is neuroscience a limiting/overly specialized undergrad major?

[jasmynediva]

Hi,
Are there any neuroscience majors in here? do u like it. hate it? Please be honest.

~ In your opinion, as a premed student would I be limiting myself by majoring in neuroscience which focuses mostly on the CNS and brain/behavior?

While i enjoy studying the brain, I have been told that neuroscience in the undergraduate level is too specialized and isnt exactly the best "premed" major. Im debating whether to do neuroscience at a well known university (University of illinois chicago) or do biomedical sciences(covers upper level science classes like histology, immunology, embyology etc) at a smaller less known college. Which major would be more uselful once i got into med school.

btw, im not a freshman....im a transfer student.

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[_ian]

Do what you want to do, not what other people say.

That said, I don't see how it could possibly be limiting. All of the pre-med requirements are part of the major, making it easy to take a wide variety of other classes, yet it's generally more difficult than vanilla molecular biology, so it'd probably look better to admissions. I'm not even sure if I'm going to apply to med school, and honestly, I probably won't decide until after I get my MCAT scores a year from now... but it doesn't matter, because I have the same plan up until then, since the requirements are so easy to meet.

If you're interested in neuroscience, then do it. Loads of people go into med school with totally unrelated majors... and they're often given preference. You're certainly not going to have an issue with any field, provided you hit all the pre-reqs.

 

[Turkeyman]

I'm currently a neurophysiology major...but all that means is I'm a general biology major with one or two extra classes tacked on. You'll still get all the basic science classes and your standard upper level classes -- don't worry about it.

 

[femmedargent]

i did cellular/molecular neuroscience... (there were 3 concentrations for the neuroscience major at my school- the other two were 'systems' NS and 'cognitive' NS).

My opinion-- if the brain interests you at all, neuroscience is a fascinating subject and one of the major frontiers of science and human discovery as a whole--- i would do it again in a heartbeat. In terms of helping for med school, i didn't get in the first time i applied, but that had more to do with my GPA than my major, as my peers all went to top med schools.

the study of neuroscience extends in every direction- biochemical, computational, theoretical, social, clinical--- whatever your cup of tea, there is something in the field that will probably interest you.
Neuroscience is not narrow, not by a long shot. If anything, it is broader than many of the more "standard disciplines".

I clearly have a bias, but I hope this helps in your decision.

 

[plrae12]

jasmynediva, are you by any chance interested in becoming a Neurologist or a Neurosurgeon?..If you are, go for it. As long as you know what you really want to do. Don't listen to other people. You get exposure with all fields when you become a medical student anyway.

 

[femmedargent]

I will have to counter the above statement and say that interest in neurology/neurosurgery should not be a major factor in your decision. The act of practicing as a neurologist or neurosurgeon is VERY different from the act of studying neuroscience on many levels. I did research at one of if not the top neurosurgery labs in the country, and doing the science and treating the patients are almost completely unrelated.

That said, getting connections at clinical neuro labs will not hurt you if you are indeed interested in the field clinically.

 

[ussdfiant]

Duplicate post. Closing.