Pre-meds, how does this major/minor combo seem?

[neur0goddess]

Major in neuroscience, double minor in clinical psych and poli sci + pre med track? does this all seem doable?

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[intangible]

You're making things difficult for yourself for no good reason. Neuro is predominantly psych-based as it is, why add more psych that won't help you fulfill any med school requirements; and needless to say, political science courses that are downright irrelevant, all things considered? Is there a reason you chose that configuration?

Pre med requirements as they stand are quite a few credits that fit somewhat cleanly into most natural science-based majors.

 

[Baron Samedi]

That doesn't leave a whole lot of time for Call of Duty. Stop thinking of college as a path to medical school and embrace it as a potentially awesome time of your life.

 

[neur0goddess]

You're making things difficult for yourself for no good reason. Neuro is predominantly psych-based as it is, why add more psych that won't help you fulfill any med school requirements; and needless to say, political science courses that are downright irrelevant, all things considered? Is there a reason you chose that configuration?

Pre med requirements as they stand are quite a few credits that fit somewhat cleanly into most natural science-based majors.

what do you mean "downright irrelevant"? like irrelevant to medicine or life? because imo its important to be involved in politics, esp if you're a physician in the current state of the US & with PPACA screwing with docs. anyways I'm just interested in it, same with psych; not every class HAS to be prepping you for medicine, can't a student have outside interests? lol but nah I get what you're saying with neuro...I'm just worried it won't cover alot of the psych stuff I'm interested in...

 

[intangible]

what do you mean "downright irrelevant"? like irrelevant to medicine or life? because imo its important to be involved in politics, esp if you're a physician in the current state of the US & with PPACA screwing with docs. anyways I'm just interested in it, same with psych; not every class HAS to be prepping you for medicine, can't a student have outside interests? lol but nah I get what you're saying with neuro...I'm just worried it won't cover alot of the psych stuff I'm interested in...

Disclaimer: Biology major, minors in Chemistry and Psychology. If my university offered a BS in Neuroscience, I would probably be doing that, instead.

Political Science is irrelevant given your current situation—trying to get into medical school is already going to be difficult with over a years' worth (minors are usually ~12-15 credits long) of credits that are already (1) not counting toward your medical school requirements; and (2) are not helping you achieve your goal.

I completely agree: not every class has to be prepping you for medicine, but does taking a single yoga class one semester mean you have to minor in Sanskrit?

All I'm saying is, a preliminary cost/benefit analysis will tell you that minoring in something redundant alongside something irrelevant, and majoring in something that's already pushing it (since it likely won't cover all your pre-med reqs) is pretty unadvisable. But what do I know?

 

[WeCanOnlyTry]

do whatever you care about -- just make sure your prereqs get fit into your coursework.

 

[neur0goddess]

Disclaimer: Biology major, minors in Chemistry and Psychology. If my university offered a BS in Neuroscience, I would probably be doing that, instead.

Political Science is irrelevant given your current situation—trying to get into medical school is already going to be difficult with over a years' worth (minors are usually ~12-15 credits long) of credits that are already (1) not counting toward your medical school requirements; and (2) are not helping you achieve your goal.

I completely agree: not every class has to be prepping you for medicine, but does taking a single yoga class one semester mean you have to minor in Sanskrit?

All I'm saying is, a preliminary cost/benefit analysis will tell you that minoring in something redundant alongside something irrelevant, and majoring in something that's already pushing it (since it likely won't cover all your pre-med reqs) is pretty unadvisable. But what do I know?

I realized that I forgot to mention I hope to actually get involved in politics later on in my career. I realize you don't need to study poli sci in college to become a politican, but I assume I'd learn more about gov't and history..so a minor in poli sci could actually help acheive my goal. But, at the end of the day, a career in politics isn't stable and my #1 goal is to become a doctor, so I guess maybe I should drop the poli sci minor..what do you think? and thanks for all your help 🙂

 

[efle]

You're making things difficult for yourself for no good reason. Neuro is predominantly psych-based as it is, why add more psych that won't help you fulfill any med school requirements;

NEURO IS NOT PSYCH.

Something like a neurophysiology laboratory or intro to the nervous system will in no way, shape or form resemble cognitive psychology etc. Different fields.

 

[WillburCobb]

do whatever you care about -- just make sure your prereqs get fit into your coursework.

THIS! If you like it and it don't think it will significantly impact your GPA or other plans go for it.

NEURO IS NOT PSYCH.

Something like a neurophysiology laboratory or intro to the nervous system will in no way, shape or form resemble cognitive psychology etc. Different fields.

They're on a spectrum a good amount of neuro is cog psych at a higher magnification - there's A LOT of overlap.

 

[PantherPride]

If you want to minor in Poli sci and that's something that interests you I say go for it. major/minor in what interests you, but make sure you don't bite off more than you can chew, you want to be successful in whatever major you do. Having a major that facilitates the premed requirements will help in that respect.

