Take genetics elective as an elective?

[jbrussell93]

I'm a biological engineering major planning on minoring in math/physics and computational neuroscience. I'm planning on taking a cell bio and neuroscience class as BIO SCI electives, but I'm wondering if genetics would be useful. Genetics is a prerequisite for cell bio but it isn't necessarily REQUIRED, and I don't want to waste time taking something I won't find useful. Currently, I'm interested in going to graduate school for something relating to neuroengineering, computational neuroscience, or something else related to bioelectricity and computation. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't genetics mainly be useful for biomolecular engineering or something similar? Even for something like computational genomics, is the formal genetics background even necessary?

Appreciate the advice

 

[R.Mesri]

! Genetics is a useful and important area of biology, but it may not be necessary for your specific goals. Genetics is generally more important for research involving biomolecular engineering or biochemistry, so if you are primarily interested in neuroscience and bioelectricity, then you may not need to take a genetics course. However, understanding the basics of genetics can be helpful when studying topics related to evolution or population genetics, which may come up in some neuroscience courses. Ultimately, it depends on what courses you plan to take and what research you plan to pursue in the future.