Choosing between a CS and linguistics BA or a Microbiology BS

Hi guys,

Right now I'm a third year student at UCLA studying Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular genetics BS with a minor in Bioinformatics. Going through the bioinformatics pathway has really helped me find a passion in computer science and programming. Right now I'm proficient in C++, fairly competent in R, and am going to learn python this upcoming month.

However, when I attended our career fair, a lot of recruiters seemed a bit off-put by my degree -- they thought it was a little bit strange that a life science major wished to do programming or software engineering work.

I've recently found out that my school offers a BA in Linguistics and Computer Science, which goes a lot more in depth than the bioinformatics minor, and covers different topics. I'd still stick with the bioinformatics minor since there are a lot of important probabilistic modeling computer applications to be learned.

Do you recommend that I switch my major to strengthen my marketability? I'd love to go into the field of data science, any type of programming, or any video game or some sort of development.

If I were to switch my major, I would need to be at the university for an extra quarter or two though. So I'm not sure if it's worth it entirely to just attempt to get a Master's in computer science after getting the Microbio degree anyway.

As my current major, I don't have as much time as I'd like to be able to do side projects, and I feel that those are a great way to get my shoe in the door.

I guess bottom of the line is, can I be just as competitive as others who have studied computer science as a life science major if I prove my worth with internships and side projects? Or should I try and switch altogether to a degree with Computer Science in the name?

Thanks for your help