Neuroscience v Biology v Psychology

[NP545]

What would you recommend someone to major in out of neurscience, biology, and psychology (I know the common anwer will be "do what youre interested in) ?

I want to be a pre med and go to med school, but I honestly dont really care what my major is; I just want to get to medical school.
I know what psychology and biology majors do, but what kind of topics do neuroscience majors learn in their classes? (classes like fundamentals of neurobiology and fundamentals of cell biology are needed, but idk what these classes do so can someone tell me some specifics/topics they learn in these classes)
Of these 3, whats the easiest? I know the neuroscience one is the hardest of the 3, but I think neuroscience and biology require the most memorization of the 3 (im not really a good memorizer, i learn better by understanding). Overall, what major of these 3 would you recommend, and please dont give me the "whatever you like or whatever you find interesting" answer

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[PleaseCallMeDoc]

I'm a pharmaceutical sciences major but have friends majoring in all 3.

I'd say psych is probably the "easiest", especially when you get to upper levels, however, do what interests you the most.
You will start to see that when a class interests you, you tend to do better in it because you are more motivated.

 

[Patros]

I suggest you start as undeclared/no major and take intro courses in all three, and see which one suits you best. I'm not the psych-type person, so I would recommend biology simply because it gives you the most general preparation for medical school-related things like the MCAT. Also bio tends to be very flexible; you can switch to neuro relatively easily, or go to a more biochemistry/pharmacology major if you find an interest in that later.

Edit: Also get used to memorizing things, you'll be doing that for the rest of your life if you go into medicine.

 

[joonage]

I was a neurobiology and psychology double major. Neurobiology will be hard focused on neuro. You'll learn about cellular neuro, neuroanatomy, diseases of the NS, and some neurobehavior (on a molecular basis). Neuroscience might have broader classes such as the inclusion of additional psych classes. Psychology tends to be easier and is much much more broad. You'll learn the basics first with intro psych, biopsych, research methods, etc. Then you'll take broad classes ranging from social psych to abnormal psych to psychbiology of women, etc. You get a much broader spectrum that isn't purely brain (on a molecular/cellular) level focused. Biology is also pretty broad since you can focus on different aspects such a physiology or cellular/molecular or plant, etc.

I'd say go for neuro cause it's awesome and I'm biased.

 

[NP545]

If any, which of the 3 would prepare me best for med school?
And also, for the MCAT, how deep are the questions for biology (as in would I be fine with just Gen Bio courses for bio part of mcat, or would i need to go in a biologically related major to do better)?

 

[NP545]

And also, I feel that a degree in Biology is useless. At least Psychology or Neuroscience has some non-med value to them. However, I dont really care about importance since I'm pursing to be a doctor 100%. I find equal interest in the three, and am a self-motivator. So basically, I could do well in all 3 (assuming I try completely)

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

what major of these 3 would you recommend, and please dont give me the "whatever you like or whatever you find interesting" answer

What if that's the correct answer? This is like picking a car color; there's no wrong answer if it's a subject that interests you and you can do well in your courses.

 

[ponyo]

I was neuroscience track within psychology. If you are concerned with a solid physio/bio background for the MCAT, I would stay away from doing pure psychology because it does very little to prepare you for the MCAT or really any other scientific courses. My main gripe with psychology is that unless you go on to actually do research in psychology, many of the concepts and research findings are only historically interesting and become obsolete within a few years, because the field is in such an infantile state. IMHO neuroscience will do a better job of teaching you the critical thinking/scientific method-related skills that you need for a career in medicine/science.

Obviously, if you take intro psych and find yourself blown away by the areas of psychology that are not neuro, then by all means major in that, but then maybe you would be happier with a career in psychological research instead.

If any, which of the 3 would prepare me best for med school?
And also, for the MCAT, how deep are the questions for biology (as in would I be fine with just Gen Bio courses for bio part of mcat, or would i need to go in a biologically related major to do better)?

I think you can do well in the MCAT only having taken gen bio courses (I had only technically taken 1 semester of intro bio and did very well), but you will definitely need more than that level of understanding to excel in it. I felt like I needed a solid foundation in physiological systems to be able to adapt to all the different questions they can throw at you and to be able to come up with answers that you may not have necessarily memorized. I only know the old MCAT though and maybe the new one is different.

 

[asebasp]

There's some schools that have a combination of those majors packed into one. Psychology-Neuroscience-Philosophy (PNP) is one such example - it is a major offered at WashU. I personally majored in psychology but I will mirror what ponyo had to say and that is that most psychology courses will not really prepare you for med school or the MCAT (I personally think it will help me with understanding populations better and working well with all types of people, but that's also something you can achieve through other means and you won't really need to worry about until later down the road).

