Psychology or biology

[Aspiringdoctor_56]

I really love pyschology so I'm considering it as a major. I'm currently a bio major. I thought bio was gonna be like high school but I feel like I have no interest anymore. It's so boring to me rn. I just think that I would hate being forced to memorize a bunch of complex terms as I take upper level classes junior and senior year. However I want to be a medical lab technician or technologist. Would getting a BS in pysch with a pre med track in case I do end up getting into med school be a good plan? I would still take all the pre reqs to be a MLT

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[Eccesignum]

You can do whatever major you want. Long as you get your pre-requisites in (and I do suggest some other upper-level science classes if you can fit them in, as things like cell biology can really benefit), keep your cGPA and sGPA high, and do well on the MCAT you'll be in fine position.

 

[Aspiringdoctor_56]

You can do whatever major you want. Long as you get your pre-requisites in (and I do suggest some other upper-level science classes if you can fit them in, as things like cell biology can really benefit), keep your cGPA and sGPA high, and do well on the MCAT you'll be in fine position.

Would I still be fine if I decided to become a medical lab technician?

 

[ROSC]

I really love pyschology so I'm considering it as a major. I'm currently a bio major. I thought bio was gonna be like high school but I feel like I have no interest anymore. It's so boring to me rn. I just think that I would hate being forced to memorize a bunch of complex terms as I take upper level classes junior and senior year. However I want to be a medical lab technician or technologist. Would getting a BS in pysch with a pre med track in case I do end up getting into med school be a good plan? I would still take all the pre reqs to be a MLT

OP ....You may want to re-consider med school. You will be "forced to memorize a bunch of complex terms" once you'd get there.

 

[Eccesignum]

Would I still be fine if I decided to become a medical lab technician?

You mean, can you major in psych and become a medical lab technician? I would assume there's a way, but I'd have to wonder if you'd enjoy working in a lab if you don't like hard science. If you enjoy psychology why not look into that field for a career?

 

[Aspiringdoctor_56]

You mean, can you major in psych and become a medical lab technician? I would assume there's a way, but I'd have to wonder if you'd enjoy working in a lab if you don't like hard science. If you enjoy psychology why not look into that field for a career?

I enjoy the hands on aspect of the lab

 

[wholeheartedly]

Just get a bachelors in medical lab science and minor in psych, or double major. Then you're taking something that can get you gainful employment if you need it as well as something you are interested in. Although really you should be interested in both. A good BS program in clinical lab science will have you taking most of classes you need for med school pre reqs (the actual for science majors version of the pre reqs, not lightweight non major versions). It also will give you a taste of medical school type content like hematology, immunology, clinical microbiology. If you don't like those courses, med school probably isn't for you. But you'll have good job prospects and you can work for a bit if you need more time to figure things out.

I would not recommend doing just a 2 year MLT, its too much of a pay cut if you're rventually going to get a four year degree.

~Wholeheartedly, MLS(ASCP)

 

[wholeheartedly]

i should also note that general biology, ecology, general chemistry classes all made me wonder what the heck I was doing majoring in science. I didn't like any of them. But I loved more advanced stuff like cell bio, physiology, and biochemistry. When I did the CLS program, I loved (and I mean loved to the point my mom was making fun of me for being so excited about what I was learning) every single one of my classes except the management one.

 

[wholeheartedly]

Just get a bachelors in medical lab science and minor in psych, or double major. Then you're taking something that can get you gainful employment if you need it as well as something you are interested in. Although really you should be interested in both. A good BS program in clinical lab science will have you taking most of classes you need for med school pre reqs (the actual for science majors version of the pre reqs, not lightweight non major versions). It also will give you a taste of medical school type content like hematology, immunology, clinical microbiology. If you don't like those courses, med school probably isn't for you. But you'll have good job prospects and you can work for a bit if you need more time to figure things out.

I would not recommend doing just a 2 year MLT, its too much of a pay cut if you're rventually going to get a four year degree.

