Switching Majors

[David1991]

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Hey guys,

I'm pre-med but since major doesn't matter for that I'm a psych major. I'm considering switching to Health and exercise science as a major though since I have a big interest in exercise and nutrition and I'm pretty sure all of those who major are set up to get certified after graduation (not that I care that much about that but it's a nice benefit).

I guess I'm just a little concerned about 1.) if it will at all look bad as a major and 2.) if having my pre-med sciences on top of those sciences will be too much at once.

Any input would be appreciated,
Thank a lot


By the way looking at http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/214387-what-should-premed-major.html, I imagine Health and Exercise Science would fall under "Specialized Health Sciences" and at the bottom someone comments that a "serious" major might be better than "exercise biology" which is pretty close it seems.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

If it interest you go for it.. Major honestly doesnt matter and as long as your not a nursing major.. your chances of getting into medical school are just as good as if you were a psych major.

 

[David1991]

If it interest you go for it.. Major honestly doesnt matter and as long as your not a nursing major.. your chances of getting into medical school are just as good as if you were a psych major.

Yea I figured it was at least more relevant than a psych major but I was/am a little worried about the admissions boards not thinking I was taking a serious enough major. I know and have read so much about how specific major doesn't matter, I guess I just don't want them to think I'm not serious.

Any opinion on having all those science classes at once though? I guess it would be the same or harder for chem/bio/etc. majors, I'm just thinking a semester of something like orgo, physics, anatomy, and some other science all at once could be a little rough but it seems like the HES classes are easier

Otherwise it does seem much more interesting, although I've heard a lot of the information on nutrition is extremely outdated which really annoys me but I don't think that would stop me from switching to it.

Any other opinions are still appreciated. More so about the difficulty, I'm actually hoping its easy as somewhat of a break from the more difficult pre med requirements

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Yea I figured it was at least more relevant than a psych major but I was/am a little worried about the admissions boards not thinking I was taking a serious enough major. I know and have read so much about how specific major doesn't matter, I guess I just don't want them to think I'm not serious.

Any opinion on having all those science classes at once though? I guess it would be the same or harder for chem/bio/etc. majors, I'm just thinking a semester of something like orgo, physics, anatomy, and some other science all at once could be a little rough but it seems like the HES classes are easier

Otherwise it does seem much more interesting, although I've heard a lot of the information on nutrition is extremely outdated which really annoys me but I don't think that would stop me from switching to it.

Any other opinions are still appreciated. More so about the difficulty, I'm actually hoping its easy as somewhat of a break from the more difficult pre med requirements

I'm a psych major I think its a pretty relevant degree since your working with people. Nutrition is boring.. Really its considered one of those easy A majors. But you should probably know that just because psych or humanities is easy for you, that doesnt mean that its easy for another person. There are no non-serious majors frankly, and psych i consider it in itself probably one of the more useful in life majors. But yes, you shouldnt be taking more then 2 science courses per semester, 3 if you have to and if you do you'd best be taking just those 3 classes.
I'd say that you should take physic + orgo your sophmore year, and then a few upper level bio's like physiology,cell bio, molecular , genetics your 3rd year.
You shouldnt have much trouble spreading out your classes and you should consider scheduling the future classes. I've already scheduled my classes till graduation.

But anyway to a pre-med commite it doesnt matter what you major in, you can major in art history with a 3.8 complete the pre-reqs + a few upper level classes and with a decent mcat get into medical school. I would probably say that being a humanities major might just give you a possible edge on the admission capability.

 

[David1991]

I'm a psych major I think its a pretty relevant degree since your working with people. Nutrition is boring.. Really its considered one of those easy A majors. But you should probably know that just because psych or humanities is easy for you, that doesnt mean that its easy for another person. There are no non-serious majors frankly, and psych i consider it in itself probably one of the more useful in life majors. But yes, you shouldnt be taking more then 2 science courses per semester, 3 if you have to and if you do you'd best be taking just those 3 classes.
I'd say that you should take physic + orgo your sophmore year, and then a few upper level bio's like physiology,cell bio, molecular , genetics your 3rd year.
You shouldnt have much trouble spreading out your classes and you should consider scheduling the future classes. I've already scheduled my classes till graduation.

But anyway to a pre-med commite it doesnt matter what you major in, you can major in art history with a 3.8 complete the pre-reqs + a few upper level classes and with a decent mcat get into medical school. I would probably say that being a humanities major might just give you a possible edge on the admission capability.

I do think psych can be relevant, I guess I meant just having a psych degree. I find psych interesting as well but I have a passion for working out, nutrition, etc..so that's part of the reason I'm thinking of switching as well.

As for sciences, what would you suggest then? I do plan on taking physics and orgo my sophomore year actually but if I was a Health and Exercise Science major then I would need that major's sciences as well. From what I hear though those sciences are much easier than the pre-med sciences, do you know anything about that?

