Forum:Which Bioinformatics Master's degree is better?

Question

[stelakarayani7]

I recently finished my undergrad degree (Computer Science and Biomedical Infomatics) and my thesis was based on Bioinformatics (analyzing bipartite graphs of human diseases and genes).

I want to continue my Master's in Bioinformatics, but i don't know if it is a good idea to continue on the same university (that provides a variety of courses on CS, such as DBs, Network Security & Biosensors but also on Bioinformatics, such as Biomedical Images, Molecular Biology) or go to another university that specifies on applied bioinformatics and data analysis (only courses of molecular biology, R and Python programming). Most people tell me to change my university environment, but I , also, want to keep a variety on my learning field and work on projects that include both sides (CS and Biomedical).

If you have any tips or piece of advice, that would make it clearer for me, please let me know... Thank you for your time!

Answer 1

[Madelaine Gogol]

Wherever you decide to go, I'd try to figure out a way to get some hands on experience analyzing real data. If you can get an internship or research assistant type role you will look a lot more interesting to future employers.

Consider the types of jobs you are aiming for and figure out what will train you best for them.

Answer 2

[Prangan]

Since you want to work on both computational laboratory (bioinformatics/computational biology/structural biology) as well as experimental laboratory (biomedical/molecular biology) settings, I would advice you to look for a masters programme that has both these flavors. E.g, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Molecular Biology and Bioinfomatics,etc. Once you are well versed with the theory and gain practical experince of working on both the settings, you then would have the freedom to choose your desired setting for your masters thesis. Hope it helps!

Answer 3

[benformatics]

I would suggest if you prefer to stay, that you do that... a lot of smaller bioinformatics companies still need people that are experts at DB management and Dev Ops etc... Bringing multiple skills to the table gives you an advantage.

If you can program in other languages then you can pick up R and python on your own pretty easily

Answer 4

[iraun]

I would choose a masters that complements and expands your current education, and that of course, is in line with your ideal future job. For example, if you bachelors has been more focused on programming and computational side, choose a masters that strengthens the "bio" side (if you want to pursue a career in bioinformatics). An important advantage that comes with changing universities is the changing of environment, new connections, networking opportunities etc. Not that your current uni does not offer this, but you are probably already familiar with the environment. Anyway, I'd base my decision mostly in choosing a program that opens the door to the kind of position I'd like to opt in the future.

Answer 5

[M.O.L.S]

Why do most people tell you to change your university environment?

Perhaps you could audit a class at another university you want to go to so that you have something to compare.

You may have heard people talking about auditing a class and wondered what it meant. If you audit a class, you take it for no credit, and do not have to do the assignments or take tests. You still attend the class, learn from lectures, and have access to textbooks, the instructor and learning materials.