~Wholeheartedly, MLS(ASCP)

P.S. CLS has a ton of memorization also.

 

[Aspiringdoctor_56]

Just get a bachelors in medical lab science and minor in psych, or double major. Then you're taking something that can get you gainful employment if you need it as well as something you are interested in. Although really you should be interested in both. A good BS program in clinical lab science will have you taking most of classes you need for med school pre reqs (the actual for science majors version of the pre reqs, not lightweight non major versions). It also will give you a taste of medical school type content like hematology, immunology, clinical microbiology. If you don't like those courses, med school probably isn't for you. But you'll have good job prospects and you can work for a bit if you need more time to figure things out.

I would not recommend doing just a 2 year MLT, its too much of a pay cut if you're rventually going to get a four year degree.

~Wholeheartedly, MLS(ASCP)

There is no medical lab science major at my school

 

[wholeheartedly]

There is no medical lab science major at my school

So there's no MLS option, just MLT? Or do the just have the certification track for one or both? Is this a university or community college?

 

[Aspiringdoctor_56]

So there's no MLS option, just MLT? Or do the just have the certification track for one or both? Is this a university or community college?

So there's no MLS option, just MLT? Or do the just have the certification track for one or both? Is this a university or community college?

I have an easy time memorizing facts and little details. I already looked at the MLT exam and I think I can handle it. It's just that I hate memorizing certain aspects of biology like ecology and I think my gpa would be higher majoring in pysch. There's no MLS or MLT. This is a university. There is.a medical technology track at the medical school affiliated with the same system my university is in. I think I'm pretty set in majoring in pysch so I could somehow be accepted to an MT program with a BS in pysch if I get the pre reqs in? Oh btw what's a good gpa to get into a MT program? Ik they're pretty competitive but not as much as med school I hope? Is a MLT program at a community college less competitive than one at a university?

 

[wholeheartedly]

I have an easy time memorizing facts and little details. I already looked at the MLT exam and I think I can handle it. It's just that I hate memorizing certain aspects of biology like ecology and I think my gpa would be higher majoring in pysch. There's no MLS or MLT. This is a university. There is.a medical technology track at the medical school affiliated with the same system my university is in. I think I'm pretty set in majoring in pysch so I could somehow be accepted to an MT program with a BS in pysch if I get the pre reqs in? Oh btw what's a good gpa to get into a MT program? Ik they're pretty competitive but not as much as med school I hope? Is a MLT program at a community college less competitive than one at a university?

i'm confused about how you qualified to take the MLT exam without going through a program for it?

The set up usually is MLT is a two year program, either its own assoc. degree that allows you to get certified after completion, or just an option to get certified tacked onto another assoc. sometimes programs are run through a medical center.

Usually the MLS certificatin is tied to completion of a bachelors, either it's own or tied to something else.

Anyway. There are programs where you can do an MLS certification program after earning a BS in something else. Generally, there's a list of prereq courses on the school's website if they offer this. Then you usually complete some additional MLS coursework with a year long practical internship. There are a few different options available.

Now saying all that, if you do a psych degree, AND cover the pre reqs for medical school, AND the pre reqs for the MLS program you are going to be taking a whole lot of classes and spending a lot of money. There a good bit of overlap between the med pre reqs and CLS pre reqs, but some extra classes for sure. Esp. if you then actually get into and complete the MLS program. I'm really not sure I'd recommend that if Med is your end game. Unless you absolutely plan in using the MLS for a few years.

