Changing my major

[pyropig]

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Hey there all. So today I found out that my school is changing the name of my major from Health Ecology to Community Health Sciences (its a major essentially designed to segway into a MPH), and Im not happy about it lol. Anywho I've considered changing my major to a brand new major at my school called "Neuroscience" which is a degree combination of bio and psych classes all geared toward the function and physiology of the brain. I find it far more interesting but I was wondering what you guys thought. Neuroscience is a little more science intensive than CHS, and frankly more entertaining, but.....more difficult by quite a bit, which means not as high of a gpa, but then again probably looked better upon by admin boards, sigh lol, Ill be grey from stress before I get out of undergrad.

 

[pyropig]

Upon reading my previous post, I realized it didn't come off right at all. My question actually is, do admin boards take into account the difficulty of a degree compared to your gpa? I feel this should be an obvious answer but upon further thought, Im not entirely sure.

 

[Chocolate Bear]

Here's my advice, in order of what I find to be most important, while choosing a major as a pre med:

1. Do something where you won't get less than a 3.4.
2. Do what interests you most.
3. Do what will give you something to fall back on, career-wise, or as a jumping off point for grad school.
4. Do what will help you get into research or other paths that will bolster your application or future career choices, as a physician.

 

[DOquestions]

Hey there all. So today I found out that my school is changing the name of my major from Health Ecology to Community Health Sciences (its a major essentially designed to segway into a MPH), and Im not happy about it lol. Anywho I've considered changing my major to a brand new major at my school called "Neuroscience" which is a degree combination of bio and psych classes all geared toward the function and physiology of the brain. I find it far more interesting but I was wondering what you guys thought. Neuroscience is a little more science intensive than CHS, and frankly more entertaining, but.....more difficult by quite a bit, which means not as high of a gpa, but then again probably looked better upon by admin boards, sigh lol, Ill be grey from stress before I get out of undergrad.

My advice.

How many credits away are you from completing the Community Health Sciences degree? If you are only about two semesters away from completion, finish it. I think this degree gives you better employment opportunities if you need to take a year or two off until you get into medical school.

Feel free to get the neuroscience degree if you want. Nothing wrong with that.

I would advice to get both degrees if you can. In this economy right now any job is very hard to come by. So the more options you have, the better off you will be.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

Upon reading my previous post, I realized it didn't come off right at all. My question actually is, do admin boards take into account the difficulty of a degree compared to your gpa? I feel this should be an obvious answer but upon further thought, Im not entirely sure.

They really don't. Take the easier major so you can put more effort into doing well in your core classes and acing the MCAT. Far too many of my friends thought that by getting double (or even triple!) majors they'd be "getting ahead" somehow in the process, and instead most of them ended up saddled with GPAs so terrible they may never be able to set foot in a medical school as a student.

 

[pyropig]

My advice.

How many credits away are you from completing the Community Health Sciences degree? If you are only about two semesters away from completion, finish it. I think this degree gives you better employment opportunities if you need to take a year or two off until you get into medical school.

Feel free to get the neuroscience degree if you want. Nothing wrong with that.

I would advice to get both degrees if you can. In this economy right now any job is very hard to come by. So the more options you have, the better off you will be.

Im at that crossroads right now, 16 more classes for the CHS route, and 15 more for neuroscience. CHS is easier but my god its so boring, ugh, but would certainly get me a decent gpa.

Chocolate Bear: Sry, I suck at quoting, one of the major factors in me thinking neuroscience was my research opportunites, there are lots of labs at my school, and many are doing neuro related work. My line of thought was research would provide a smidgen of forgivness for a not so amazing gpa (Im speculating a 3.4 on the nose, so the math says anyways). And it most certainly is more interesting to me. I just seem to have an innate fear of shooting myself in the foot and wrecking my chances with my big headed at times over ambitious self lol.

 

[Tuckermans]

For what it is worth, I am a Neuroscience major and it is really interesting. I haven't regretted it for a minute. I don't know how it works at your school, but at mine the "hard" classes of the major are most of the classes also required for the pre-health track (orgo 1 and 2, all types of bio, gen chem). Neurobiology is tough though. I have also done three semesters of Neuroscience research and I was asked about it at every med school interview that I went too. Good luck with the choice!

 

[Jamers]

Upon reading my previous post, I realized it didn't come off right at all. My question actually is, do admin boards take into account the difficulty of a degree compared to your gpa? I feel this should be an obvious answer but upon further thought, Im not entirely sure.

I have a degree in neuroscience and have to say that most admins were interested in hearing about this degree. The main reason is that is actually pretty new. To answer your question however, I would have to say 'yes and no.' That is, while on the interview team I was more interested in unusual degrees than more "difficult" degrees. Furthermore, who is to say that one degree is more or less difficult than another? Honestly, individuals who came in with degrees in biology with minors in fashion or something else odd like that always caught my attention and made remember them.

 

[BabyKangaroo]

Pyro- What I have learned is that there are a lot (esp. my state university) of medical schools that are more interested in diff./unique majors than the run-of-the-mill bio/chem degree. I got a bio/chem degree, but with extra supplemental classes like humanities and such. My view on the whole college system is that it is a scam. You spend all of this money paying for classes in the first year or two that you will never use. And there are not that many undergrad. degrees you can obtain where there will be immediate job positions that pay well, not to mention job security. You almost always have to get a masters. Don't just take classes so it looks like you worked harder. I majored in chem/bio, and if I could do it over again, I would major in music and/or a foreign language and take the necessary pre-reqs for med school. Schools love diversity nowadays and by not going with the rest of the sheep in chem/bio degrees, you definitely raise your chances.

 

[coffeeeandtea]

Hey there all. So today I found out that my school is changing the name of my major from Health Ecology to Community Health Sciences (its a major essentially designed to segway into a MPH), and Im not happy about it lol. Anywho I've considered changing my major to a brand new major at my school called "Neuroscience" which is a degree combination of bio and psych classes all geared toward the function and physiology of the brain. I find it far more interesting but I was wondering what you guys thought. Neuroscience is a little more science intensive than CHS, and frankly more entertaining, but.....more difficult by quite a bit, which means not as high of a gpa, but then again probably looked better upon by admin boards, sigh lol, Ill be grey from stress before I get out of undergrad.

Unless you're really interested in Neuroscience and you think you'll be able to do well in that major, I would suggest to just finish the major you have at the moment. But if you find CHS just terribly uninteresting, then you should switch. Your cumulative GPA is what will matter - the adcoms will not know how difficult your major in comparison to the other majors at your school just by looking at the name. (I mistakenly chose my major based on this assumption that admissions people would know that my major was extremely difficult and geared more for people interested in graduate/doctorate work in Chemistry and take that into consideration when reviewing my file... nope.)

 

[Semicolon]

Pyro- What I have learned is that there are a lot (esp. my state university) of medical schools that are more interested in diff./unique majors than the run-of-the-mill bio/chem degree. I got a bio/chem degree, but with extra supplemental classes like humanities and such. My view on the whole college system is that it is a scam. You spend all of this money paying for classes in the first year or two that you will never use. And there are not that many undergrad. degrees you can obtain where there will be immediate job positions that pay well, not to mention job security. You almost always have to get a masters. Don't just take classes so it looks like you worked harder. I majored in chem/bio, and if I could do it over again, I would major in music and/or a foreign language and take the necessary pre-reqs for med school. Schools love diversity nowadays and by not going with the rest of the sheep in chem/bio degrees, you definitely raise your chances.

That was exactly my line of thought when I decided to do Anthropology my first semester. It worked out quite well for me. 😀