<p>Hey, I'm currently a freshman thinking about going for the NBB major, and possibly med or pharm school in the future. I'm curious to know about the average GPA of those who are NBB majors, and what they think were the most difficult courses they had to take. Does the major lean more towards the pure technical science/biological side more, or is it evenly balanced with emphasis on the social/cultural/psychological aspect? I know according to the website its supposed to be an interdisciplinary major spanning many different subjects, but from those who know firsthand, what are your opinions? Does a student have the flexibility to choose which direction they want to take their major?</p>
<p>Not an NBB major, but I’m betting that the average of that major is about the same as bio majors, but perhaps higher b/c more of the electives may be “gpa-boosters”. The hardest class is supposedly (my NBB friends tell me about it all of the time) NBB 301, but it has about the same type of curve that one gets in say Organic chemistry, a B-/2.7 and if it falls below, grades are adjusted, so that it is achieved. Given that, it’s probably intense conceptually and in terms of rigor (graded P-sets I think), but it isn’t a true GPA killer (Emory doesn’t even have many of these unless you count classes that one is likely to get a B-grade. That is not truly tough in my opinion) like some of the chem. classes. People clearly over-exaggerate NBB’s difficulty. Try being physics or chem. </p>
<p>I think the problem many people have is that it requires slightly more hours. And to obtain that+GERs may be hard. I have a friend that is doing the NBB w/a psyche concentration, so I’d guess it’s easy to concentrate in one of the areas (anthro., psyche, bio) b/c so many of the classes in these depts. qualify as electives. And in general, learning about the brain is intense, so it is probably an intellectually difficult major, though one may not be able to tell looking at grades.
Finally, it’s impossible/hard to find grade distributions for depts. at Emory or any private institution, so I don’t think either myself or anyone will be able to validate/invalidate my claim earlier. Take that with a huge grain of salt.
You want someone doing it to tell you about, so I’ll let them.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info Bernie, it was really helpful. Are your NBB friends doing premed as well? I’m just wondering if the percentage of NBB premeds that get accepted into med/pharm/dental school are comparable to those majoring in Bio or Chem. If NBB is not as intense as majors like Chem, I would assume that more people would graduate with higher GPAs, thus giving them a slight advantage for graduate schools?</p>
<p>Also, about it requiring a lot of hours, I thought NBB had fewer hour requirements than most, w/ 36 hrs., as opposed to Chem and Bio which has 56 and 61, respectively. This concerns me because I’m planning to double major in Psych or Sociology, so I’m not sure if I’d be able to do this time-wise…</p>
<p>Any extra info/thoughts/comments from anyone? Thanks guys</p>
<p>Yes, they are. It’s not 36 once you count the amount of pre-reqs/foundations you have to take. And yes, most NBBs are pre-med. Unfortunately, many pre-meds simply do it because they believe that it differentiates them from bio major more so than doing it because it’s truly interesting (they perhaps think, “this looks cool, and it’s also different”). However, I think such logic fails, as the NBB major is starting to become saturated. It’s no longer special in such a sense. I’m counting foundations and pre-recs. which make it add to 56 so I was wrong there, but fitting some of the NBB core courses in themselves is hard, given that classes like 201 and 302, (and 401?) are only offered one semester. Same goes for some of the electives you may want to take.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks for the clarification. I’m hoping that some of the NBB electives can also transfer into the Psych double major so I can complete both in time.
As for choosing NBB over majors such as Bio or Chem, my reasoning is not that I think of it as being different or “exotic”, because if I was really aiming for that, I’d go for a music major (no offense to music majors, I’ve seriously considered it). I expect the major to be just as challenging, I just find that the NBB major caters to my interests more so than the others, since I want to study drug and brain behavior (hence the Psych double major).
But at this point, I’m really still on the fence about my choice of major, so anything is possible. </p>
<p>Also, random question: Has anyone ever successfully graduated with a Goizueta BBA along with NBB, or is in the process of doing so? I would assume that’s pretty much impossible time-wise, but maybe someone has done it…</p>
<p>Again, thanks Bernie for the info and advice; much appreciated. I’m just rambling on and on here because my mind is so indecisive right now. Anyone else want to chime in and help me out?</p>