Just using my former state school as an example you'd have, all the classes for your pysch degree plus

Med pre req.
Biology 1.
Biology 2.
Chem 1.
Chem 2.
Ochem 1
O chem 2 or biochem
Physics 1
Physics 2
Language arts class (coverd in psych degree)
Math (poss coverd by stats req for pysch degree)

The MLS pre reqs for someone with a bachelors are
General Chemistry, 2 semesters
Organic Chemistry, 1* semester
Biochemistry, 1* semester
General Biology, 2* semesters
General Microbiology (can substitute MLS 394 for this course), 1* semester
Anatomy, 1* semester
Physiology, 1* semester
MLS 234 - Human Parasitology, 1** semester
MLS 301 - Immunology, 1** semester
MLS 325 - Hematology, 1 semester
MLS 325L - Hematology Laboratory (offered in an intensive hybrid format immediately prior to start of summer courses), 1 semester
MLS 340 - Molecular Diagnostics, 1** semester
Strongly Recommended
MLS 336 - Laboratory Calculations, 1** semester
MLS 394 - Medical Microbiology, 1** semester
*contact academic advisor for a list of approved online course options
** online sections offered

 

[Aspiringdoctor_56]

i'm confused about how you qualified to take the MLT exam without going through a program for it?

The set up usually is MLT is a two year program, either its own assoc. degree that allows you to get certified after completion, or just an option to get certified tacked onto another assoc. sometimes programs are run through a medical center.

Usually the MLS certificatin is tied to completion of a bachelors, either it's own or tied to something else.

Anyway. There are programs where you can do an MLS certification program after earning a BS in something else. Generally, there's a list of prereq courses on the school's website if they offer this. Then you usually complete some additional MLS coursework with a year long practical internship. There are a few different options available.

Now saying all that, if you do a psych degree, AND cover the pre reqs for medical school, AND the pre reqs for the MLS program you are going to be taking a whole lot of classes and spending a lot of money. There a good bit of overlap between the med pre reqs and CLS pre reqs, but some extra classes for sure. Esp. if you then actually get into and complete the MLS program. I'm really not sure I'd recommend that if Med is your end game. Unless you absolutely plan in using the MLS for a few years.

Just using my former state school as an example you'd have, all the classes for your pysch degree plus

Med pre req.
Biology 1.
Biology 2.
Chem 1.
Chem 2.
Ochem 1
O chem 2 or biochem
Physics 1
Physics 2
Language arts class (coverd in psych degree)
Math (poss coverd by stats req for pysch degree)

The MLS pre reqs for someone with a bachelors are
General Chemistry, 2 semesters
Organic Chemistry, 1* semester
Biochemistry, 1* semester
General Biology, 2* semesters
General Microbiology (can substitute MLS 394 for this course), 1* semester
Anatomy, 1* semester
Physiology, 1* semester
MLS 234 - Human Parasitology, 1** semester
MLS 301 - Immunology, 1** semester
MLS 325 - Hematology, 1 semester
MLS 325L - Hematology Laboratory (offered in an intensive hybrid format immediately prior to start of summer courses), 1 semester
MLS 340 - Molecular Diagnostics, 1** semester
Strongly Recommended
MLS 336 - Laboratory Calculations, 1** semester
MLS 394 - Medical Microbiology, 1** semester
*contact academic advisor for a list of approved online course options
** online sections offered

What do you think the best plan for me to follow would be? How high of a gpa do you have to get? Thanks btw for your advice

 

[wholeheartedly]

As for GPA, admission to the MLS program was fairly rigorous, but was not based soly on GPA. I had to write a bunch of essays and get recs as well. Definitely not as rigorous as medical school. The absolute minimum to be considered for my program was 2.8, but if you wanted a spot you really needed like a 3.3 or higher, with strong performance in the science classes. We had a bunch of people in the 3.6-4.0 range in my class.

 

[Aspiringdoctor_56]

As for GPA, admission to the MLS program was fairly rigorous, but was not based soly on GPA. I had to write a bunch of essays and get recs as well. Definitely not as rigorous as medical school. The absolute minimum to be considered for my program was 2.8, but if you wanted a spot you really needed like a 3.3 or higher, with strong performance in the science classes. We had a bunch of people in the 3.6-4.0 range in my class.