That being said, I fulfilled many of my requirements with classes that were cross-listed with Biology so that I would get more specialization in biological psychology/drugs, brain & behavior. So if you go down the psychology road, it might be useful to similarly emphasize some of the courses that might get you excited about medicine and have a more biological focus. I know I loved psych and definitely prefer it to pure bio (although the latter is more useful, as someone noted). I would also recommend you get involved with research - if you become proficient in something like SPSS/SAS, that can be a useful tool to get involved with research outside of your psych department since labs appreciate someone who can crunch numbers/carry out statistical analyses/manage databases.

Overall though, I think you should do what someone mentioned - take some of the intro courses and see what interests you the most. You will be spending four years studying the same discipline and if you don't enjoy it at least somewhat, you're going to get burned out long before medical school - something that will inevitably affect your academics/happiness. Do yourself a favor and figure out what you enjoy studying. You may think you don't care, but you will soon enough.

 

[tmn]

And also, for the MCAT, how deep are the questions for biology (as in would I be fine with just Gen Bio courses for bio part of mcat, or would i need to go in a biologically related major to do better)?

Only gen level courses are needed for the MCAT.

 

[Mel Belle]

Just plain biology is the cookie-cutter route. Which is totally fine and works. But IMO, it doesn't teach you to think all that critically, if we're talking pure biology (i.e., if we're ignoring the medical-related electives, which are likely electives for all of these majors anyway). That's partially why I major in biochemistry, because there is a more prevalent critical thinking component to chemistry. Personally I value critical thinking skills over learning how to rote memorize (like in biology).

I know you didn't ask about biochemistry, but I thought I would enlighten you with another possible option you hadn't mentioned. At least at my school, there's not THAT much extra required chemistry in the biochemistry major as compared to biology. Maybe two classes. At my school you get a specific amount of chemistry OR biology electives... You can take all biology ones if that suits your fancy. Just saying.

 

[ponyo]

Just plain biology is the cookie-cutter route. Which is totally fine and works. But IMO, it doesn't teach you to think all that critically, if we're talking pure biology (i.e., if we're ignoring the medical-related electives, which are likely electives for all of these majors anyway). That's partially why I major in biochemistry, because there is a more prevalent critical thinking component to chemistry. Personally I value critical thinking skills over learning how to rote memorize (like in biology).

I know you didn't ask about biochemistry, but I thought I would enlighten you with another possible option you hadn't mentioned. At least at my school, there's not THAT much extra required chemistry in the biochemistry major as compared to biology. Maybe two classes. At my school you get a specific amount of chemistry OR biology electives... You can take all biology ones if that suits your fancy. Just saying.

I second this--biochemistry is also great for helping you understand what's going on in physiology and routine medical articles in general!

 

[Dr. Biology]

What would you recommend someone to major in out of neurscience, biology, and psychology (I know the common anwer will be "do what youre interested in) ?

I want to be a pre med and go to med school, but I honestly dont really care what my major is; I just want to get to medical school.
I know what psychology and biology majors do, but what kind of topics do neuroscience majors learn in their classes? (classes like fundamentals of neurobiology and fundamentals of cell biology are needed, but idk what these classes do so can someone tell me some specifics/topics they learn in these classes)
Of these 3, whats the easiest? I know the neuroscience one is the hardest of the 3, but I think neuroscience and biology require the most memorization of the 3 (im not really a good memorizer, i learn better by understanding). Overall, what major of these 3 would you recommend, and please dont give me the "whatever you like or whatever you find interesting" answer

if you don't major in biology, no one will take you seriously as a doctor later.... in all seriousness though, major does not matter. it really is "whatever interests you." take me for instance, I like biology. I major in biology. if you like art history, then major in art history. IT DOES NOT MATTER!!!!
On another side note, if you try to memorize and cram for biology youll flunk every time. If I tried to memorize the steps of the Krebs cycle in 3 days before a test my head would .
In short, Biology major is the cookie cutter route all premeds start as, but by the end of bio 1 and chem 1 they are majoring in easy majors like sociology and psychology. Pick a major because you enjoy it. not because its easy, adcoms do take into account curriculum difficulty.
that's common sense though lol. I mean who do you think would be able to handle the hard courses of med school? a sociology major 3.8 gpa who took society and sports and classes like that or a bio major 3.6 who took cell biology, population genetics, parasitology etc.

