What degree is best for preparing to go into Neuroscience?

Can i really Major in Neuroscience?

• So i am just finishing my first year in university. i have been planing since 9th grade to be a psychology major. but now i feel overwhelmed by choices and don't know if i want to go to graduate school, which you pretty much have to with a psych degree, or what to even do as a career in psychology. But i have been looking into neuroscience because it combines both psych and science. i like that you don't have to go to graduate school if you don't want to, unlike with just a psych degree, and it will make good money with an upcoming job market. but biology and chemistry have never came easy to me. i know that if i try i could probably pull at least B's in the classes but should i really spend the next three years studying a subject that isn't going to be easy for me (especially when most people in the classes will be very smart)? what if i can't get it? and do you think its worth me losing my entire social life for just a different major? I'm just worried i won't be able to complete it and be screwed when it comes to graduating. in addition to having a really hard corse load, and most likely being the dumbest person in my classes, i have already wasted two courses from this year by taking courses that aren't generals or for a neuroscience major. Do you think its worth it?

• Answer:

  > should i really spend the next three years studying a subject that isn't going to be easy for me (especially when most people in the classes will be very smart)? First, don't assume everyone in the classes will be very smart, because that's not necessarily true. What is true, is that the vast majority of those students are working very hard to understand the material--just like you'll have to work. As for whether or not you should study a subject that's not easy to you, if you have a passion for it or think it's much better in terms of options than an alternative, I'd say absolutely. I'm certain you can look at the costs versus benefits for you, since you've already partially done that, but I'd also suggest that studying something that comes hard has benefits all on its own. You'll learn how to work hard, study effectively, and you'll stretch your own personal boundaries (academically speaking), all of which are very good things. > what if i can't get it? I've tutored undergraduate science and math classes for 4 years, mostly through my own undergraduate science degree. I've never seen a single student who couldn't get it, provided they put in the work (the few who insisted they couldn't get it were spending 5 hours a week studying total, over ALL of the courses they had, and simply refused to spend more time studying... which is obviously not going to work, especially when you're taking organic chemistry). You might find other resources other than what's offered from your textbook and lecture helpful, including various online websites, books on reserve in your school's library, and especially studying with other students. MIT's open course-ware (it's free) is also helpful for a lot of students, as a supplement to lectures. The absolute hardest courses you're going to need to take, such as organic chemistry, are almost entirely about how much work you put in. You simply cannot substitute being "smart" for study time in these courses, and if I had to bet on someone in organic spending 2 hours studying for organic per week and having an IQ of 160 versus someone who had an IQ of 100 but spent 10-15 hours per week... I'd pretty much guarantee that second student would earn AT LEAST a "B", whereas that first student would be lucky to earn that "B". > and do you think its worth me losing my entire social life for just a different major? I don't think you will lose your entire social life. Treat school like a full-time job. While you're in-class, you're in-class. Schedule study time and stick to it, and study each course as regularly as possible (every day review is EXTREMELY helpful), and so on. You have 168 total hours in a week. Let's assume you have 16 credits, 15 are courses and 1 is lab, and also assume that you spend 8 hours per day sleeping. After sleep, you have 112 hours, and you'll spend about 2 hours in-lab per week per lab credit, and about 1 hour in-class per week per class credit, meaning you'll spend about 17 hours per week in-classes. You now have 95 remaining in your week. Let's assume that you spend 40 hours studying per week, which would add up to ~2.5 hours per class per week. Well, you still have 55 hours left in your week, which is definitely enough to fit in a social life. > Do you think its worth it? Absolutely yes. It gives you a lot more options for the future, and all of the options that are the same as the psychology degree are either equal or better (for example, you could still peruse a graduate degree in psychology, and you'd definitely have the edge on gaining acceptance, since harder curriculum matters for a variety of reasons). Hope this helps.