I heard MLT is less challenging to get into. I failed gen chem. I'm gonna retake it for at least a B. I 2 C's in my pre reqs freshman year.Would an upward trend be of great value? My first semester didn't go too well...

 

[wholeheartedly]

What do you think the best plan for me to follow would be? How high of a gpa do you have to get? Thanks btw for your advice

I think you need to really do your homework and figure out what you want to do, and invest in that path. I would not try to cover all three directions. Also realize that the more advanced science classes are more interesting, so even if you're bored that might not be a permanent state of affairs.

Quite a few of my traditional route MLS classmates did the MLS degree and minored in psych while covering the pre med pre reqs. It's still extra classes/money, but not as bad. So if you were trying to transfer to an MLS program you could try to take all the pre med reqs and pre MLS reqs for your bio degree, then psych minor classes. If you aren't tied to a location you could go elsewhere.

I dunno. I took a long convulted route and ultimately have a B.S. Biology, B.A.S. Psych, chem minor then later the B.S. in CLS. Long back story, but while I'm happy where I am, I sure as hell wouldn't recommend that path to anyone else. There's a tremendous amount of debt (and I had great scholarships) and lost time.

 

[wholeheartedly]

I heard MLT is less challenging to get into. I failed gen chem. I'm gonna retake it for at least a B. I 2 C's in my pre reqs freshman year.Would an upward trend be of great value? My first semester didn't go too well...

It's somewhat less challenging to get into and complete MLT because its a lower level 2 year degree. You get paid much lower as well. Its not going to be easy though and it won't give you much street cred with a medical school adcom. straight Cs really aren't going to cut it for either.

Your ultimate goal here is to get gainfully employed. Both MLS and MT offer that, but you need to step up your game. Psych can make things a bit trickier for jobs. You should really do some solid career exploration and if you decided to go the MLT/MLS route then you need solid science performance for a semester or two and then go talk to your local program director to get advice in what your chances are and how to improve them.

 

[YellowfinGuy10]

Psychology is a popular major with med school students. As stated before who cares. Get you degree take the pre-reqs and don't worry about it.

 

[esob]

The courses you will take for MLT will be mostly worthless as prereq's for med school. I've got 60 semester hours from GWU's MLT program (a well recognized school) and exactly 0 of them count for med school prereq's. Its one of the reasons I'm doing academic fresh start because my MLT hours are not good for anything. I can also tell you from working in the lab at a level 1 trauma center for years that MLT sucks compared to MT. You get all the work, half the pay and none of the respect or career advancement opportunities. The closest I can equate it to is being an LVN vs being an RN with a BSN.

 

[jl lin]

Psych is a generally useless degree w/o graduate degree/s in terms of employment. I have taught quite a number of nurses who had another undergraduate degree in psych. Unless you are really going to go the long haul, I personally would do it only as a minor, not a major. Perhaps others may differ, but as a back up or something to hold you over, if you need that--IDK, say if you end up needing to do more science coursework, or you need to reapply for MS, or whatever, an undergrad in psych won't do much for you in terms of employment. There are some exceptions, but they don't pay well, and they are usually considered grunt-like in nature--unless you consider something like a mental health tech at a drug rehab/psych facility.

I got a MHA job as one of my jobs while going through nursing school, primarily b/c I had done well in my psychiatric nurse rotations. I was not a psych major, but some of the fellow MHAs were. It was a nice PT gig, and the facility trained me as a MHA while I was in nursing school. So, I ended up holding down two jobs, being married w/ a toddler, and going to nursing school full-time back then. It was a cool job, and I would have stayed on, but I was hot for critical care nursing after I graduated my nursing program, so. . .

 

[TallPreMed]

I ran into a friend from college who majored in psychology. I asked her for a side of Guac and tortilla chips to go with my burrito bowl.

 

[Labrat07]

Medical Technologist is a good job in healthcare. I've been one for 10 years and I like it. My colleague @wholeheartedly gave you a lot of information already. If you have more questions, dont' afraid to ask us.