I have a growing interest in neuroscience but I do want to become a neurologist in the end. Can you become a neurologist with a degree in neuroscience? Is it possible to get a medical degree (MD) in neuroscience versus a PhD like other liberal arts majors? What would be the difference in college of deciding to do pre-med versus neuroscience?
Many colleges do not offer pre-med majors. Most medical schools require certain coursework such as a year of each biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics, each of them with labs. Also, they require a year of English and sometimes individual schools have extra requirements. I suggest you look on the website of schools you are interested in. You can get into medical school with any major, in fact, a non-science major might increase your chances.
You can NOT get a MD in neuroscience. The first two years of medical school are advanced classes, and the third is core clerkships where you will work with practicing surgeons. The final year, you will pick elective clerkships in fields of medicine that interest you (i.e neurology)
After medical school, to become a neurologist, you need to complete a one year preliminary residency and then a three-year neurology residency. During the residency, you will work at a hospital and learn, like an internship. You do get paid, but definitely not a regular doctor’s salary.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think you can become a neurologist with a neuroscience doctorate. I think you need a MD and residency. If you’re still interested in a PhD in neuroscience, you can do it and medical school after, or vice versa. Keep in mind that many PhD programs are fully funded with yearly stipends but not medical schools. Or, you can do a dual MD-PhD program which is fully funded with a stipend. The eight year program would be two years of medical school, four years of PhD, and the final two years of medical school, in that order.
To bring it all around, if your school offers a major in premed and also neuroscience, I would recommend neuroscience. It will allow you to see if you are truly interested in become a neurologist.
^All of the above. In fact, most colleges don’t offer a pre-med major; “pre-med” is simply a sequence of prerequisites for medical school and not a major.
A neurologist is simply a physician who specializes in neurology, so you would have to get an MD first and then specialty training in neurology. Neuroscience would be an excellent major for an aspiring neurologist.