In case anyone is interested I attached the document with the requirements on it, and crossed out the stuff I'd already have credit for (both of my psych classes would transfer over as the 2 "social science" classes from what I can tell).

 

[David1991]

Oh yea, important question: Med schools look at overall gpa and "science gpa", I would imagine psych classes don't count towards science GPA but would these classes count or do they only count the required pre-med classes? If these classes count and psych classes don't then that could be another advantage of switching because it would probably raise my science GPA.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Psych classes dont count usually with the exception of cognitive and neuroscience courses.
Nutrition also doesnt count for science gpa. If you actually like those things go for it..

Also medical schools count all BCMP - Bio,chem,math,physics courses. Neuroscience and psychology is a very weak line and could be played out. I know personally that i'll be taking neurophysiology and cognitive sciences in my psych major because they have a high chance of passing out as neuroscience.

But yes.. Dont expect social psychology or intro psych to pass as BCMP. I personally dont agree with this, because i think that psychology is very much science and that it deserves its place in BCMP.

 

[David1991]

Psych classes dont count usually with the exception of cognitive and neuroscience courses.
Nutrition also doesnt count for science gpa. If you actually like those things go for it..

Also medical schools count all BCMP - Bio,chem,math,physics courses. Neuroscience and psychology is a very weak line and could be played out. I know personally that i'll be taking neurophysiology and cognitive sciences in my psych major because they have a high chance of passing out as neuroscience.

But yes.. Dont expect social psychology or intro psych to pass as BCMP. I personally dont agree with this, because i think that psychology is very much science and that it deserves its place in BCMP.

Thanks for the info. By the way it isn't a "nutrition" major. Most are anatomy and physiology related classes. These are clearly what anyone would define as sciences but from what your saying it doesn't seem like it would count towards science major?

These are all the requirements for the Health and Exercise Science major by the way


HES 160 Health & Wellness Issues
HES 172 Foundations of Health & Exercise Science
HES 203 Anatomy & Physiology
HES 204 Anatomy & Kinesiology OR HES 205 Applied Anat. & Phys*HES 311 Applied Physiology
HES 301 Biomechanics
HES 350 Nutrition and Metabolism
HES 302 Assessment & Eval of Human Performance Research
HES 405 Guidelines for Allied Health Professionals
HES 410 Exercise Physiology And Exercise Prescription
HES 493 Internship
HES 497 Seminar in Hlth & Ex Sci
Elective i.e. HES 450 Physiology of Resistance Training)

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

I wouldnt think most nutrition classes are physiology heavy... You'll sure be talking about how certain organic molecules help the body works. But your not really getting much real scientific data in that. I think that there will be some courses that you might need such as biochem..

But again im under the impression that nutrition is somewhat chem based, it might be completely the oppesite

I think anatomy will get you something..
Applied physio wont..
metabolism.. hmm idk possibiliy..

who knows..

 

[David1991]

I wouldnt think most nutrition classes are physiology heavy... You'll sure be talking about how certain organic molecules help the body works. But your not really getting much real scientific data in that. I think that there will be some courses that you might need such as biochem..

But again im under the impression that nutrition is somewhat chem based, it might be completely the oppesite

I think anatomy will get you something..
Applied physio wont..
metabolism.. hmm idk possibiliy..

who knows..

Well yea of course nutrition classes wouldn't be like a physiology class, but most of the classes mentioned aren't nutrition classes. There's 1-2.

By "get you something" I assume you mean valuable information or something?

I'd actually be excited about switching but I have this nagging feeling like it will be looked down upon during admissions since it's considered by many to be so easy. Of course I'd be taking all the pre med classes plus I would try to fit in biochemistry, microanatomy and microbiology too though...

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Well yea of course nutrition classes wouldn't be like a physiology class, but most of the classes mentioned aren't nutrition classes. There's 1-2.

By "get you something" I assume you mean valuable information or something?

I'd actually be excited about switching but I have this nagging feeling like it will be looked down upon during admissions since it's considered by many to be so easy. Of course I'd be taking all the pre med classes plus I would try to fit in biochemistry, microanatomy and microbiology too though...

I mean you might be able to say its science. Micro-anatomy? Thats histology lol.

 

[Titan Uranus]

Go for it. You should major in studying something you're passionate about. Just make sure that you can maintain a good GPA though.

 

[David1991]

Go for it. You should major in studying something you're passionate about. Just make sure that you can maintain a good GPA though.

Yea I think my main concern now is that it will be looked at as "taking it easy" by the acceptance committees which is the last thing I would want.

 

[mikeg1991]

I would probably say that being a humanities major might just give you a possible edge on the admission capability.

