<p>Hi, so college is going well (5 weeks in) but I need help sculpting my academic plan.</p>
<p>I want to transfer to a UC from a community college and major in psychology. I know I can at least do this, because I the field really seems to click with me. </p>
<p>However, I still want to keep the med school door open because psychiatry really appeals to me and there are dozens of other paths you could take with an MD. (the salaries ain't bad either).</p>
<p>My question is as follows: Would I be shooting myself in the foot majoring in psychology? I mean I really do love it a ton. And it makes my transferring process smooth sailing because I am taking prereqs I'm enthusiastic about, therefore getting a good GPA.</p>
<p>Would I be insane to tack on the premed requirements to my coursework for psych?</p>
<p>Should I look into changing my major altogether to something like, let's say, Biology. Then I'd get all the prereqs done in one strike. Sounds great right? But I can't see myself not majoring in psych! That's the catch. And yes I can do lots with a BA. I could go for a ph.d or psy.d. Some also go into law or education. But one thing I can't do is go on to med school! (at least not without the extra prereqs).</p>
<p>Should I transition to a more sciencey major while I'm early on at community college if med school is an option I want to keep open. What if the classes are really tough and I toast my GPA, ruining my any shot of any transfer, even for psychology?</p>
<p>^Many pre-meds graduate with combo of various major(s)/minor(s), in fact most of D’s pre-med friends did. You do not have to be torn, try anything you wish!</p>
<p>The requirements for the psyc BSc program at my school include most, if not all, of the med school prerequisites. Unless you plan on going to a school where the psyc program is heavily focused on humanities, to the complete exclusion of sciences and with very little room for electives (almost unheard of), you should be fine.</p>
<p>My plan is to get a BA in psych at UCLA because it is one of the best programs in the US. They don’t have a BSc It definitely isn’t as sciencey/medical as UCSD or Irvine in terms of prereqs (remember I am transferring from a community college).</p>
<p>I’ll have to see if adding a minor like neuroscience or biology will knock out those med school prereqs. I hope I can do this instead of trying to do all the premed reqs (Ochem, calc, biochem, etc…) in addition to all the psych requirements I’m doing at my community college.</p>
<p>I’m going to post over at UC transfers and see if any transfers in non-science majors have dealt with this, and how they kept the med school option open.</p>
<p>I’ll have to see if adding a minor like neuroscience or biology will knock out those med school prereqs. I hope I can do this instead of trying to do all the premed reqs (Ochem, calc, biochem, etc…) in addition to all the psych requirements I’m doing at my community college.</p>
<p>The above doesn’t make sense. What difference does it make if you do the Premed prereqs with a minor or if you do them without a minor? Either way, you have to take the premed prereqs. </p>
<p>BTW…a minor is usually 18-21 credits of classes within that dept. So, if you were to minor in bio or neuro, you’d have to take 18-21 credits in bio or neuro…and most of those would NOT be premed prereqs. </p>
<p>Since you’re at a CC, just do the pre-med pre-reqs while doing your AA for TAG transfer. You can’t focus only on UCLA since there’s no guarantee you’ll get in there…you may end up at UCI or ???</p>
<p>Do any of the UCs require a minor if you major in Psych?</p>
<p>Correct, but it IS important to focus on the transfer requirements for each campus. Psych is impacted at UCLA, for example, so its critical that you complete the Psych departmental prereqs to have a better chance at transferring in. </p>
<p>See each campus’s Dept. website for transferring into that Dept from a judo.</p>
<p>fwiw: it is better to take at least a few/several upper division science classes at the 4-year Uni so you can demonstrate that you can compete successfully at that academic level.</p>
<p>do whatever major you like/love/have a passion in b/c you will excel in it…that’s what matters…i graduated from mechanical engineering and in medical school now, and everyone asks me why did you choose such a hard major to go to med school? easy answer: b/c i liked it…</p>
<p>on interview trail someone told me that no matter what you choose you better do well in it. med school app process is very competitive and choosing a difficult major is not an excuse to get a lower GPA. so basically it’s great i chose a hard major and did well, it gave me bonus points i think, but had i done badly, my major would not be a explanation for it b/c to the adcoms it’s a very easy question - if you have passion for it, why did you do badly?</p>
<p>so don’t choose a major because you think it will look better or because you think it will help you…a bunch of people in my class are english majors, poli sci majors, we have MechEs, CivilEs, EEs…and the thing that we all share in common? we all did well in our respective majors - just fulfill the prereqs for med school, do well on the MCAT (you can basically study this yourself) and you’re good. DO WHAT YOU LIKE…that’s what med schools want to see, passion in something, dedication to something, and the ability to excel in that - to them it translates over, you’re applying because you have passion in medicine and you’ve proven that you can do well in what you have passion for…</p>
<p>“neuroscience” and psych is practically the same thing. My D. had neuroscience minor only because there was no psych minor at her school. At her school neuroscience classes were somewhat easier than her major classes though, but it might be different from school to school. At her Med. School, neuro block considered to be more difficult than some others.</p>