<p>I already posted this question in another thread, but is majoring in Neuroscience more difficult than biology? In short, would doing so hurt my GPA or detract from my social life? Also, is there any significant difference between a biology and biological sciences major (the latter is what I applied as)? I'm equally as interested in the concept of Neuroscience as I am in biology (which is why I plan on being a pre-med student). Also, would it be overwhelmingly difficult to double major in neuroscience and psychology or biology and psychology? Again, I'm asking because I am bent on majoring in an area that I like whilst obtaining a high GPA for med school.</p>
<p>That depends on the type of biology major. Neuroscience definitely has the reputation of being one of the more challenging majors in the biological sciences area. Same with Molecular Biology. I found all of the psychology classes that I had at Pitt to be significantly less challenging than those in either the biology or neuroscience departments. Would it hurt your GPA or distract from your social life? I never felt any class impacted my social life. Those questions are impossible to answer because it is so dependent on the individual student. Any impact completely depends on you and you alone. Gaming your GPA for med school by taking easy classes isn’t going to impress an admissions committee if you are trying to get into a good med school. At the same time, take advantage of the add/drop period if you get in a class you just don’t think will fit you. What you do want to do though is talk to as many people as you can about the academic direction you want to take and the best avenue for your goals. What I would advise more than anything though is to major in things you have an interest in. You’ll do a lot better just by being stimulated by the topics. For med school these days, it isn’t even necessary to biological-related majors. There are a ton of great programs at Pitt, so don’t be afraid to explore if you are intrigued by something.</p>
<p>are you saying that psych classes were easy or that they were just easier than the bio and neuro classes at Pitt?</p>
<p>Well, whether a class is “easy” depends on the perspective of the student. Relative to the Neuroscience and Biology courses that I had, I found the few Psychology classes that I took to be easier.</p>
<p>The benefit of neuro is that it is a small major with high quality students. A lot of the students do research in terms of % compared to bio for instance. Very few people in the major are poor students and classes are still graded on a curve for the most part so it might very well hurt your GPA. </p>
<p>I would recommend it anyways. I really don’t like the way the biology department teaches here and runs the undergrad program (though they do great research and many individual professors are great)</p>
<p>That’s also a good point by CuttingEdge. The Neuroscience department felt like more of a community to me, as opposed to the Bio department which was larger. I was a dual major in Neuroscience and Biology at Pitt. The classes were more challenging in Neuroscience than some other fields (as were select biology ones), but my grades were maintained (or actually improved) because I was so interested in the topic. I really think that is the key.</p>
<p>Regarding the second part of confounded’s post, what do you think about possibly majoring in Psychology, and minoring in Neuroscience while on the pre-med track? It seems there is overlap with some classes in these disciplines.</p>
<p>In my opinion, minors are pretty meaningless. If you can easily grab a minor in something, then great, but they aren’t worth going out of the way to do. The only overlap in psychology degree with neuroscience is in the cognitive psych concentration of the psychology major. If you end up taking Intro to Neuro and a couple other Nrosci courses to the point where you have a minor, I’d say you might as well consider going ahead and look into going for a dual major…if you are in fact enjoying the neuroscience courses. If you’re pre-med, you’ll have to take general biology, chemistry, and organic chemistry anyway…all the general requirements for neuroscience. They didn’t have the cognitive concentration when I was at Pitt, so I can’t really speak to it directly, but it does combine psych with two of the best departments at Pitt: neuroscience and philosophy, so it is likely to be a really good track. If you are thinking ahead to a biological research career, I’d say you also probably want a cell biology course and probably biochem.</p>
<p>I’m very interested in both biology and neuroscience, but I also want to enjoy my college experience. I don’t want a major like biology if it is extremely common amongst the pre-med population (although I wouldn’t mind it), but I also don’t want a major that I am unsure about (such as neuroscience). I feel that I could do well if I major in neuroscience, but I don’t want the added pressure. I’m not entirely sure that I would find molecular biology nor microbiology interesting. </p>
<p>Here’s what I think: I’m not looking to take the easy road, as I would be interested in taking UHC level biology courses. My understanding is that it is best to major in something you like whilst obtaining a relatively high GPA rather than trying to impress a med school admissions committee with a difficult major. Even though I would love to major in neuroscience, I’ll have a chance to explore more intricate concepts such as neurology in med school. Thus, would majoring in biology and engaging in research be preferable to doing so with neuroscience? I feel that I wouldn’t be able to juggle neuroscience AND a second major AND research. I know well that I am capable of doing so (I have a 4.7 GPA and 34 ACT score), but I don’t want to feel overwhelmed. Having said that, I could either obtain a double major in biology and something else (perhaps psych), or I can obtain a major in only neuroscience. What do you think? Could I easily handle neuroscience, seeing as to how I’m not a poor student? What would increase my chances of getting into med school?</p>
<p>EDIT: What are your thoughts on a Biology and Chemistry dual major?</p>
<p>I think that the incoming freshmen are too worried about majoring and double majoring on here. There is enough overlap in biology, chemistry, and neuroscience in the major requirements and pre-med reqs that you have time to decide. For example, Intro to Neuroscience requires a year or equivalent of both intro bio and gen chem, so many people don’t take intro neuro until sophomore year. Why not experience some college and take intro to neuroscience first and then decide if you want to major in it?</p>
<p>As for pre-med, I do not think out of majoring in bio, chem, or neuroscience any one of them will give you a particular advantage for med school admissions. All are very common of pre-meds, in fact at Pitt most pre-meds are bio or neuroscience majors.</p>
