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What is something you wish you knew going into a neuroscience or psychology program?

I plan to major in neuroscience, and I want to be as prepared for it as I can be. I have been warned that it is a very challenging major and will require a lot of work. That being said, I want to know if there's anything else I should be aware of going into it.
#neuroscience #psychology

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Daniela’s Answer

Hi, Kathryn


Figuring out what’s going on in another person’s mind is no easy task. Like Psychiatrists, Neuroscientists are professionals who dedicate their days to deciphering what’s going on upstairs. However, unlike Therapists who try to help with feelings or diseases created by our synapses and frontal lobes, Neuroscientists focus on the science and biology of the brain. They work to answer questions about specific diseases affecting the anatomy of the brain, and, in general, attempt to figure out how the different parts of the mind work.


Source: https://www.careermatch.com/job-prep/career-insights/articles/neuroscience-degree-what-to-expect/

Daniela recommends the following next steps:

Getting into neuroscience requires you to have more than a few years of schooling. The first degree to get is a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university. Though you can be a neuroscience major, you might also spend your time studying biology, chemistry, or physiology. No matter what you major in though, you want to make sure you get used to doing research, as this is a skill that most job opportunities for Neuroscientists call for.
Once done with your undergraduate degree, you need more advanced training before you can consider yourself a Neuroscientist. There are a number of neuroscience careers, and what you hope to do dictates what type of degree you need. If you want to work with brain injury patients, head to medical school. If you want to find new medicines or figure out why Alzheimer’s affects certain people, get your Ph.D. and become a researcher. You can become anything from a Professor at a university to a researcher for the National Institute of Health.
Select a school based on what their labs and Professors are focusing on. Working with those already in your preferred area of study will not only help you network, but also get you the hands-on research experience you’ll need to get hired.
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Alejandra’s Answer

Hello Kathryn!

Past neuroscientist here to answer your question (:

The #1 thing I recommend people ask themselves before studying these majors is if they are truly passionate about the subject. As you mentioned, it is a very hard major, and it takes a lot of hours, tears, and hard work to accomplish. So if it's not a topic you're truly passionate about, this will be torture. But if you love it, it will still be hard, but you'll become obsessed and entrenched in all the details, and you'll naturally want to know more.

Something else to note is that I would not have gone in pre-med when studying neuroscience. At Boston University, a lot of the classes you take as a neuroscience major fulfill pre-med. Ultimately, like most pre-meds, I did not go to medical school, and I wasted a lot of time taking pre-med classes. If I had focused on neuroscience first, which I knew I would complete, I would have come to realize that I did not want pre-med and could have saved myself time. So my advice for this is to do the neuroscience classes and the ones that overlap with pre-med and wait to take the later classes once you have a couple of years of college down and can more accurately assess your future direction.

Otherwise, I loved majoring in neuroscience, and I have not heard of others who graduated and did not like it. It's a big passion major, and I suggest making sure your heart is in it, not just that you like the way the major sounds.

Best of luck to all future neuroscientists!!
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