Psychology Major?

zapfino
Sat, 20 Nov 2010 21:16:51 +0000

In general, I think it falls somewhere in the middle. It’s probably easier than economics and biosciences. Having said that, a good deal depends on how much an undergrad program is focused on the science side of psychology, i.e., does a particular department focus its upper level coursework on textbooks vs. reading original journal literature and in-depth understanding of the research methodology of particular studies. The other factor that affects the difficulty is what areas of psychology you focus your coursework on. If you do a subspecialty track in neuroscience it will be more difficult than if you focus on developmental psychology. Psychology is a broad field and if you take courses on sensory processes, neuropsychology, behavior genetics, etc., those courses will be more difficult than a course in personality theories. In terms of quantitative skills, psychology can run the range from minimal requirements, e.g., just a basic required statistics course to more difficult courses requiring higher levels of statistical analysis and mathematical modeling (though the latter are usually taken in certain grad specialties), depending on what courses you elect. Some departments offer a BS vs. a BA option. The BS option might require more courses in math (usually not beyond calculus) and core courses in basic science disciplines, but as a premed, you’d be taking those courses anyway as part of your premed requirements.