I am currently in my junior of high school, so as you can imagine, college is on my mind. I’ve already taken the SAT and ACT and scored rather highly. I take all AP courses including Biology/CalcAB and plan to take Physics C/CalcBC next year. I know without certainty that when I go to college (preferably an Ivy), I want to major in a science field (because I love math and science). The problem is that I don’t know which major to choose? I find everything interesting: Neurobiology/Physics/Microbiology/Biometrics/Chemistry. Frankly, it all seems so interesting. Another concern is that I want to take premed, but that doesn’t mean I will major in some Biology field. A little background = Mu Alpha Theta top 10, AIME, Bio Olympiad (semifinalist?), school chemathon winner, and I also have a position in the math club. Next year I will be taking Physics C and Microbiology to try and see if I can narrow down my interests. Any help is appreciated!
I think your first step is to try to narrow it down to a large field: biology, chemistry, or physics. Don’t worry too much about subfields at this point. You can figure out neurobiology vs microbiology or things like that later. You’ll also figure out a lot more in college. As part of pre-med courses, you’ll take intro biology, chemistry, and physics (or perhaps, more advanced courses in those fields if you decide to take AP credit for the intro courses) and that will likely help narrow down interests. If you ultimately want to go to medical school, it doesn’t particularly matter which major you choose though, as long as you enjoy it and can do well in it.
“Next year I will be taking Physics C and Microbiology to try and see if I can narrow down my interests.”
It’s not important to narrow down your interests as a high school junior. Enjoy your remaining high school time. If you’re taking physics and micro next year, wait and see how they go. Maybe some yet to be determined subject/prof in college will spawn an interest into some field that isn’t currently on your radar. If you’re shooting for an Ivy, continue to focus on the task at hand (i.e., doing what it takes to get your hoped for Ivy acceptance), and not about premed.
“Another concern is that I want to take premed, but that doesn’t mean I will major in some Biology field.”
Premed does not mean ANY bio field (major), or for that matter ANY particular field (major). Med schools do not care what one’s major is. Most med school applicants tend to be bio majors because they figure out they can kill two birds with one stone (complete bio and most premed reqs at same time) whereas say a humanities major is going to have to figure out how to fit the increasing number of premed reqs into their schedule. Good luck.
Maybe look at Carnegie Mellon. They have a great program integrating neuroscience with CS. You might enjoy that combination. ANYTHING combined with CS will be useful. Are you taking AP programming in hs? You would find out if you like it.
Understand that you are basically sampling majors (chemistry, math, bio, CS) in hs. Whatever you major in will end up being a LOT of that topic, so you want to really like it. Also know that, while some Unis allow kids to declare a major right away, others specifically delay declaring. If you are undecided, that’s perfectly natural but don’t select a school that demands a declaration during the admissions process. (Or make sure you understand how binding that is) Make sense?
Good luck!