Rather than open a lab book and follow a set procedure with a known outcome, you receive basic information and a question that must be answered, with several weeks to figure it out. This sharpens your analytical skills and enhances your ability for original thinking. It's not easy at first, but feedback from our graduates tells us it was worth it. They have been well prepared for graduate or medical school or their careers. The biological chemistry program at Bates is designed to meet admissions requirements for graduate programs in biological chemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, and immunology, to name a few.
Majors are also well poised for positions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
Majors are required to complete a thesis in the senior year, either from a library or a laboratory project. You have much flexibility in the subject and can direct your efforts toward biology or chemistry, depending on your primary interests. You then work with a faculty member in that department, perhaps on a project you devise yourself, or perhaps joining with a faculty member to help with his or her research. Among the interesting options is helping a professor who works with the proteins in viruses, studying how and what degrades them. Another professor studies the biology of the herpes virus, and another investigates immune responses to periodontal diseases.