I am very interested in pursuing medical school, and I was wondering if majoring in Neurobiology/Neuroscience would be useful as a premed student? Additionally, my dream is to become a neurosurgeon, but if I decide to change my specialty, would my major still be useful? Thank you very much!
A major in a biological subspecialty field, such as neuroscience, will still require the completion of the required premed courses. So, it will be useful in that respect. A neuroscience major also could be a useful background for several other medical specialties, e.g., neurology, psychiatry, rehabilitation medicine, and geriatrics.
Thank you @zapfino . So, pursuing a degree in Neurobiology is not limiting myself to only a specialty in neurosciences, if I am understanding you correctly?
Any major will get you to medical school so long as you complete the pre-reqs; choose one that interests you and that you will do well in.
Biological neuroscience/neurobiology will not give you any special edge in med school admissions, but neuro as a major does cover all or most of the med school admission requirements. ( I have biological neuroscience kid now in med school.)
It’s OK not to know what your future specialty will be. Medical schools assume that all incoming med students don’t know because they haven’t been exposed to all the various different specialties/subspecialties. The average med student changes his/her mind 3-4 times about their future specialty during med school. And once you start med school, your undergrad major becomes irrelevant since everyone is basically starting over knowledge-wise. (The first week of med school neuroscience lecture will cover just about everything a neuroscience majored learned in undergrad.)
So a neuroscience/neurobiology major will not help you in any way become a neurosurgeon. Matching into neurosurgery (or any specialty) is dependent upon what you accomplish in medical school-- your grades in medical school, your STEP scores, research done in medical school, performance in specialty-relevant rotations, and on the endorsements from clinical supervisors in your future specialty in med school.
That is really helpful and makes me feel quite a bit better about my decision for a major. Thank you guys for your insights.
It doesn’t matter what you major in. You could major in English if you wanted, and still pursue any specialty that you want. A psychology major may decide to become an orthopedic surgeon. Your undergrad degree means nothing.