Changing majors… again
If you have read my bio, you would know that I was considering changing my major to neuroscience. Well, the day has finally come. I’m a junior, and I have officially changed my major! The funny thing, though, is that this is the second time that I have changed my major. Yay for indecisiveness, right? Let me explain my journey.
I did well in gen chem (intro to chemistry) at my old school, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, so I applied to Vanderbilt as a sophomore transfer as a chemistry major. Sadly, my time as a chemistry major was short lived, and the horror that is organic chemistry was the reason why I ditched the major all together. I ended up switching my major to biology, and I lasted as a biology major for almost a year. I liked the major a lot— I did pretty well in gen bio (intro to biology), and I even got myself involved in a biochemistry lab (which I am staying in although I am now a neuroscience major). The reason why I switched my major a second time to neuroscience is because I think that the upper level neuroscience classes sound more interesting and because I like that there are more classes to choose from.
The biology and neuroscience majors start out in a similar fashion. They both require 2 semesters of gen chem, 2 semesters of gen bio, 2 semesters of orgo, and 2 semesters of physics and because I’m premed and have AXLE requirements, I have taken sociology, psychology, biochem, English classes, Spanish, and history classes. Basically, what I am saying is that I have not taken any upper level biology or neuroscience classes yet, so I am able to be a neuroscience major and graduate on time.
All in all, many premeds are biology or neuroscience majors because both majors cover the premed prerequisites, and this makes life a whole lot easier. Because both majors are in the same school (Arts & Sciences), the process of switching is super easy. All I had to do was request a neuroscience adviser, have him and my old biology adviser sign a form, hand that form to the neuroscience department office, and hand a copy of that form to the office of Arts & Sciences in Kirkland hall.
Feel free to contact me if you have questions about the neuroscience major!
-Jeff Yung