Bioinfo VS Biostat VS SysBio VS Bio?

[heuristicSystems]

Hello! 

 

I’m getting around to applying for programs next year. I have a degree in biology, and some coursework in computer science (5 courses) and bioinformatics (2 courses) and math (calc&difeq, linear, stats). 

 

I have a good gpa (3.97) and have some research experience (4 years on-and-off in the same lab—starting with wet-lab genetics stuff, ending with a thesis where I used R to do a bunch of error propagation analyses related to some protein dynamic stuff, a year in industry half bioinfo analyst half immunology tech, and a few months of full time sysbio academic tech work). And lots of poster presentations, but no publications. I’m at a lesser-known R1 school  

 

But I’m super worried about admissions, being in the more-niche space of wanting to do some sort of quant biology. I feel well-qualified for biology programs, but i don’t really want to do much wet lab work in the future. Biostatistics would be awesome, but I’m not super qualified (I’ve never taken analysis or even a proper multi variable). Same with a lot of the more math-focused bioinfo programs  

 

Im thinking if focusing my applications to sysbio and bioinformatics programs? Should i still apply to pure bio programs? Do y’all have any suggestions?

[alltheclusters]

I'm in a similar position as you are - in undergrad, I majored in biology and minored in computer science, with some coursework in math and statistics as well. I had ~3 years in a developmental bio lab doing benchwork in undergrad, and currently wrapping up my 2-year master's program where I do purely computational stuff in R/Python.

I applied to mostly umbrella bio programs (system/quantitative bio track where applicable) and some pure sysbio programs this round. As of now I have received offers for basically all the umbrella bio programs and rejections for all the sysbio/computational bio programs I applied to. When I talked to the program director of the sysbio track in one of the umbrella programs I applied to (he happened to run the computational bio program at the same school, which I was rejected from), he said that the focuses of the programs are different: the sysbio track in pure bio programs look for people interested in using quantitative tools to solve biological problems, while the computational bio/bioinformatics programs look for people interested in developing those tools. Since my research interests obviously lean more to the first side (plus my limited programming/math skills compared to people with degrees in CS/math/stats/engineering), I'm not a good candidate for pure computational programs.

Since your background and interest seem similar to mine, and if you're still thinking of doing more biology than method development for your PhD, I think you would be better off applying for umbrella bio programs with quantitative or computational tracks (e.g. Yale BQBS, Weill Cornell PBSB) instead of biostats/comp bio programs. Being in umbrella bio programs doesn't mean you'll have to do wet lab work -  there are usually computational labs that don't do any benchwork in these programs so you wouldn't ever have to touch a pipette again if that's not your thing. 

[heuristicSystems]

2 hours ago, thinhtran said:

[...] he said that the focuses of the programs are different: the sysbio track in pure bio programs look for people interested in using quantitative tools to solve biological problems, while the computational bio/bioinformatics programs look for people interested in developing those tools [...]

1

This is really useful, thanks for passing this along! At a very minimum, this will make me tailor my applications to bioinformatics programs to be more tool-focused. Great to know that I should be able to find a good fit in an umbrella program. 

Edited February 1, 2019 by heuristicSystems