Courses outside of psychology that would look good for admissions

[andj04]

I'm in the process of choosing a minor (which is a must at my school). What would be a good choice to accent my psych. BA and maybe even make me stand out in the admissions process?

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[winnie]

I'm in the process of choosing a minor (which is a must at my school). What would be a good choice to accent my psych. BA and maybe even make me stand out in the admissions process?

A natural science, math, philosophy or a useful language.

 

[ChildPsych]

I would take a natural science for sure. Some schools (Temple, UCLA) ask for a natural science/lab course. It also helps as a psychology student to have a good understanding of the body so I would do biology ( thats what I personally did)

 

[LM02]

Depending upon what your school offers, I would focus on something related to either neuroscience or statistics. Not all universities have a separate stats department, but my undergrad university did - a few advanced stats classes would allow you to really stand out.

 

[lazure]

Go with your interests - do not take something that just looks good. I never did decide on a minor but I did take a course in calculus, physics, chem and computer science. Being able to solve problems and not being scared of a computer were useful gained abilities for me.

 

[psychgeek]

I wouldn't worry too much about the effect of your minor on your application prospects. I seriously doubt a minor in anything would be impressive enough to cause an admission committee to invite you for an interview if they weren't already planning to do so. Minor in whatever interests you. That said, it would be awfully handy if statistics happened to interest you. My first year would have been a lot more enjoyable if I hadn't spent half of it buried in a stats book.

 

[twiggers]

I would minor in something fun...something that you really like but only want to devote a couple classes to. I love European history and that was my minor (the horrendous amounts of papers kinda helped my writing skills in other classes). That said, between a major and minor you'll still have left over classes you'll need to take. Take a biology class (preferably with a lab as some PhD programs require a lab class), or chemistry (with a lab), try, if you can, to take a couple stats classes beyond the required 1 class. I am taking an upper division class and it is helping.
The majority of places I interviewed at said they expect students to be rusty in stats skills, so taking some extra stats classes would definitely help you in the first year.

I was premed for a long time so I had the majority of science classes, which I think enhanced my application and made it look like I could survive difficult classes. The science/math classes also help if you happen to get a lower score on the quantitative section of the GRE.

 

[LM02]

I would minor in something fun...something that you really like but only want to devote a couple classes to.

I should probably qualify my above post. Although I think background in neuroscience or stats would be great, I (personally) minored in French when I was in college. So, as the others said, there is something to say for doing what interests you.

 

[twiggers]

Although...if neuroscience is where you see yourself as a speciality than it is definitely a worthwhile minor.

 

[deuist]

The big question is: what do you want want to do with your minor? Stats, bio, neuro, and spanish are all useful, but for different reasons. I've got to warn you that minors are usually not very important to admissions committees. You could try taking courses in something that you enjoy.

 

[twiggers]

Most applications don't even ask what your minor is, but rather just ask you to list your courses - with an emphasis on science, math, and extra psych courses (they have specific categories to list those types of courses.....unfortunately not an area to list your expertise in 20th Century European History - lol my minor). I don't think I listed my minor courses anywhere on my apps, unless it was to list courses I planned to take.