Minors vs. Majors????

[puppylovedog]

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Hi i was wondering if anyone could explain the difference between the two? and if ether one has any significant weight over the other as far as admission goes??

 

[MissBehavior]

A major is a specific area of study that the majority of your coursework will focus on. You can major in any subject prior to vet school admission, as long as the prerequisites are fulfilled. As far as I know, there is no "preferred" major, but you should choose one that will include lots of upper-division science courses. Some people have felt that having a more "unique" major (i.e. something other than animal science or biology) made their vet school application stand out. But it seems like the important thing is to choose a major that interests you and that you'll do well in.

As far as minors go, at my school you have to complete about 18-20 credits in a specific subject area. I've also heard people say that having a minor in something "different" made their applications more interesting to adcomms (psychology, Spanish, etc), but once again I'm not sure if that was really the case.

There's another thread on here about people's undergrad majors which might be of interest to you.🙂

 

[puppylovedog]

well i already major in animal science. but i was thinking about adding biology ether as a second major or a minor. but i can't seem to see a clear cut difference between the two

 

[RazorDoc2010]

I would think a second major in bio would look better than just a minor (and I don't mean just a minor, I agree that they can add a lot to an application). I think just doing pre-req's you're not too far off from a minor so it wouldn't really seem like all that much of an extra effort to an adcom. I might be way off though, just offering my 2 cents.

 

[MissBehavior]

well i already major in animal science. but i was thinking about adding biology ether as a second major or a minor. but i can't seem to see a clear cut difference between the two

The difference between the two is the amount of credits you'd need. If you're animal science you're probably fulfilling quite a few of the courses you'd need for bio, but you'd need a lot more (maybe another year or so?) for a double major. If you do a minor you're probably just looking at a few more classes. It depends on your school, but I'm considering doing something similar and that's about what it would take.

 

[4theanimals]

Do you perhaps have an advisor who could help you to understand what would be required for each of the two? If not, drop into the Biology department. They sould have something that deliniates what is required for each.

I have a minor in psych - guess I'm one of those who thought it would make me stand out. 🙄 But really, I thought it was a really good fit. The reality is that as veterinarians a big part of our job is dealing with clients, and sometimes their grief and pain. Psych is a good way to prepare for that. I also am very interested in animal behavior and a certified behaviorist I know said it was good prepwork. I had to take a total of 32 units for the minor. Since there aren't any psych classes in the Animal Science major😀 , it took me an additional year. But I feel it was well worth it. I know that some people in the animal science program take a microbiology minor because it only requires a couple of extra courses. Not sure if the adcomms take that into account. The reality is who knows what they think about anything...

 

[MissBehavior]

Do you perhaps have an advisor who could help you to understand what would be required for each of the two? If not, drop into the Biology department. They sould have something that deliniates what is required for each.

I have a minor in psych - guess I'm one of those who thought it would make me stand out. 🙄 But really, I thought it was a really good fit. The reality is that as veterinarians a big part of our job is dealing with clients, and sometimes their grief and pain. Psych is a good way to prepare for that. I also am very interested in animal behavior and a certified behaviorist I know said it was good prepwork. I had to take a total of 32 units for the minor. Since there aren't any psych classes in the Animal Science major😀 , it took me an additional year. But I feel it was well worth it. I know that some people in the animal science program take a microbiology minor because it only requires a couple of extra courses. Not sure if the adcomms take that into account. The reality is who knows what they think about anything...

😀 I'm also an animal science major thinking about a psych minor (due to interest in animal behavior). I didn't realize there was such variation between schools in credits required for a minor- 18 vs. 32! Like you said, who knows what adcomms think about these things...but it makes more sense to choose a minor that's interesting/valuable to you personally than to just choose one to "play the game," IMHO.😎

 

[4theanimals]

😀 I'm also an animal science major thinking about a psych minor (due to interest in animal behavior). I didn't realize there was such variation between schools in credits required for a minor- 18 vs. 32! Like you said, who knows what adcomms think about these things...but it makes more sense to choose a minor that's interesting/valuable to you personally than to just choose one to "play the game," IMHO.😎

I didn't realize there was such a difference either. I can tell you that despite the fact that I knew psych would be helpful I was still impressed with how applicable it was to animal behavior. The board certified behaviorist I know highly recommended the psych program. She also suggested that ornithology would be a good class to take. Haven't been able to take that. And despite the fact that I'm in an animal science program we do not have one class on behavior 👎 so that psych class was the closest I got.

 

[MissBehavior]

Yeah, the only animal behavior classes we have are through psych and ecology & evolutionary biology. Oh and a neuroethology class that I'm taking this semester. I sure wish we had applied behavior classes through the animal science department, but they seem pretty rare as far as undergrad goes🙁 Did any of your psych classes really get into learning theory, operant conditioning, etc?

 

[4theanimals]

Every psych class I've taken has had learning theory to some degree. Developmental psyc classes can be interesting for all their theories. Psych of personality too. We actually have a Theories of Learning class. I knew it would be helpful but I didn't know how great it would really be. The first day of class the professor told the class that the class would focus almost exclusively on animals, as they were the most used subjects, and if they were squeamish about animal research they might want to find another class. About 3/4 of the class focused on classical and operant conditioning. It was great to go in depth - I was a HUGE nerd in that class!😛