What jobs can I get with a health science degree?

I will be attending college in the fall and I plan to major in biochemistry. My goal is to become a doctor and after doing more research, I found out that the college I will be attending has a health science major. The health science major requires students to participate in internships at different hospitals. The internships are only opened to health science majors only, so if I go the biochemistry route, it'll be hard for me to get an internship at a hospital. The course requirements are similar so the benefit of switching majors would be the opportunity to work at the hospital and shadow doctors. It seems obvious for me to just switch my plan and go with the health science major, BUT IF I don't get accepted to medical school, what jobs can I get with a health science degree? Should I just stick with majoring in biochemistry? Any input?

It depends what kind of doctor you want to be.
If you want to be a specific kind of doctor then maybe shadowing a doctor, unless 100% necessary, isn't for you. What i mean is that if you want to be a radiologist for example, you could shadow the technologists. Or if you want to be in Paediatrics, you could shadow the nurses.
For the internships, you can still try for it even though you don't have the exact major. You can work in the hospital in the desired department and get some experience...which may be just as valuable.

If you don't get accepted to medical school, then perhaps it wasn't meant to be. :P You can go into your Masters or Doctorate and you can do many things with that. You can go into Chiropractics (who aren't really considered "real" doctors by hospitals, from what i've noticed in working in two hospitals presently). You can go into teaching or seminars, you can do fellowships or research projects. It depends on how much you want to be with patients or if it's the theory and research that you're interested in.

If you want, you can also go into the research or development that goes into making the machines that perform the tests, but this is only really if you don't want to deal with people at all. :)

This is just off the top of my head, i hope this is helpful to you. Good luck, you have chosen a difficult and very rewarding profession!

The ivory tower is much confused. Report It

I know just what you mean. I started off as a Biology major and then switched to health science. I also am pre-med and have considered what I would do if something happened with me attending medical school. I would probably get teaching certification and teach health science, or work in community health with some organization or the public health department in my area. I also thought about getting a masters in public health which would also expand what I am able to do with that degree. However, I would only do that UNTIL I was accepted into medical school if for some reason I am not accepted the first go 'round

You can still take plenty of biochem courses, even if you switch majors.

My students get jobs:

public health departments
state health departments
the federal government (CDC< NIH< NHLBI)
administration at hospitals (admissions, finance, HR, training, etc)
nursing home administrators (we are going to need lots between 2011 and 2050)
medical practice managers
clinic directors
senior centers
child welfare orgs
hospice
insurance companys
and lots more!