What I Wish I’d Known Before Becoming a Neuroscience Major
As I was entering college, I was fascinated with the idea of this field of study with little knowledge as to what it means to actually study neuroscience. Now that I am in my fourth year as a neuroscience major, I have realized there are several things that I’d wish I’d known beforehand. I thought I should share them.
It’s Okay to Not Do Well
When I started studying at UCLA, I was warned that the neuroscience major was “memorization hell.” After surviving organic chemistry, multivariable calculus, and molecular biology, I didn’t take heed to this warning. I thought that, sure, it was hard, but a lot of classes are hard. That doesn’t mean they’re not survivable. I’d taken on a philosophy that it doesn’t matter how smart a person is; it only matters how much effort they put into learning. There are always going to be the people who just “get it” right away, and it’s okay if you’re not one of those people. As long as you keep trying and asking questions, you’ll get it eventually.
What I didn’t understand about the neuroscience major at UCLA (I’m not talking about other programs here) is that it’s not that the classes are exponentially harder, but that the averages are lower in general. I felt like I had been doing fine in my other difficult classes, because there was a friendly curve. An average score in chemistry would be around a B-, while an average score in neuroscience would be a C. Unfortunately for the GPA, there is a very large difference between a B- and a C.
I took the most difficulty in neuroanatomy where the averages weren’t so low, but I was scoring well below them. My issue was that I wasn’t having trouble trying to understand the material. I was having trouble trying to shove all of the information into my head in time for the test. This was the only time in college where I was pulling all-nighters to study. I felt incompetent, wondering how everyone else could do this except for me. Of course, this was an exaggeration. I’m sure there were other people who were struggling. My point is (and this goes for all majors), it’s okay to not do well. It happens, and it’s not a reflection on your character or your intelligence. Just keep plugging away and you’ll make it. Your grades don’t mandate your future.
What’s the Difference Between Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Psychobiology, etc.
This is something I was very confused about as a freshman, and nobody gave me a straight answer. If I had really known, I would’ve realized that cognitive science aligns the most with what I wanted to study and probably would’ve switched to that. All of these fields are very similar. You can study one and go into another quite easily, but just so you know what you’re getting yourself into, this is what they are.
Neuroscience is interdepartmental at my school. It is a combination of a bunch of different fields devoted to fully understanding the brain. The curriculum at UCLA involves a lot of electrophysiology, meaning that you will be studying a lot of physics and how signals are sent at the cellular level. You will look at biology and neurodevelopment and psychology and how certain brain pathways lead to certain behaviors (such as motivation and addiction).
Cognitive science comes from a computational perspective. It involves a lot of programming and tends to depend the most heavily on mixing psychology and computer science. On top of research, many people who study this major can practically apply it to the business world for things like product design and user experience.
Psychobiology (as hinted at in the name) takes the most biological perspective. There is a heavy lean towards physiology and anatomy to understand the biological processes of the brain.
There Are Many Options for a Neuroscience Major in the Job Market
Going into college, I thought my only options were to be a doctor or a scientist, but there’s many more options out there. You can go into the medical field, as a doctor, physician’s assistant, dentist, optometrist, etc. You can go into science as a neuroscientist or anything else (these options would of course need more schooling). You can do an industry job instead of research, like developing a product or drug. You can go into law school and help with cases in the science or medical field. You can do counseling or finance or work in the movies. It’s a degree, and sometimes what the degree is in doesn’t matter so much as that you got a higher education. I think a lot of people forget that.
