<p>I am fascinated by psychology, but I also find biology to be very interesting. I think I would happy majoring in either. The other day, I was having dinner at my friend's house with her family. Over the meal, we discussed college/possible majors, etc. When I brought up psychology however, both of my friend's parents (mother- doctor, father- engineer) were like, "Oh my God, why would you want to do that?" Not in a mean-spirited way at all, just with a kind of cautionary tone. Basically, they said that the people who can't handle any other majors do psych, and that it's like an "easy" way out. They also told me that psych majors doing premed were considered less "respectable" than those who chose traditional majors like bio and chem.</p>
<p>SO, my question is, is this all true? To what extent?</p>
<p>i wasnt premed, but i know a bunch of psych majors that were and they got into fine schools.
also, if you like psych and bio, you should check out a neuroscience major.</p>
<p>NOT TRUE. Psych is often chosen by premed students because many of the requirements aren't too different from premed requirements. I was talking with a Johns Hopkins alumni the other day and he told me that it would be better and a more pleasant experience to major in a non-premed course. </p>
<p>I'm not surprised the parents responded the way they did. When they were in college, premeds were really premeds. Now, people go into med school from every major.</p>
<p>Sorry if this is stealing your post, but I guess this question is slightly relevant: How different are the courses required for the majors? If you want to do premed I know you will need to do biology, physics, chemistry, and orgo, but what is the difference if you choose psychology? Is it just the upper-level courses? Like instead of taking a class on the Calvin cycle, you end up taking a course on the neurological responses to stimuli (or something of the sort... I think you get the gist)? And what is the main difference in assignments and tests? I would expect psychology majors to have more essays (or do they have multiple choice and essays just as much as biology majors).</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure you'd take the same premed requirements. In addition to that, you'd take psych and maybe other classes. I doubt you would be required to take advanced science classes for a premed major. Go to the psych dept. website and look at the requirements for their psych major. They would differ slightly from school to school.</p>
<p>You only need a specific bunch of classes to apply to med school. Your major could be totally unrelated and you could apply to med school.</p>