Undergraduate Classes for Pharmacology Grad School

Graduate School
1

<p>So I’m currently a rising sophomore wanting to major in English with classes in Marketing. Lately, I’ve been thinking about becoming a pharmacologist, but I don’t want to give up my other undergrad classes. I know in order to get into grad school, I need to take biology, chemistry, and psychology classes, but I was wondering where I could cut corners. I go to a LAC with a huge list of core classes, so I need to be able to fulfill those as well as my English major requirements and Marketing classes which leaves little time for anything else. My school offers a psychology degree with a concentration in neuroscience. I don’t have the time to complete this degree, but here are the required classes:
Required from Biology
BL 155 – Principles of Biology I
BL 156 – Principles of Biology II
BL 157 – Principles of Biology Lab I
BL 158 – Principles of Biology Lab II
BL 360 – Human Physiology
BL 360L – Human Physiology Lab</p>

<p>Required from Chemistry
CH 141–General Chemistry I
CH 142–General Chemistry II
CH 143–General Chemistry Lab I
CH 144–General Chemistry lab II
CH 221–Organic Chemistry I
CH 222–Organic Chemistry II
CH 223–Organic Chemistry Lab I
CH 224–Organic Chemistry Lab II</p>

<p>Required from Psychology
PS 101 – Introduction to Psychology
PS 301/301L – Experimental Design and Analysis (with Lab)
PS 326 – Psychbiology
PS 426 – Psychopharmacology
PS 497N – Individual Research Project in Neuroscience</p>

<p>Select one:
PS 241-- Social Psychology
PS 261 – Child Development
PS 262 – Adolsecent Development</p>

<p>Select one:
PS 280/280L – Human Memory and Cognition (with Lab)
PS 332/332L – Learning and Behavior
PS 386 – Mind, Brain, and Behavior</p>

<p>Select one:
PS 351 – Theories of Personality
PS 435 – Tests and Measurement
PS 457 – Psychopathology</p>

<p>Four Psychology Electives</p>

<p>What classes from this list do you think would be worth it and which can I forget about? What would be the bare minimum?
Thanks!</p>

2

<p>You should take a look at potential pharmacy schools to see what they require. they will want things like gchem, ochem, the respective labs etc. If you really want to be a pharmacist then maybe you should try not doing as much english??</p>

3

<p>I don’t want to be a pharmacist, but rather a pharmacologist - someone who works researching how drugs affect the brain. I’ve looked at the graduate websites of different schools and they all have very vague descriptions of biology, chemistry, and psychology courses.</p>

4

<p>It’s going to be very hard to get into any PhD program without research experience, and most of the people you are competing with for spots will have taken much more than just the minimum required science courses. Grad schools primarily want to know that you are capable and motivated to do novel research, so research experience and strong letters of recommendation regarding this ability and motivation are the most important part of your application. For pharmacology I don’t think the psych courses you’ve listed will be very helpful. You’d be better off taking a biochemistry course and a cell bio/cell phys course. You may want to consider why you want to study pharmacology. Getting a PhD requires some passion about your subject matter. Most people would get their degree in science and take the English and marketing classes as electives rather than the other way around.</p>

5

<p>Thanks so much. I’m a very indecisive person, so I’m trying to cover all my bases, but obviously it can’t be done. I’ll have a lot of thinking to do about what I want to do more… thanks again!</p>