Neuroscience hard or soft science?

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leungdong

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Does it really matter? If it's what you want to major in, then go for it. It's certainly not as intense as Engineering. If you want to make it more substantial, take classes in cellular neuroscience rather than more social psych-oriented classes.
 
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People around here have come to agree that your "major" doesn't matter that much, granted you do well in your core classes as well as in the science pre-reqs. Majoring in what you are interested in will most likely help you get a high GPA.
 
I am asking because my three LOR are organic chemistry, physical chemistry, and neuroscience. My prehealth advisor was pretty adamant that neuroscience is psychology and thus soft-science and can be used as my non-science LOR. Any thoughts?
 
leungdong said:
I am asking because my three LOR are organic chemistry, physical chemistry, and neuroscience. My prehealth advisor was pretty adamant that neuroscience is psychology and thus soft-science and can be used as my non-science LOR. Any thoughts?
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This is a case where it could go either way to your advantage. Since the professor is under the Psychology department, you have a very good argument that he is a non-science prof for LOR purposes. I would just make sure to designate his course(s) as such in AMCAS, just in case a school checks, though I doubt they would go through the trouble.
 
Neuroscience itself is a "hard science" field; some of the requirements for a neuroscience major will probably be "soft science" courses. You would need to make sure that the prof identifies himself as a psych professor and not a neuroscience professor, since a neuroscience letter would be a science letter.
 
theseeker4 said:
This is a case where it could go either way to your advantage. Since the professor is under the Psychology department, you have a very good argument that he is a non-science prof for LOR purposes. I would just make sure to designate his course(s) as such in AMCAS, just in case a school checks, though I doubt they would go through the trouble.
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Wait AMCAS knows what classes they taught me in? This professor is my director and oversees all my neuroscience courses but never actually physically taught me...
 
leungdong said:
Wait AMCAS knows what classes they taught me in? This professor is my director and oversees all my neuroscience courses but never actually physically taught me...
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Some profs mention in the letter what courses they taught you in, and if those courses are then designated as BCPM, an Adcom would be able to figure it out pretty easily. Is this guy officially part of the psych department or the neuroscience program or both?
 
leungdong said:
Wait AMCAS knows what classes they taught me in? This professor is my director and oversees all my neuroscience courses but never actually physically taught me...
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I am thinking more the school, reading the LOR that says what course they had you in and then looking at the application. As I said, not likely to be an issue.....

If he never taught you a class, that shouldn't be an issue then. The only question then is whether it would count as a professor LOR.....
 
Neuroscience is a sub-field of biology, albeit an extremely large and eclectic one hence why it often gets treated as its own branch. So yes, it's a hard science, unless you're one of those insecure physics majors who considers biology and most of chemistry to be soft sciences.
 
Ok. I asked one of my non-science philosophy professors to send in an individual letter. That should cover my bases right?
 
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Neuroscience is a "hard" science (although I've never heard the term "soft" science...I'm just defining it with your terms). My school has its own department of neuroscience and it is completely separate from psychology. We don't have to take psychology courses and the psych majors don't have to take neuroscience courses. Neuro is more in line with biology than psychology.
 
Ismet said:
Neuroscience is a "hard" science (although I've never heard the term "soft" science...I'm just defining it with your terms). My school has its own department of neuroscience and it is completely separate from psychology. We don't have to take psychology courses and the psych majors don't have to take neuroscience courses. Neuro is more in line with biology than psychology.
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Same here. The cellular/molecular stuff in NSC definitely counts as hard. Anatomy/physiology too (like function of the cortex). Depending on the content of your courses, they may end up being counted as PSY.
 
Typical what people call soft neuroscience is actually cognitive psych. Neuroscience is definitely a hard science but I would argue that neuroscience comprises anatomy, physiology, cell bio, and molecular biology. I majored in bio and psych and tailored my classes to neuroscience. I just finished applying this cycle and the only schools that gave me a hassle with letters were Medical College of Wisconsin and Vermont. They are nit picky about the professor actually having taught you a class. Two of my LORs were from PIs I worked with but never had a class with. Best advice I can give is to call schools and look into their requirements. Most will let it slide if you ask nicely. Get good letters rather than ones that fit a specific classification.
 
jlescher said:
Typical what people call soft neuroscience is actually cognitive psych. Neuroscience is definitely a hard science but I would argue that neuroscience comprises anatomy, physiology, cell bio, and molecular biology. I majored in bio and psych and tailored my classes to neuroscience. I just finished applying this cycle and the only schools that gave me a hassle with letters were Medical College of Wisconsin and Vermont. They are nit picky about the professor actually having taught you a class. Two of my LORs were from PIs I worked with but never had a class with. Best advice I can give is to call schools and look into their requirements. Most will let it slide if you ask nicely. Get good letters rather than ones that fit a specific classification.
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Don't think the OP is still looking for advice 3 months later...
 
leungdong said:
I am asking because my three LOR are organic chemistry, physical chemistry, and neuroscience. My prehealth advisor was pretty adamant that neuroscience is psychology and thus soft-science and can be used as my non-science LOR. Any thoughts?
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Well, that's another example why pre-health (or premed) advisors are basically useless. Neuroscience = psychology? I don't think that advisor knows what neuroscience actually is... Just show an example of a math model in neuroscience. The poor advisor will faint in shock. :meanie:
 
I feel as though it is more of a hard science, less that biology, but more so than psychology.
 
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