 

[NP545]

My college requires that Neuroscience and Biology majors both take Genetics, Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and then some other related electives.
Whereas, for the psychology major, I would need to take courses like Cognition, Conditioning/Learning, etc

Would either of those major paths benefit in med school more than the others (as in would anything in med school be overlapping with the biology or neuroscience majors more so than the psychology major) ?
I am interested in the field of cardiology as of now, so would a neuroscience major, biology major, and psychology major be in the same boat after med school starts if I want to be in a cardiac field? As in, would one major have an advantage over the other when med school begins

My current train of thoughts is to major in Psychology and minor in Biology. Would this prepare me better for med school than if I majored in Neuroscience?

 

[MrWonderful]

My eyes lit up when I saw this thread. I was a Neuroscience major and 100% suggest you go the same route, here's why: no offense to bio majors, but it's cookie cutter and grossly finite. Yes, the major problems and issues in biology have been solved (we understand biological laws, theory, etc) whereas in Neuroscience the hard problem of consciousness still exists and is worth thinking about (how can we map consciousness from a neural perspective?). Neuroscience makes you THINK. It's also cross-disciplinary (you'll take biology, biochemistry, psychology, philosophy) and it will FORCE you to integrate information across various disciplines to make yourself a more critical thinker. Given the impending changes on the MCAT format, Neuroscience will handsomely prepare you to tackle the logic of science.

At my school we started by taking courses representative of the various branches of Neuroscience (cognitive, behavioral, molecular), then take a Philosophy of the Mind course, and end with opportunities for electives. I ended up taking a class on Neuroprosthetics and did research in Neurophysiology. Still had room to take Anatomy, Biochem, etc... but you can't beat classes about the brain. Go Neuro

EDIT: of course, if you're not interested in Neuroscience, don't take it. You do best in what you're most interested in

 

[Patros]

My eyes lit up when I saw this thread. I was a Neuroscience major and 100% suggest you go the same route, here's why: no offense to bio majors, but it's cookie cutter and grossly finite. Yes, the major problems and issues in biology have been solved (we understand biological laws, theory, etc) whereas in Neuroscience the hard problem of consciousness still exists and is worth thinking about (how can we map consciousness from a neural perspective?). Neuroscience makes you THINK. It's also cross-disciplinary (you'll take biology, biochemistry, psychology, philosophy) and it will FORCE you to integrate information across various disciplines to make yourself a more critical thinker. Given the impending changes on the MCAT format, Neuroscience will handsomely prepare you to tackle the logic of science.

At my school we started by taking courses representative of the various branches of Neuroscience (cognitive, behavioral, molecular), then take a Philosophy of the Mind course, and end with opportunities for electives. I ended up taking a class on Neuroprosthetics and did research in Neurophysiology. Still had room to take Anatomy, Biochem, etc... but you can't beat classes about the brain. Go Neuro

EDIT: of course, if you're not interested in Neuroscience, don't take it. You do best in what you're most interested in

It's good you're super-enthusiastic about neuroscience, but if you think a) We know even a fraction of what we would like to know in molecular biology or ecology b) Biology doesn't involve critical thinking c) Biology doesn't involve multiple disciplines d) Neuroscience is somehow special and not dime-a-dozen, you're wrong on all counts. If questions of consciousness and perception are your favorite topics, then psychology is probably best fit for you. If you are serious about philosophy of mind, then you would have to take upper-division courses in philosophy (analytic philosophy, phenomenology, etc).

Of course, we all know that biology, neuroscience, and the other riff-raff majors are for plebeians. It should be self-evident that Biochemistry is the way and the life, and your only source for salvation. #biochemistrymasterrace

 

[sbEMT33]

If you want to find out which major would be best for you take classes in ALL three of these and go with whichever class you enjoy the most.

 

[mcloaf]

the major problems and issues in biology have been solved

This is when I knew not to take you seriously.

Also, if you think a neuroscience major is going to make you stand out from other applicants...you're in for a surprise come interview time.

Either way it doesn't really matter, since OP is asking that people don't give the only reasonable answer to this question which is do what you enjoy the most.

 

[NP545]

So one major over the others won't have an advantage once accepted into med school?
I narrowed it down to 2 options, which should I pick? (equal interest for both)
1. Major in Psychology and minor in Biology
2. Major in Neuroscience

 

[Mel Belle]

So one major over the others won't have an advantage once accepted into med school?
I narrowed it down to 2 options, which should I pick? (equal interest for both)
1. Major in Psychology and minor in Biology
2. Major in Neuroscience

I think the biology will be more useful to you than the psychology. Not that you can't take psych courses. But if you want classes that are directly relevant to med school, neurobio seems like the better choice. Psych is interesting, I'm a psych minor, but it won't be as useful as biology or chemistry in the long run IMO

 

[asebasp]

So one major over the others won't have an advantage once accepted into med school?
I narrowed it down to 2 options, which should I pick? (equal interest for both)
1. Major in Psychology and minor in Biology
2. Major in Neuroscience

Dude. Just wait until classes start, get a feel for both, and then decide. No, neither will provide a direct advantage to getting you into med school. That being said, if you're asked about your major and you say "because I thought it would help me get into med school" rather than explaining your interests and what draws you to your field of study, then you will just come off as a robot. Allow yourself to take the classes you want to take (in addition to premed requirements), have a genuine interest in what you do, and the rest will follow.

