<p>Hello, I was admitted into the college of arts and sciences and was planning to be a psychology major, planning to be premed. However, afterwards I did a little more research and found that the human development major in humec was what alot of pre-meds were doing, and when I looked at the classes they seemed more centered toward mental health (I want to especially work with children and adolescents), they seem to have much more research opportunities, and just more going on than the traditional psychology major... I get the sense that the traditional psychology major is more for people who want to specifically study an academic area of psychology, and the HD major seems much more professionally-oriented. My question is, are my assumptions basically true? And, are all HD courses availabe for psychology major in A&S and overall, which major/program would be better for a pre-med aspiring to go into psychiatry?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Hi! I’m a rising sophomore HD major and am not pre-med, but know many students who are. You seem to have a good grasp on the difference between the two majors from a pre-med standpoint. The majors have very similar coursework (many classes are cross-listed in both departments), and both allow you to choose a concentration within the field. I recommend looking at the requirements for each major (found here: <a href=“http://psych.cornell.edu/undergraduate”>http://psych.cornell.edu/undergraduate</a> and here: <a href=“http://www.human.cornell.edu/registrar/degree-progress/upload/HD_13-14.pdf”>http://www.human.cornell.edu/registrar/degree-progress/upload/HD_13-14.pdf</a>) to decide which appeals to you more. However, I think the real choice is whether you would rather be in Arts and Sciences or Human Ecology. Generally, Arts and Sciences has a lot of of distribution requirements (required number of sciences, languages, etc) while Human Ecology is more flexible. I’m already finished with all of them (although coming in with AP credit helped a lot) and have plenty of room for electives and for two separate minors completely unrelated to HD. Human Ecology really encourages students to explore, and also emphasizes undergraduate research (I believe we have the highest percentage of undergrads doing research). To me, you sound like a perfect fit- but I may be biased because I absolutely adore the program. Feel free to message me with any questions!!</p>
<p>PS: the first two HD classes you will take at Cornell (and the only ones that are absolutely required: you will be able to select the rest from a long list) are HD 1150: Infancy & Childhood in the fall and HD 1170: Adolescence & Emerging Adulthood in the spring. Both are taught by awesome professors, extremely interesting, and not too challenging. If you’re unsure of whether you want to switch (or can’t switch until after your first semester) try to get into 1150 during course enrollment in July. </p>
<p>Hope this helped!</p>