<p>I second what schrizto said. I also want to emphasize cofounded thought that yes, it is probably most important to major in what you like. For example, I hated chemistry and therefore would have found the chemistry major much more difficult than neuroscience, which I had a strong interest in. Med schools don’t care that much about your major. However, you need to have the prerequisite courses, and you need show you are an excellent, self-motivated student with a strong interest in (that’s where your volunteering in hospitals, etc comes in) and aptitude for medicine. You don’t have to major in bio or neuro to show that. You could major in art history if you wanted too. But you still need those basic biology, physics, chem and orgo classes, and you need to do well in them and on your MCATs. What shrizto said is absolutely correct, you have plenty of time to explore regarding a major (that doesn’t mean you can’t volunteer or work in hospital or lab settings in the meantime if you want to do that). However, if you like biology and want a second major, you could chose anything at all. If you don’t want to major in anything biological, that will not disqualify you in the least from med school. They like seeing more well-rounded students these days.</p>
<p>The thing about bio and gen chem is that, because of my AP and post-secondary credits, I could probably pass out of two or so bio classes and one gen chem class. Thus, I wouldn’t have as much time to choose whether or not I would want to take intro to neuro classes. In fact, should I choose to do so, I would probably be taking them in my second semester as a freshman.</p>
<p>wgmcp101: I, too, have a strong interest in both biology and neuroscience (but not so much chemistry). How hard was it for you to major in neuroscience and maintain a good GPA? I just want to rest assured that I can easily manage my course load (without studying nonstop). Suffice to say, I don’t want my college years to fly by.</p>
<p>I’m probably not the most typical student. I dabbled around for three years before picking a major. My grades probably went up a little when I finally settled in to neuroscience because that is what held my interest the best. Honestly, it is impossible to know for any one individual how their GPA will be affect by one class or another. I just don’t think you can be afraid of that. I had what I think was a pretty robust social life too. Intro to Neuro was a pretty intense class, at least the version I had, so I don’t know if you want to take that your freshman year, although honestly, it was what really sold me on neuroscience as a major. </p>
<p>Remember, there are a lot of other prerequisite courses you can get out of the way, so there is no real rush to jump into a major. It may be good just to take a breath, get your feet a little wet, and survey the landscape a little. Like schrizto said, you don’t need to be this worried yet. Advisors, the honors college, and fellow students will help guide you when you get settled in.</p>
<p>I know I have time to arrive at a decision on this matter, but I’m just exploring my options before I do any scheduling during my PittStart session during the summer. Having taken a good amount of AP and post-secondary classes, I’ll probably start off with taking a number of higher level courses (as opposed to the usual intro courses).</p>
<p>For the moment, let’s look at the arts and sciences department in general…What are the most interesting biological sciences majors? I know that this depends entirely on who is being asked, but I’m open to any opinion. I know I shot down the idea of majoring in Microbiology, but how is popular/difficult is this major (or any other major in the department) as compared to a regular biology major?</p>
<p>I’ve also been thinking about minoring in philosophy. Pitt has a great philosophy department, and I’m sure that the thought processes I develop as a result of this major will complement any science major I choose to pursue. I know that a philosophy minor holds little to no weight compared to a philosophy major, but I don’t want to spend more time taking a completely different set of classes…that is, unless a double major in regular biology/philosophy isn’t as hard as I’m putting it out to be. After all, I want to graduate in 4 years, so any extra science electives I choose would already limit my ability to squeeze in another major. Biology and philosophy BOTH seem like interesting topics to me, but then again, so did neuroscience and I was also skeptical about how easy it would be for me to pursue that major alone.</p>
<p>*As a side note, am I just overestimating the difficulty of a neuroscience major or a double major? I love biology (and the concept of neuroscience for that matter), but I want to have fun in college and get good grades in medical school. As a whole, I’m worried that I might dig myself a hole that I won’t be able to get out of. That is, I’m worried that if I get anything other than A’s, med schools won’t take me seriously and I won’t have a fallback with just a biology major (and I do NOT want to be a teacher).</p>
<p>Sorry for yet another long post haha</p>
<p>Upper level courses, depending on the department, can be significantly more difficult than AP courses in high school. I remember being a little shocked when I took a upper level (and not that high but a writing equivalent) Russian history course my first freshman semester. It was the first time I ever received a B in a history course. Intro to Neuroscience, depending on which version you have (I can only speak to the Dr. Wood version), will be a significant upgrade to AP Biology. I am in no way implying you can’t do it, but Pitt is certainly not 13th grade, so be careful about overloading right off the bat. My interest was obviously Neuroscience, and I contemplated getting a certificate in history and philosophy of science, but I ran out of time. I don’t think it is that uncommon to major in a science and philosophy.</p>
<p>Anyway, there are plenty of other things you can do with a biology degree other than teach high school, but a couple of B’s isn’t going to kill your med school chances.</p>
<p>Other people will have to give their opinions know, since I think I am out of them.</p>
<p>I know this semester has already started and I’m not sure if you have made a decision regarding neuro or not, but Dr. Stricker (Intro to Neuro professor) explicitly states in the first lecture that you will fail this course if you do not have an excellent background in biology and general chemistry. He said that while AP classes CAN suffice and you will have to work hard, AP classes do not substitute actual college chemistry and biology classes. Probably by now you’ve realized that college classes are a lot more demanding than high school classes, and I was so glad that I opted to take chem and bio instead of using AP credit.</p>