 

[Dandine]

Dude. Just wait until classes start, get a feel for both, and then decide. No, neither will provide a direct advantage to getting you into med school. That being said, if you're asked about your major and you say "because I thought it would help me get into med school" rather than explaining your interests and what draws you to your field of study, then you will just come off as a robot. Allow yourself to take the classes you want to take (in addition to premed requirements), have a genuine interest in what you do, and the rest will follow.

Yes--I would highly recommend to pick a major based on interest rather than what would get you into medical school. Biology, psychology, and neuroscience are all popular pre-med majors, so you won't be standing out by majoring in either one. That said, what you *choose* to do within your major might help you stand out (research, TA-ing, job, etc.)--that and keeping a good GPA with it, of course!

**Just for kicks (and to more directly answer the OP's question), I'll give some reasons why I majored in neuro. I decided to go that route initially because I liked the idea of combining different aspects of science together as well as its links to psychology. The more time I spent in it, though, the more I started seeing applications of neuroscience which interested me, such as brain-behavior relationships.

I wouldn't say that any of these majors are easy, although neuroscience does require a lot of memorization as well as a good understanding of the sciences in general (essentially, all of them...or at least how to apply critical thinking). If you go the biology route or specialize in a biological concentration, the same would probably apply. And some might say psychology is an easy major but there is definitely a huge critical thinking component involved, especially when it comes to research.

Just plain biology is the cookie-cutter route. Which is totally fine and works. But IMO, it doesn't teach you to think all that critically, if we're talking pure biology (i.e., if we're ignoring the medical-related electives, which are likely electives for all of these majors anyway). That's partially why I major in biochemistry, because there is a more prevalent critical thinking component to chemistry. Personally I value critical thinking skills over learning how to rote memorize (like in biology).

I actually think that biochemistry might be valuable if you are interested in the pharmacological aspect of neuroscience.

 

[NP545]

Yes--I would highly recommend to pick a major based on interest rather than what would get you into medical school. Biology, psychology, and neuroscience are all popular pre-med majors, so you won't be standing out by majoring in either one. That said, what you *choose* to do within your major might help you stand out (research, TA-ing, job, etc.)--that and keeping a good GPA with it, of course!

**Just for kicks (and to more directly answer the OP's question), I'll give some reasons why I majored in neuro. I decided to go that route initially because I liked the idea of combining different aspects of science together as well as its links to psychology. The more time I spent in it, though, the more I started seeing applications of neuroscience which interested me, such as brain-behavior relationships.

I wouldn't say that any of these majors are easy, although neuroscience does require a lot of memorization as well as a good understanding of the sciences in general (essentially, all of them...or at least how to apply critical thinking). If you go the biology route or specialize in a biological concentration, the same would probably apply. And some might say psychology is an easy major but there is definitely a huge critical thinking component involved, especially when it comes to research.
.

I am not too interested in neuroscience and I am 99% sure I will not become a doctor in the neuro-field. (Leaning towards Cardiology)
I'm thinking psychology because it is more varied, such as I'd need to take classes in neuropsych, memory, clinical psych, etc whereas I think neuroscience is more focused on one branch and delves in deeper.

Do you think psychology is the easiest of the 3 (assuming equal interest in the 3) ?
I might end up doing research in a neuroscience lab while majoring in psychology...is this bad and should i stick to research in the same major or will this be ok?

 

[WestCoastNative]

All three in one; Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, at U.C. Davis.

 

[NP545]

So psychology over Neuro won't disadvantage me in med school if I want to go to Cardiology related career?

 

[Doudline]

So psychology over Neuro won't disadvantage me in med school if I want to go to Cardiology related career?

For the 1000th time... no.

 

[Patros]

So psychology over Neuro won't disadvantage me in med school if I want to go to Cardiology related career?

