hey guys,
im in first year life science at the moment and throughout the first semester I convinced my self that med school is not for me. However, i was thinking of double majoring in biology and computer science.
I am thinking of doing this because its hard to get a job just with a life science degree and computer science is the new thing now a days (in my opinion)

I was just wondering what your thoughts are on this and have you heard of anyone doing these 2 majors and turned out successful?

I was looking at uWaterloo's CS Degree with a Bioinformatics option and it seems roughly equivalent to a CS degree with a Bio minor. What are your bio marks so far? Have you taken any CS courses, any good marks? You don't want to do med school anymore but do you still like biology? If not you should just go pure CS if Biology is gonna bring down your GPA. I feel like a double major might be a bit too much unless you want to work in a wet lab type of setting for biology.

I think if you're interested in both Bio and CS you should aim for something in the bioinformatics area. Possibly consider transferring universities? Here's a link to Undergraduate Bioinformatics programs

The closest you can get to Bioinformatics at McMaster for undergrad is Bio 3S03 but even then, 3S03 requires Bio 2C03 (Genetics, boring af and I dont know if you still like Bio) and 3S03 is a disastrous course in my opinion. It covers material from Biology, Math, and Computer Science. The Biology concepts don't need to be understood, just memorized. The depth of the biology material covered is pretty shallow and I think someone who hasn't even taken high school biology could probably understand the concepts. There's lots of Math and Computer Science concepts introduced at an insufficient depth but most of the students lack the math background to even understand the concepts anyways. But you're never really tested on any mathematical or CS concepts so I really don't understand why it's introduced in the first place; it's relevant to the field but not to the course. It's kind of a "Jack of all trades, master of none" course because you really do not need to understand anything as long as you can memorize the material, which in my opinion makes no sense for a bioinformatics course.

There's also Biochem 3BP3 which I've heard actually has coding assignments? I assume this course can't be worse than Bio 3S03. I haven't taken Biochem 3BP3 so you'd probably be best finding someone who has and can give you the details. However, since it's under the Biochem department it won't count towards your bio minor and will need to be taken as an elective.

Well i just had biology first semester, didnt get my marks back yet (prob 9-10 gpa). I have computer science this upcoming semester.
When i talk to my academic advisor, she said that she knows a few students who have been picked up by companies due their knowledge in fields in computer science and biology
Also, since i am in life science don't i technically have to major in biology, chem or other specialities in this program?

I don't know if you want to bank on being those "few". If your bio marks are good then sure continue what you're doing and you have a chance at being those few. You don't have to major in bio or chem. You could transfer to comp sci if you want. I've known a few people majoring in CS at Waterloo who get bioinformatics related coop positions where I'm sure they would get you up to speed with the bio. It's easy to teach bio to a CS student but it's not easy to teach CS to a Bio student. From your original post you sounded as if you just want a job immediately after graduating, in which case CS with a bio minor (or no minor) is probably the best way to go.

Hey. I'm graduating from the Molecular Biology & Genetics co-op program in April*. I completed an 8-month co-op placement and my Honors thesis with a bioinformatician. Feel free to PM me any questions.

Edit: I've taken BIO 3S03 and BIOCHEM 3BP3 and was also looking at other universities in high school. I have to disagree with CS being more important than Bio for a bioinformatician. Work in developing entirely new bioinformatics algorithms is rare while work in customizing existing algorithms/workflows for specific purposes is much more common. So, in my opinion, developing solid coding skills is just as important for landing work as having a broad knowledge of the problems biologists are trying to solve. Also, I'd recommend skimming through the problems at www.rosalind.info - a free hands-on platform for learning bioinformatics.

Here's a good article to read: http://www.nature.com/news/core-serv...icians-1.17251

*No idea what I'm going to do after I graduate. Lol.