 

[Ronald Kris]

personally (I'm not premed but now desperately wish I were), if I were in your spot, I'd major or minor in something quantitatively based: It makes physics and chem a LOT easier. Physics has a lot of calculus in it, and the kind of thinking you need in math is useful for chemistry I hear. If I had it to do again, I would do it either

(non-elite school where major seriously matters)
double major: Math and Chemistry
minor: finance/accounting

(elite school where you're assumed to be smart no matter what)
major: mathematics or computer science
minor: physics

Also, the quant stuff gives you an easy out if you don't make med or dental school, and PA/nursing is not your thing.

That poli sci business does put you in a spot of having to talk about political views. IMO, thats a no-no. If you have left-of-center views and the interviewer is tea party, or you have conservative views and the interview is Occupy Wall Street (academia leans left), you could ding yourself right there and then.

 

[Silverflash]

As long as it doesn't impact your GPA, it doesn't matter. I was a Neuroscience major and I actually dropped a Bio minor in my last semester because the extra class wasn't worth my time, and I simply didn't need it. It would have hurt my other grades to finish the minor, so I just dropped it. As long as you take that mentality and are prepared to change if you start struggling, there's no problem.

 

[Holmwood]

Major in neuroscience, double minor in clinical psych and poli sci + pre med track? does this all seem doable?

Hmm, but do you ever get the feeling that undergraduate education is sort of lacking for your goals?
I feel like you would learn more if you did some sort of research relevant to your interest rather than take those minors.

For instance, my major is Cell Bio. Yet, I've learned a lot about neuroscience by reading directly from the scientific literature and doing the research with faculty rather than take a couple of courses about it. In the end, I knew more neuro than the psych majors who have taken neuro coursework.

Perhaps you can find faculty to do epidemiological studies as health policy seems to be something you're interested in. From personal experience, I feel that you would accomplish more in doing research and reading the literature with your PI than you would just taking those courses.

Furthermore, adcoms don't really care so much about minors. If you were to express that you wanted to be politically involved, they would probably ask, "what have you actually done to show your interest in health policy?" A minor would not be sufficient in supporting this interest. You would have to have some sort of EC to show that you are actively involved in health policy. Again, doing research with faculty would adequately show this interest although there are other means of showing your interest.

Have you considered getting an MD/MPH?

 

[moop]

Major in neuroscience, double minor in clinical psych and poli sci + pre med track? does this all seem doable?

I don't understand how you're doing all this planning already without even knowing your SAT score and which schools you can get into.

I also don't understand how you decided you like neuro and psych so much that you want to directly focus on clinical psych already, instead of social psych, cognitive psych, developmental psych, or the social basis of neuroscience.

The list of things I don't understand about this thread go on, but I'll stop there.

 

[moop]

You will cycle through so many more major/minor combos throughout the rest of the ~2 years in your high school career that if you make a thread about each and every one of them on SDN, you won't get quite as high as you otherwise would have on your SAT and high school GPA, which are far more important things in your life right now you should be worrying about.

 

[intangible]

NEURO IS NOT PSYCH.

Something like a neurophysiology laboratory or intro to the nervous system will in no way, shape or form resemble cognitive psychology etc. Different fields.

Until you get to the neuroscience core curriculum (which is usually about 15 credit hours' worth, too) you're basically taking psychology courses punctuated by a few biology or anatomy courses. There's no need to get emotional about it, it is what it is. A BS in Neuroscience very rarely encompasses more than your biology requirements for medical school.

Neurology, on the other hand, is very different from psychology. Neuroscience programs, however, are almost always exclusively held within the departments of psychology at their corresponding universities. Including mine.

 

[cidem2065]

I realized that I forgot to mention I hope to actually get involved in politics later on in my career. I realize you don't need to study poli sci in college to become a politican, but I assume I'd learn more about gov't and history..so a minor in poli sci could actually help acheive my goal. But, at the end of the day, a career in politics isn't stable and my #1 goal is to become a doctor, so I guess maybe I should drop the poli sci minor..what do you think? and thanks for all your help 🙂

Is your last name Paul?

 

[efle]

Agree to disagree. I am a Neuroscience major and my classes have had zero overlap with the stuff in my psych minor save one class (cognitive Neuroscience). Must be different at other universities.

 

[Baron Samedi]

personally (I'm not premed but now desperately wish I were), if I were in your spot, I'd major or minor in something quantitatively based: It makes physics and chem a LOT easier. Physics has a lot of calculus in it, and the kind of thinking you need in math is useful for chemistry I hear. If I had it to do again, I would do it either

(non-elite school where major seriously matters)
double major: Math and Chemistry
minor: finance/accounting

(elite school where you're assumed to be smart no matter what)
major: mathematics or computer science
minor: physics

Also, the quant stuff gives you an easy out if you don't make med or dental school, and PA/nursing is not your thing.

That poli sci business does put you in a spot of having to talk about political views. IMO, thats a no-no. If you have left-of-center views and the interviewer is tea party, or you have conservative views and the interview is Occupy Wall Street (academia leans left), you could ding yourself right there and then.