Ok, it really looks like you just want an easy major, or maybe the major that will best prepare you for medical school. So understand this:

1) There is NO major that will adequately cover medical school topics. If there was, you would just graduate from undergrad and go straight into clinical rotations.
2) As a corollary to #1, no major will disadvantage you either, since you have to take the same prereqs regardless. Harold Varmus was an English literature major from a liberal arts college, and now he's director of the National Cancer Institute.
3) If you want the easiest major, forget all of this stuff. Try communications, or maybe art history.
4) If you are interested in cardiology and such physiology related fields, then neuroscience and biology are both excellent choices. But of course, you already said you don't care about what's interesting, so you're going to ignore me anyway.

 

[NP545]

Ok, it really looks like you just want an easy major, or maybe the major that will best prepare you for medical school. So understand this:

1) There is NO major that will adequately cover medical school topics. If there was, you would just graduate from undergrad and go straight into clinical rotations.
2) As a corollary to #1, no major will disadvantage you either, since you have to take the same prereqs regardless. Harold Varmus was an English literature major from a liberal arts college, and now he's director of the National Cancer Institute.
3) If you want the easiest major, forget all of this stuff. Try communications, or maybe art history.
4) If you are interested in cardiology and such physiology related fields, then neuroscience and biology are both excellent choices. But of course, you already said you don't care about what's interesting, so you're going to ignore me anyway.

Good, you answered my questions.

 

[Dandine]

I am not too interested in neuroscience and I am 99% sure I will not become a doctor in the neuro-field. (Leaning towards Cardiology)
I'm thinking psychology because it is more varied, such as I'd need to take classes in neuropsych, memory, clinical psych, etc whereas I think neuroscience is more focused on one branch and delves in deeper.

Do you think psychology is the easiest of the 3 (assuming equal interest in the 3) ?
I might end up doing research in a neuroscience lab while majoring in psychology...is this bad and should i stick to research in the same major or will this be ok?

I agree that neuroscience is heavily centered on biology, but that doesn't mean that it isn't varied. At least at my school you can look into various topics such as neuroplasticity, vision, cognition, and neurological diseases.

For the record, I know a few dental students who have majored in neuro.

If you were to major in psychology I would be certain that some of the psychology labs would be doing neuroscience research, but you wouldn't be limited by your major if you want to do research in a neuroscience department. It really depends on your school, so I would look in the departments to check.

 

[Mel Belle]

So psychology over Neuro won't disadvantage me in med school if I want to go to Cardiology related career?

Generally it shouldn't put you at a disadvantage. The only way it would put you at a disadvantage is if you had really lackluster grades for your major... because it is an easy major. If someone in a harder major has less than perfect grades it's more understandable due to the rigor. Medical schools do consider the rigor of your major, so don't fool around in your psych classes.

My friend is applying as a psych major. He didn't care about school too much his freshman and sophomore years (Cs and Ds) but he wised up during junior year and got all As after that. (That's certainly not easy, but he was a lazy genius turned hardworking genius.) So an upward trend is always good to see if you screw up a little bit. But you really should keep in mind how bad it will look if you don't do well in psych courses because of how easy they are in comparison to most science courses. Not saying you will, just saying, don't get lazy. College is a lot more work than high school, so be prepared for that.

... and good luck with your choice.

 

[bobbyjoey]

Which major did you end up choosing?

 

[NP545]

Which major did you end up choosing?

I decided to go with Neuro.
Choose the one that is more interesting to you personally, and go on from there

 

[bobbyjoey]

I am deciding between neuroscience, psychology, and biomedical engineering...
But I heard that GPA is very important, in that adcoms won't take difficulty of course as an excuse for a lower GPA...
@NP545 Why did you decide to switch from psychology to neuroscience? How difficult was it (how was your gpa affected)?
I don't mind doing any major as long as I get into med school.
Is there any advice you can give me?

Thanks

P.S. What category does neuroscience fall into (out of Biological Sciences, Humanities, Math and Statistics, Other, Social Sciences, Specialized Health Sciences)

 

[Strudel19]

Don't really know why everyone says a bio degree is useless. My straight bio major allowed me to hammer down the fundamentals of basic science, i.e, two semesters of anatomy, histo, physio, pathophys, evolution, embryo, two semesters of genetics, immuno, cancer biology, biostats, neurophys, micro, cell and molec...the list goes on. Med school will tack on the depth.

If you think neuroscience and psych are any more useful you're kidding yourself.

 

[bobbyjoey]

Correct. Success matters, not the difficulty of the course directly



Biological Sciences

Thanks for the response!

Would BME not be recommended then? Considering they would not care about difficulty of subject?

Also, what category does psychology and BME fall into?

 

[whatever5]

I double majored in bio and psych and minored in neuro. Do that, It wasn't bad.

 

[bobbyjoey]

How do non-science majors manage to complete their own major along with pre-req for med school?

Generally, is neuroscience considered difficult compared to psychology?