Our daughter is interested in studying Neuroscience at GT and maybe minoring in CS. I have heard people comment that atudents arent very collaborative in CS and Engineering but wondering if that carries over to heath science majors. Thanks in advance!
Gatech is not super collaborative but is not hostil either. I am not familiar with Neuro. On the other hand, I would not recommend Gatech for any premed no matter the major. Premed students need to protect GPA and Gatech is tough school. If you are GA resident consider UGA. If you are not GA resident consider less competitive and not Engineering school for premed.
Disclosure: I am Gatech alumni, I have one current student at Gatech (not premed), and another premed not in Gatech (LAC).
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As of now, she isn’t thinking pre-med. More of a research or AI path, but this could change.
I know med schools look for top grades but don’t they factor in where the student went undergrad? It’s no secret Tech is a difficult school.
Also full disclosure, her first couain graduated Summa Cum Laude from Tech and she loved visitin him so her interest started young…
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My understanding(I maybe wrong) that med schools use some computer algorithms. They care less what school you attend. Plus GaTech is not Harvard with 3.4 GPA.
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Are you asking if med school applicants get consideration for attending a difficult and/or grade deflationary school, or undertaking a difficult major like BME for example? If so, I don’t think that’s necessarily the case….@wayoutwestmom?
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Not sure what you mean about Harvard ?
Likely not. Your mcat score and other items, in addition to academics, likely plays a bigger role - similar to law and LSAT or business and GMAT for those just a few years out.
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I meant that GaTech is not Harvard. And med schools do not even care that much for Harvard student if GPA is below cut off…And no they do not care about major. They care about MCAT, GPA, and medical extra curricular.
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I don’t understand the Harvard comparison, it isn’t known for grade deflation.
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If the student is not thinking pre-med, they should absolutely do the CS minor. Keep in mind you have to apply to add a CS minor at GT, with B or better grades in the first couple of CS classes in the sequence. Frankly, the CS skills are what will be employable, not the neuroscience stuff.
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On the contrary, they’re often accused of grade inflation.
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Agreed.
My kid’s friend is a rising junior at Tech doing psychology + CS minor. She started in neuroscience but switched for more flexibility/fewer labs.
She’s been very happy at Tech!
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Adcomms do not extend any special consideration when it comes to difficult majors or so-called grade-deflating school.
An individual adcomm member at a particular school may hold a more favorable impression of certain schools than others, but not a single med school adds any extra “points” to a particular application because the student attended a so-called tough school or majored in a “tough” subject. (Like computer science, mathematics or engineering.)
However, the minimum GPA for getting an application review by an actual human (not a computer program or AI) at a med schools is likely lower than most people think-- probably in the 3.3-3.5 range at most med schools; however, each med school’s bottom GPA cut-off for review is proprietary and not available to the public. All applications that make it past that automated first cut are given a holistic review. But higher stats applicants tend to get reviewed earlier in th process when there are more interview slots and admission seats available. Once past the initial cut, then other admission factors come into play–like mission-fit, LOEs, ECs, interview performance.
Please realize that your application is absolutely going to be compared to the other applicants in the admission pool. And I guarantee that there will some applicants with tough majors from “grade-deflating” schools who have 3.9+ GPAs and outstanding “everything else” in that pool
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Not sure i agree about “the neuroscience stuff.” She will need a PhD likely but there’s plenty to be done in Pharma and many other industries with neuroscience research which can be quite lucrative.
Aside from the med school discussion which wasn’t what i was wondering about, do students outside of CS and Engineering work collaboratively or competitovely?
If the environment in CS and engineering, where there’re few pre-med students, isn’t collaborative as you suggest (I don’t have firsthand knowledge about Georgia Tech), then the environment in neuroscience, where there’re more pre-med students, is likely to be less collaborative.
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Good point. My thought is more that Emgineers and CS kids are competing for co-ops which may translate over to competing for research opps…
My nephew who graduated Summa in CA said he didnt notice it bit he also said he would’ve ignored any a-holes 
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I’m a neuroscience professor and I’m sad to say that there aren’t really jobs for those with a BS in neuroscience. Even with a PhD there isn’t much outside of academics, and unless she becomes a professor, those jobs aren’t very stable or well-compensated. Of course there are some exceptions to this, but not a lot.
A BS in biology is notorious for not providing great employment opportunities, and a BS in neuroscience is even less useful in the job market. A CS minor increases the job opportunities dramatically, which is why I recommended it for someone who has that interest. If she decides not to go the neuro major and CS minor route, she could do a BS in biochem, or a BS in bio with a chem minor and try to get into an entry-level pharma/biotech job and work her way up. Those would all be good options that she could pursue while also leaving the door open for pre-med if she wants.
Frankly, the marketing that neuroscience departments do for the BS really irks me. It’s trendy right now, but the jobs just aren’t there. I know brilliant neuro PhDs with multiple postdocs under their belts who have trouble getting jobs. You can always work in an academic lab but those jobs are typically unstable and poorly paid. You can do that with just the BS. That’s my perspective, if it’s at all helpful.
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Your daughter will need at least a Masters if she whats to go into AI-neuroscience research. So I would suggest rethinking Gatech as its Neuroscience major is new and underdeveloped. Emory is a better option, its ranked 33 globally for neuroscience and has decent CS and new AI program. Also of she wants to switch to the pre med route it would be much easier and advantageous for her as Emory is also a better school for premed.
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But Emory is private,and if student is from Georgia Zell or Hope or waterver state scholarships will not cover tuition for Emory but will cover full tuition for Gatech or UGA for HS student with high GPA. UGA in that situation is much better option in my opinion.
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