Hello guys, I’m going to try to condense this post as much as I can. I’m very stuck right now on choosing psychology’s or philosophy as a major. I thoroughly enjoy both and would love to major in either but both have pros and cons.
Philosophy:
Pros:
Uniqueness of the major is said to be favorable when looked at by medical schools.
It improves your writing and analysis skills.
It has very fascinating courses like The Theory of Knowledge and Metaphysics.
Cons:
It may significantly drop my GPA as opposed to psychology due to the amount of writing assignments given and the harshness of the graders. Some professors have favorites and It sucks because grading written work is subjective.
I’m a sophomore so I only have 5 semesters left. Philosophy being 30 credits (27 being “writing intensive”) means I have to take 2-3 every semester to graduate within 4 years. That means a ton of writing every semester on top of orgo, biochem, bio, etc.
Limited time for extracirriculars because I will be taking 2 science courses, 2 philo courses, and a side course (at the bare minimum) every semester. When I’m done with science courses (senior year), I’ll be taking a bunch of the core requirements and multiple upper level philosophy courses. It will be extremely hard to place for certain extracirriculars during the week that aren’t flexible with their times.
Cannot realistically fall back on the degree.
Psychology:
Pros:
It is related to philosophy and is a very interesting field if taken seriously and studied at a higher level than the [basic] level most people assume It has.
I do research at a biopsych lab that studies behavior and they told me I could use the lab for academic credit if I was part of the psych major.
It will be much easier to have time to do an honors thesis with the more available time I have, due to the lack of writing assignments.
I will have much more space to fit in extracirriculars because I’ve already taken 3 courses toward the major as opposed to 1 for philosophy.
I may be able to spend more time on my research and be able to go farther in depth with It because of the available time.
My GPA will be much higher due to psychology courses boosting It up if I put in the effort for some of the upper level psychology courses.
Can reaslistically fall back on the degree if medical school is unattainable for whatever reason.
Cons:
It has the stigma attached to It of being a very easy major or a low-thinking major.
I’m not sure on medical schools’ opinions about the major and whether they think lowly of someone who majored in It over another non-science major.
I’m sorry that this is a lot to read and I tried to summarize It as much as possible. I’m not sure if I’m missing anything but I just wanted some opinions because this has been the main thing I’ve been debating for the past 2 weeks and I just want It out of my mind. Thank you in advance!
Philosophy:
Pros:
Uniqueness of the major is said to be favorable when looked at by medical schools.
It improves your writing and analysis skills.
It has very fascinating courses like The Theory of Knowledge and Metaphysics.
Cons:
It may significantly drop my GPA as opposed to psychology due to the amount of writing assignments given and the harshness of the graders. Some professors have favorites and It sucks because grading written work is subjective.
I’m a sophomore so I only have 5 semesters left. Philosophy being 30 credits (27 being “writing intensive”) means I have to take 2-3 every semester to graduate within 4 years. That means a ton of writing every semester on top of orgo, biochem, bio, etc.
Limited time for extracirriculars because I will be taking 2 science courses, 2 philo courses, and a side course (at the bare minimum) every semester. When I’m done with science courses (senior year), I’ll be taking a bunch of the core requirements and multiple upper level philosophy courses. It will be extremely hard to place for certain extracirriculars during the week that aren’t flexible with their times.
Cannot realistically fall back on the degree.
Psychology:
Pros:
It is related to philosophy and is a very interesting field if taken seriously and studied at a higher level than the [basic] level most people assume It has.
I do research at a biopsych lab that studies behavior and they told me I could use the lab for academic credit if I was part of the psych major.
It will be much easier to have time to do an honors thesis with the more available time I have, due to the lack of writing assignments.
I will have much more space to fit in extracirriculars because I’ve already taken 3 courses toward the major as opposed to 1 for philosophy.
I may be able to spend more time on my research and be able to go farther in depth with It because of the available time.
My GPA will be much higher due to psychology courses boosting It up if I put in the effort for some of the upper level psychology courses.
Can reaslistically fall back on the degree if medical school is unattainable for whatever reason.
Cons:
It has the stigma attached to It of being a very easy major or a low-thinking major.
I’m not sure on medical schools’ opinions about the major and whether they think lowly of someone who majored in It over another non-science major.
I’m sorry that this is a lot to read and I tried to summarize It as much as possible. I’m not sure if I’m missing anything but I just wanted some opinions because this has been the main thing I’ve been debating for the past 2 weeks and I just want It out of my mind. Thank you in advance!
