<p>so...i think i should/want to change my major from biochem to cognitive neuroscience.</p>
<p>ive kept bombing the finals for the chem6 series and sliding by on the midterms. which had caused me to have to retake a. and..probably b, too since i got a d in it..</p>
<p>i am just confused right now and frustrated with my idiocy because ive thought i had been doing fine (midterms were decent, not good but not bad either).</p>
<p>i was thinking of switching to cognitive neuroscience..but i am not too sure. which is why im here posting/asking and being annoying.
my embarrassment about this renders me..unable to seek advice from anyone face-to-face.</p>
<p>uhm, so i guess i just want another opinion please? on whether a should change my major from biochem to cognitive neuroscience.</p>
<p>i dont really know anything the latter (nor my current major)..as in jobs i could get with a degree in it or what it really entails (besides the basics).</p>
<p>but the topic has always intrigued me...but as far as studying it though, im not too sure.</p>
<p>i had been thinking about lab jobs or possibly something involving businesses/corporations? im rather ignorant here..uh i had googled, but i guess im just hoping for insight from something other than a website.</p>
<p>thanks if you have the patience to reply and read my entire post.</p>
<p>Neither major pigeonholes you into anything that seems directly relevant to them.</p>
<p>At the job I just left as a financial consultant, there was a recent Philosophy grad with no background in business or finance. I have bio and engineering friends who are now in law school. I have math friends who are now in business/actuarial sciences.</p>
<p>The point is you’re oversimplifying your future prospects based on your major. Biochem jobs can be seen as fairly streamlined for jobs in labs, r&d, pharma, etc., but this doesn’t necessarily take you out of the running if you want to go into business.</p>
<p>CogSci is a lot more broad and there are many qualitatively different fields within it: cognitive psychology, neuroscience, human computer interaction, artificial intelligence, etc. Which specialization or topic you end up being most adept in will probably determine the most obvious career paths for you. Typically, though, all these topics do lead into jobs in labs and r&d in industry, too.</p>
<p>Have you taken any CogSci classes or taken a CogNeuro class before?</p>
<p>@Oyama
thanks for the reply.
i feel a little less uneasy.</p>
<p>i have not taken any cogsci or cogneuro classes (just GEs, chem6 series, and math20 series).</p>
<p>maybe i should try taking a lower division cogsci/cogneuro course that could fulfill a GE (in case i dont switch majors so i dont “waste” time) to see if it suits me?</p>
<p>Even if it doesn’t count as a GE, take a CogSci class. If you’re thinking about CogNeuro, look at COGS17 with Christine Johnson. She’s a great professor and it’s a great survey class of the different facets in CogNeuro. Furthermore, if you take an actual introductory survey class like COGS1, you’ll see all the different fields within CogSci. Maybe CogNeuro isn’t your thing and you like robotics and artificial intelligence? You’ll never know unless you try it out.</p>
<p>If you’re only considering CogNeuro because you think it’s a pseudo-hard science, cut it out. Major in something you like and/or are good at. You’re going to regret your decisions if you choose a major that you hate and are also bad at since this mixture also makes it difficult for one to find a job, especially in this economy (ask all the recent graduates and the graduates from 2010 that still don’t have jobs).</p>
<p>I came in thinking I knew what I wanted to do with my life and entered as a CompEng major. After a year, I switched into Math/Econ and a year after that, I began majoring in Psychology. Social sciences have somewhat of a stigma at UCSD (given that over half the school seems to be pre-med/phys science/engineer), but I enjoyed my time at UCSD and now I’m starting a doctorate at a top school in a field that’s very lucrative at the moment. Maybe all the stars aligned <em>just</em> for me, but it’s likelier that when you’re doing something you like makes it feel a whole lot less like work, and makes it so much easier to excel at it.</p>
<p>I think you should probably switch out of biochemistry, as the 6 series is basically the basics and sort of foundation of chem, and if you are having trouble with that, chem is probably not your strong suit. If you are biochem/bio and not biochem/chem, then you might consider trying out some of the other biology majors, specifically physiology and neuroscience since that might interest you. Also, since biology is impacted it’d be hard to jump back in after a few changes. But if you are biochem/chem ignore what I just said.
