changing major from biochem to cogsci?

Oyama
Sun, 19 Jun 2011 03:29:42 +0000

Even if it doesn’t count as a GE, take a CogSci class. If you’re thinking about CogNeuro, look at COGS17 with Christine Johnson. She’s a great professor and it’s a great survey class of the different facets in CogNeuro. Furthermore, if you take an actual introductory survey class like COGS1, you’ll see all the different fields within CogSci. Maybe CogNeuro isn’t your thing and you like robotics and artificial intelligence? You’ll never know unless you try it out.

If you’re only considering CogNeuro because you think it’s a pseudo-hard science, cut it out. Major in something you like and/or are good at. You’re going to regret your decisions if you choose a major that you hate and are also bad at since this mixture also makes it difficult for one to find a job, especially in this economy (ask all the recent graduates and the graduates from 2010 that still don’t have jobs).

I came in thinking I knew what I wanted to do with my life and entered as a CompEng major. After a year, I switched into Math/Econ and a year after that, I began majoring in Psychology. Social sciences have somewhat of a stigma at UCSD (given that over half the school seems to be pre-med/phys science/engineer), but I enjoyed my time at UCSD and now I’m starting a doctorate at a top school in a field that’s very lucrative at the moment. Maybe all the stars aligned just for me, but it’s likelier that when you’re doing something you like makes it feel a whole lot less like work, and makes it so much easier to excel at it.