The second installment of the College of Arts and Sciences series covered the social and behavioral sciences. The four major areas that were covered included International Studies, Communications and Journalism, Geography, and Psychology, with psychology as my main major of interest. Ever since I took psych in high school, the subject area has always fascinated me. The mind and its processes provide such a diverse range of captivating concepts to study. Beyond aligning with my academic and educational interests, the psychology major also complements my career goals extremely well. With the intention of going to medical school in mind, a focus in psychology would equip me with a strong foundation of knowledge about the mental processes to go along with a physiological and anatomical medical education. Having an understanding of both the physical and mental workings of the human body would help me become a better doctor, and able to help more people.
Psychology, along with neuroscience, has always been a strong contender for potential majors. And it was this persistent interest that encouraged me to attend this early morning lecture. Beyond psychology, after taking an anthropology course this semester, the anthropological sciences have sparked an interest. The anthropology major, however, was already discussed in the previous lecture, and the neuroscience major was unfortunately not discussed this morning.
Most of the information presented I had already known, but an interesting fact was that the Psychology major exists as either a BA or a BS. Though not terribly different in the coursework, I like knowing that an option exists that caters to a student’s individual strengths and interests. Many of the other majors in the college, in fact, have either a BA or a BS option.
The four major areas generally matched my thoughts of them before walking into the lecture. Focusing on the psychology major, it has many distinct areas of study and generally involves working with people. Furthermore, having a psychology major doesn’t limit your potential careers to psychiatry or clinical psychology; psych majors work in a large variety of different settings. The one thing that was a little new to me was how research intensive the major is. With such a strong research component, I was slightly turned away from pursuing a psych degree.
Concerning the psych major, I have a few final questions. Do all areas of study within the major include such a major research focus? And if so, what does the research look like, lab work, surveys, observational studies? Finally, while I know that psychology can still be considered a science degree, how well does the program prepare you for medical school?