Also if you genuinely have an interest in cognitive science, especially after taking a few of the courses, you should definitely change. It’s always to be in something you’re good at and like, then otherwise. The classes I took to fulfill a GE from cogs were Cogs 11 with mary boyle and 17 with christine johnson so far.
I thought Cogs 11 went into a larger variety of subjects in cognitive science and the experiments and material discussed were pretty interesting and not too overwhelming, but the instructor was though interesting a bit scattered at times and hard to know what will be tested, and I hear mixed reviews on class difficulty.
I thought cogs 17 was more in-depth and focused on neurobiology, but professor was very clear about what was to be studied so even though there was a lot of detail it wasn’t bad with time and effort. Yet, since it only meets twice a week, the lectures are longer and can get tiring especially with all the information given, but in both classes material is posted online. Cogs 17 has detailed lecture info sheets with the entire contents of the lecture, while cogs 11 has slides that are a little harder to get and require listening to a podcast to get it all. But that’s specifically for the two teachers I took, but I’d say COGS 11 is what got me really interested in cogs and interested in minoring in it.
Sorry this is a bit long, but also consider other majors as well. Psychology might be interesting. Also since you took the 20 series you have a lot of options open to you, if you’re good at it, then econ could also be a choice since you said business interested you. Also most majors have various job opportunities as long as you do well in them and take advantages of practical opportunities like research and internships. But if you really want some higher jobs, you might want to consider higher education or really start networking and looking for other opportunities.</p>
<p>@Oyama
thanks for the course recommendation. ill probably do that this upcoming quarter.</p>
<p>tbh, im not sure what im good at. the only thing ive <em>always</em> done well in is english class/english-type classes. but, that’s not a subject i particularly enjoy (although getting good grades in those subjects were definitely morale-boosters).</p>
<p>im always fascinated by science and technology and then again things like business and stocks–but the thing is, i dont know if i would do well studying them. i dont know if i would enjoy being immersed in that sort of stuff or if it is just that i just enjoy hearing about how other people succeed in those fields.</p>
<p>that also contributes to my confusion and instability in what i want or should do as far as my major goes.</p>
<p>but, really, thank you for your very good replies. theyre really helpful.</p>
<p>@Stigmata7
i know! that irritates me more. i can do the ARIS hw for the chem6 series with little reference to the book, but idk what’s up with me and the finals/midterms. especially since it “should” be the most simple.</p>
<p>thanks for the insight to those cogs courses. ill definitely get into doing those.</p>
<p>yes, i think as well that i should look into other majors too.
when i took AP Psychology, it kind of covered many related subjects as well (briefly). and what had intrigued me most was the parts about the brain…but i actually enjoyed all of the other topics too.</p>
<p>ah, im just in a confused state right now. indecisive and such.</p>
<p>thank you for your replies, they are very helpful.</p>
<p>It seems like you have a wide area of interests (science, business, cogs, etc) and you have picked cogsci randomly (without taking the classes) when you could be exploring so many options. I would say don’t change out of your biochem major just yet, because its difficult to get back into the impacted bio department after you change, so keep it until you’re absolutely sure you’re not going to change into another bio major. </p>
<p>However, instead of just jumping into cogsci, pick a handful of classes from a variety of departments. I started out as an undeclared leaning towards biochem but took random courses from language, literature, sociology, economics, etc classes just for fun. So I ended up doubling in the social sciences and humanities areas. It was all so interesting that I would’ve added another minor if I could have finished in four years.</p>
<p>Go check out the majors page and click on any department website’s link if you find it even remotely interesting, then read about the departments, courses, and course descriptions on there.
[Undergraduate</a> Majors at UCSD](<a href=“http://students.ucsd.edu/academics/advising/majors-minors/undergraduate-majors.html]Undergraduate”>Undergraduate Majors at UC San Diego)
I probably explored just about every page just to get a better look at my possible options. Pick some random ones, including cogs, and if you don’t have a good feel for it, you have a good 4 weeks to drop the class. Many of the quarters I made lists of five or six classes and narrow it down after I attend a few of the lectures. </p>
<p>With most colleges, you should be able to finish in four years even with all the extra classes if you plan correctly by taking 4 or 5 a quarter, or take summer sessions. I definitely think it’s worth it. In addition, a lot of my 'for fun" classes ended up qualifying for a lot of GEs.</p>