraduate background.

Thanks again!