<p>I have mapped out my classes for the next four years for the most part, and since a lot of my APs transferred over and fulfilled a lot of my GE requirements, I can probably graduate a year early and only take a couple of classes over summer school. But since I want to get a minor in psychology, I probably will be there a semester longer. I was wondering if I should ditch the psych minor, graduate a year early, and take a year off between undergrad and medical school to do research/intern etc. I kind of don’t want to graduate early, but the year off sounds really nice, especially since I will be able to get a lot of life experience from it. Any advice?</p>
<p>The latter is a much better option - I couldn’t express that enough. Psychology is a waste of time; a bunch of nut jobs trying to get into your mind. Minors are additionally useless.</p>
<p>For admissions purposes, minors won’t help you much whereas the extra research year could be quite important.</p>
<p>I personally like the subject of psychology, though you’d never know it from my coursework, and think it’s worthwhile. Additionally, I think an extra, less stressful year in undergraduate school is worth something as well.</p>
<p>aplusplus, I think your trashing of psychology was uncalled for.</p>
<p>sunkissed06, I agree with bdm that it’s better to space out your classes and take the time to do the psych that you enjoy, and perhaps do some teaching, research, or volunteering on the side. I believe some medical schools do not recommend graduating in 3 years, but I am not positive where I heard this. If finances are a concern, it may be a good idea to finish in 3 years, but otherwise I would recommend taking advantage of the opportunities at your college and allowing yourself to relax a bit instead of rushing.</p>
<p>I think psychology is a fascinating field with relevance to each and every one of us, as it helps us better understand our own motivations as well as our relationships with others. Whether you’re studying cultural interactions or representations of memory via fMRI, psychology is awesome. I’m a psych minor, and I sure as hell don’t think I’m wasting my time. If you are excited by psychology, definitely go for the minor; if you’re just thinking of doing it to have one more thing on your checklist, you probably have better things to do.</p>
<p>Specifically, I’ve always been told that students should not plan on BOTH graduating in three years AND going straight into medical school. Since that is not the dilemma here, I didn’t bother to mention this advice.</p>
<p>Ah, good point. To the OP, you might ask yourself a) how much do you enjoy psychology and how important is it to you to study it further b) what would you do in your year off and how valuable would it be c) if you were to remain for another year, what else would you do at the college?</p>
<p>heeey , psych is cool.</p>
<p>take the 4 years. </p>
<p>I can’t stress the importance of doing things you enjoy. And college is essentially the only time you’ll have to really study a subject simply b/c you want to.</p>
<p>Personally I loved undergrad and can’t see the point in getting done early.</p>
<p>Psychology rocks. period.</p>