I would do pretty much the exact opposite of anything this guy tells you.

 

[moop]

I would do pretty much the exact opposite of anything this guy tells you.

Obvious troll/idiot was obvious

 

[intangible]

Agree to disagree. I am a Neuroscience major and my classes have had zero overlap with the stuff in my psych minor save one class (cognitive Neuroscience). Must be different at other universities.

Interesting. It definitely varies based on what university you go to and how they define neuroscience. Seeing as it's a highly interdisciplinary field with very (read: VERY) broad boundaries, some schools will even house it outside of the natural sciences and consider it a humanities track major—I've seen this happen to a lot of psychology/sociology/social science-based majors, too. Some schools throw the baby out with the bathwater and try to teach something akin to neurology, but that's so, so wrong on so, so many levels. /facepalm

A good neuroscience program is usually geared toward understanding behavior (psychology) through a biological or biochemical lens. Which is awesome in its own respect—but in terms of premed reqs, you're probably not going to get a whole lot of them down with a neuroscience major. Add in an ancillary clinical psychology minor (is that even a thing?) which puts you down for an extra semester of redundant crap you don't need + political science which is altogether irrelevant to getting into medical school (the OP actually wants to learn something like public health or health services administration), and I see the OP getting excessively stressed over a bunch of tedious topics, ultimately for naught.

An adcom can look at that application and either think "this person is really passionate/driven" or "this person is really indecisive/unstrategic." That depends, too.

 

[neur0goddess]

personally (I'm not premed but now desperately wish I were), if I were in your spot, I'd major or minor in something quantitatively based: It makes physics and chem a LOT easier. Physics has a lot of calculus in it, and the kind of thinking you need in math is useful for chemistry I hear. If I had it to do again, I would do it either

(non-elite school where major seriously matters)
double major: Math and Chemistry
minor: finance/accounting

(elite school where you're assumed to be smart no matter what)
major: mathematics or computer science
minor: physics

Also, the quant stuff gives you an easy out if you don't make med or dental school, and PA/nursing is not your thing.

That poli sci business does put you in a spot of having to talk about political views. IMO, thats a no-no. If you have left-of-center views and the interviewer is tea party, or you have conservative views and the interview is Occupy Wall Street (academia leans left), you could ding yourself right there and then.

Couldn't I just politely give vague answers? Or would adcoms prefer a candidate that establishes themselves emphatically despite others potentially disagreeing? Cuz personally, I'd had far more respect for a student who didn't care what people thought of him (to a certain extent)

 

[neur0goddess]

Hmm, but do you ever get the feeling that undergraduate education is sort of lacking for your goals?
I feel like you would learn more if you did some sort of research relevant to your interest rather than take those minors.

For instance, my major is Cell Bio. Yet, I've learned a lot about neuroscience by reading directly from the scientific literature and doing the research with faculty rather than take a couple of courses about it. In the end, I knew more neuro than the psych majors who have taken neuro coursework.

Perhaps you can find faculty to do epidemiological studies as health policy seems to be something you're interested in. From personal experience, I feel that you would accomplish more in doing research and reading the literature with your PI than you would just taking those courses.

Furthermore, adcoms don't really care so much about minors. If you were to express that you wanted to be politically involved, they would probably ask, "what have you actually done to show your interest in health policy?" A minor would not be sufficient in supporting this interest. You would have to have some sort of EC to show that you are actively involved in health policy. Again, doing research with faculty would adequately show this interest although there are other means of showing your interest.

Have you considered getting an MD/MPH?

Sorry, what is a PI? And yeah, I get what you're saying about showing interest..I was thinking of just joining a couple clubs, maybe getting a leadership position..would that be sufficient enough for adcoms? & yes I have!! It sounds really cool but I don't know much about it..

 

[neur0goddess]

I see the OP getting excessively stressed over a bunch of tedious topics, ultimately for naught.

An adcom can look at that application and either think "this person is really passionate/driven" or "this person is really indecisive/unstrategic." That depends, too.

this is exactly what I'm scared of

 

[moop]

this is exactly what I'm scared of

Which is why it is time to stop thinking 2 years in advance before you even know what college you're going to. You've gotten this advice a lot already and I don't see why you're blatantly ignoring it

 

[Holmwood]

Sorry, what is a PI? And yeah, I get what you're saying about showing interest..I was thinking of just joining a couple clubs, maybe getting a leadership position..would that be sufficient enough for adcoms? & yes I have!! It sounds really cool but I don't know much about it..

PI means principal investigator. Basically the boss of the research project. Typically faculty members if the research is in academia.

I've never been a fan of clubs, so I can't give you an unbiased answer. Sorry. : /

 

[FutureOncologist]

I see this stuff on hSDN and tell them the same thing. Do what you wanna do. Get the premed reqs done while doing what you love. If you like all that stuff and don't mind the stress that comes with all of that, then do it. Doing ANYTHING just to make yourself look better on paper = adcoms will see through it and look down upon that.