Thank you so much. You just helped me decide on my major. I was deciding between Anthropology and History, but now im gonna stick with History. I first thought that Anthro would give me an edge, but recently a lot of pre-meds are majoring in humanities and have got accepted to med schools

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Thank you so much. You just helped me decide on my major. I was deciding between Anthropology and History, but now im gonna stick with History. I first thought that Anthro would give me an edge, but recently a lot of pre-meds are majoring in humanities and have got accepted to med schools

Anthro is the study of culture... How is that not a humanities? Realistically history and anthro are both social sciences and are humanities.
You should major in what you like... Not what you think will give you a edge.. I say that humanities are liked by medical schools, but if they have a bio major with a 3,7 and you have a history major with 3.6 you wont get the spot.
Umm.. However if history gets you off then you'll get a good gpa and be able to study better and learn better study skills nothing more.

 

[mikeg1991]

^ sorry I thought anthropology was a social science. Are you also saying that history wont benefit me career wise if I choose not to go to med school?

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

^ sorry I thought anthropology was a social science. Are you also saying that history wont benefit me career wise if I choose not to go to med school?

Social sciences = the science of the humanities. ( I personally consider humanities anything that isn't physical science.

No im saying that history could be beneficial, if you like history because psychologically its shown you learn and understand study methods better from things you enjoy. For example if you love biology you'll learn study methods are are intensely better then if you learn it from a major your not as in love with.
So major in what you like, not what you think will give you the edge. Why medical schools like humanities majors is because they usually understand the principle stated above and as such are capable of studying hard. However statistically speaking this means that if someone is a humanities major v.s a bio major and the bio one has higher stats, then it'll get the spot.

However history if you like it, like i personally do. Then go for it, you can always teach history or become a historian if medical school fails.

So consider this all very hard.

 

[Morsetlis]

My friend got into Harvard with an Econ major.

Keep your grades high and stop worrying.

 

[Morsetlis]

However history if you like it, like i personally do. Then go for it, you can always teach history or become a historian if medical school fails.

You can teach history... to middle school kids with a BA history degree. And even then you'd probably need an Education degree or minor unless you want to work only as a substitute.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

You can teach history... to middle school kids with a BA history degree. And even then you'd probably need an Education degree or minor unless you want to work only as a substitute.

Um my non-ap history classes are(were) taught by B.A's. History B.A's make up the main work force of the social studies department in high schools.

But i was talking about more like a PhD in history and becoming a historian.

 

[Evergrey]

Hey guys,

I'm pre-med but since major doesn't matter for that I'm a psych major. I'm considering switching to Health and exercise science as a major though since I have a big interest in exercise and nutrition and I'm pretty sure all of those who major are set up to get certified after graduation (not that I care that much about that but it's a nice benefit).

I guess I'm just a little concerned about 1.) if it will at all look bad as a major and 2.) if having my pre-med sciences on top of those sciences will be too much at once.

Any input would be appreciated,
Thank a lot


By the way looking at http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/214387-what-should-premed-major.html, I imagine Health and Exercise Science would fall under "Specialized Health Sciences" and at the bottom someone comments that a "serious" major might be better than "exercise biology" which is pretty close it seems.

I don't think your undergrad major really matters. Having a non-chem, non-biology major can actually be a great benefit because it already makes you seem just a tad bit more interesting than the average pre-med. Of course, you should be able to passionately explain why you chose your major over one that would be more appropriate preparation. And if you rock your prereqs and take 1-3 upper level science classes, there will be zero reason to doubt your ability to succeed in medical school.

The enlightened man/woman recognizes that major difficulty depends much more on the institution than the major itself (I'm fairly certain that some of the "cake" majors at my school would rock the socks off of the "hard" majors at other schools, and vice versa). Pick a major that gives you intellectual satisfaction -- college is one of the most intellectually free times of your life (if you've ever worked for a corporation, you know what I mean) and you better do everything you can do take advantage of this opportunity!

All of that being said (and to echo what the link said), Health & Exercise Science has quite the reputation for being a non-rigorous, non-intellectual major. That may not at all be the case at your school, but make sure that your major challenges you academically, because you will need to learn how to deal with stress and overworking for a significant portion of your life.

 

[David1991]

I was going to start a new thread but hopefully people will still see this bumped

I found this link http://www.colorado.edu/aac/table1.pdf and http://www.knox.edu/statistics.xml

and although the "major doesn't matter" trend seems to follow for almost everything, "health related professions" majors seem to be significantly lower. So does it matter then? It seems like "Health and Exercise Science" would fall under that catergory.

Before I was thinking how it's probably more correlation than causation (i.e. the people who are health majors on average aren't as prepared or smart as bio majors and I just wouldn't fall into that average) but nursing and physical therapist majors from what I can tell definitely aren't "dumb" so what's the reasoning??

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Its more about how there are shortages in allied health fields. As such taking away members of them is not good.

 

[David1991]

Its more about how there are shortages in allied health fields. As such taking away members of them is not good.

So that would apply to a health and exercise science major?