Major Questions

[PerplexingPsych]

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I'm currently a pre-med psych major, but after doing some additional research psychiatry does not seem like the right career path for me. Being a psych major I have the choice of taking some courses in neuroscience, I've become very interested in this subject.

I've started to think about a career in neuropsychology or behavioral neuroscience (haven't decided yet). My school has a new neuroscience program that seems very promising and I'm thinking about changing my major to that.

I've outlined the classes I would have to take for each major and if I chose to double major or minor in neuroscience.

The neuroscience major seems more promising to me because of their clinical/lab requirement that allows you to rotate in different areas of neuroscience (neuropsychology & behavioral neuroscience being options). This could help me figure out which I'm more interested in. Currently it's only open to students who have taken the neuro prereqs, which I could do as a psych major (neuro minor optional).

With both majors I can take the exact same classes, except for their thesis classes. A double major just seems useless if I'm able to take the same classes. Any thoughts on which would be better for a future clinical psych, behavioral neuro applicant? I'm thinking about the thesis class mostly. Will one be better than the other when looked at during my application process?

 

[krisrox]

I'm currently a pre-med psych major, but after doing some additional research psychiatry does not seem like the right career path for me. Being a psych major I have the choice of taking some courses in neuroscience, I've become very interested in this subject.

I've started to think about a career in neuropsychology or behavioral neuroscience (haven't decided yet). My school has a new neuroscience program that seems very promising and I'm thinking about changing my major to that.

I've outlined the classes I would have to take for each major and if I chose to double major or minor in neuroscience.

The neuroscience major seems more promising to me because of their clinical/lab requirement that allows you to rotate in different areas of neuroscience (neuropsychology & behavioral neuroscience being options). This could help me figure out which I'm more interested in. Currently it's only open to students who have taken the neuro prereqs, which I could do as a psych major (neuro minor optional).

With both majors I can take the exact same classes, except for their thesis classes. A double major just seems useless if I'm able to take the same classes. Any thoughts on which would be better for a future clinical psych, behavioral neuro applicant? I'm thinking about the thesis class mostly. Will one be better than the other when looked at during my application process?

In my opinion, one is only better than the other if one matches your interests more than the other. Look at the faculty and their research and decide which one matches your interests more. Also, if you're really interested in neuro, you could even apply to neuro PhD programs. There's a difference between clinical with a neuropsych emphasis and neuropsych, so if you're still interested in the clinical part, see if you can find faculty that work in applied or clinical settings.