Unsure of Major

zapfino
Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:42:56 +0000

-For school counseling, you would need at least a master’s degree. School counseling programs are relatively easy to enter. If, however, you change your mind and decide to do a doctoral level clinical or counseling psychology program, these are very competitive and the core of science and math coursework that makes up the pre-med requirements will serve you well.

-Doesn’t pre-pharmacy require more chemistry than pre-med? If so, completing pre-pharmacy requirements + a psychology major might not be any easier than doing the pre-med requirements + a psychology major.

-BTW, pre-med isn’t a major. Though most pre-meds major in a bioscience field or chemistry, for medical school admission, you can major in just about any liberal arts (or engineering) field as long as you complete the pre-med requirements (usually 2 semesters each of general and organic chemistry, general physics, general biology, and English). Some medical schools recommend or require some additional courses. You would probably take one of those (genetics) if you have a possible career interest in genetic counseling.

-More and more psychology depts. require calculus and some chemistry and/or physics as supporting courses. Sometimes, in a dept. that offers both an BA and BS version of the major, those courses are only required for the BS track, which tends to be designed for students who plan to apply to doctoral programs in psychology. For some subconcentration programs in a psychology major (e.g., neuroscience), you pretty much have to complete the equivalent of the pre-med requirements to be competitive for graduate admissions. For admission to a master’s program in school counseling, you probably could do fine without the more science-oriented psychology major.

-If you did decide to pursue a doctorate in clinical psychology, a double major in nutrition + psychology could be an awesome combination if you had an interest in certain clinical areas, e.g., eating disorders, obesity, feeding disorders in children with developmental disabilities, etc.


Before deciding on psychology, wait until you take an intro college course for prospective majors. I don’t think that an AP course is necessarily the equivalent. I know several students who never took it, but passed the AP exam with minimal studying on their own. I think a lot of high school psychology instructors focus on the “soft science” aspects. However, if that wasn’t the case with your class, then perhaps, you do have a good basis to decide.