<p>Although I will be a freshman this fall, I've been considering PNP and something in the bio area for my major, and thinking about which one would best suit my needs. Is PNP a little too much focused on the nuero and cognitive sciences to get a solid foundation as a "pre-med" or would doing a major in the biological sciences be better off? I have heard that a bio major is "hard," but is a PNP major about the same in the level of difficulty and amount of work that I need to do? Thanks!</p>
<p>Sorry to be slightly ignorant, but what’s PNP?</p>
<p>Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology</p>
<p>As many have said before, major in what you love as a premed. You will get a solid foundation from the premed prereqs - gen chem, 3 semesters of bio, orgo chem, math, biochem, etc. My D is a PNP/foreign language double major and potentially a biology minor just because she likes bio. She finds all the classes at WashU challenging in their own way. Either you have very difficult tests to study for or you have papers for professor with high expectations due. You will have until your sophomore year to declare your major or majors, so don’t worry about it now.</p>
<p>^ so even if I’m not really sure about my major yet, i don’t have anything to be worried about because i’ll be a freshman?</p>
<p>I think first 2 years of most colleges are just to explore your interests/set up a basic foundation for a liberal arts education. </p>
<p>For most schools, including WashU, you’re only supposed to declare your major at the end of sophomore year.</p>
<p>Though thanks for the info on PNP. Sounds a little like another interdisciplinary major at UPenn, though I don’t know the specific name.</p>
<p>In my opinion PNP is harder to excel in, simply because philosophy courses are graded very subjectively. Remember that PNP is interdisciplinary, so make sure you like all the aspects of it.</p>
<p>All the coursework required to be a competitive pre-med applicant (genchem, orgo, biochem, calc3, intro bio, physiology, additional human biology classes) gives you nearly enough credits for a Bio minor at the very least. However, many pre-med students end up majoring in a foreign language, anthropology, psychology, etc. MidwestParent is right that you should major in what you like. There is plenty of time to get a major totally unrelated to pre-med requirements.</p>
<p>My advice - Don’t worry about your major at all. I’ve switched from music to biochem to international studies, am a Junior, and am still graduating on time and can spend a semester abroad (given that I don’t switch my major again, that is). If you’re pre-med, take Chem 111 and 152 in the fall - those are the only bio classes you’ll be able to take as a first semester freshman, anyway - and then just take whatever else looks interesting to you. If you want to figure out what you’re doing before your Junior year, I’d advise you to NOT start out taking intro classes - if there’s a 400-level psych or philosophy class that looks interesting to you that doesn’t have a prereq, take that instead of “Great Philosophers” or “Intro to Psych” - it’ll fulfill a PNP major requirement if you decide to go that route, and also will give you a MUCH better feel for what that field of study actually is about.</p>