I’m going to pursue pre-med track as an incoming Cornell freshman this fall.
While my strongest academic interest is neuroscience/psychology, I’m really weak in biology (ironically).
I like certain parts of biology, like the topics on hormones, diseases, medicines, anatomy, etc, but not evolution, genetics, and ecology. On the other hand, I really like psychology. I love learning about how human’s body interacts with the environment and one’s mentality, sometimes leading to neural illnesses.
Based on my high school experience, I loved AP psych and disliked AP bio (mostly because I almost failed my bio class + teacher preference). But again, I loved labs and learning about endocrine and nervous system.
My prospective major right now is psychology (concentrated on behavioral and evolutionary neuroscience), but I’m now considering biological science (concentrated on neurobiology) or biology & society major. I think bio major is beneficial when I’m taking MCAT/study in med schools, and I can probably make myself like biology more.
I have been searching through all courses that Cornell provides, and I couldn’t decide.
I really like both fields. But for me, psychology is “easy” and biology is “hard.”
My parents don’t like the fact that I will be a psychology major, because they think it will be looked down upon. Would double majoring in psych and bio too difficult? If I do decide to do biology major, which major (bio or bio & society) would be a better fit?
I actually think that would be a fantastic choice, since understanding people is an important part of being a physician. It certainly will help you in multiple other areas of life as well. Just try hard to resist the urge to diagnose all your friends after you’ve taken your first Abnormal Psych course. hehe
If you want to take a couple of Bio courses to help prepare you for the MCAT, I’m sure an advisor will help you figure out which Bio courses would bring a nice balance of academic and GPA benefits.
If you’re in arts and sciences, you don’t need to declare a major until the end of your sophomore year. I would stay on track with pre-med requirements, but try out both a psych/neuro course and a bio course your first semester and see if either stand out as really great or really awful. Both are good options, so it’ll really depend on what you end up liking once you get here!
