Hard time choosing a major

[mydream]

Hey there,

 

I applied to Med, but If rejected, I'd be happy to do a B.Sc. However, I am really having a hard time deciding which major to choose: Anatomy & Cell Biology, Physiology, Microbio. & Immuno. or Neuroscience.

 

Here's my situation: I looked over the courses, all the majors seem super interesting because I have not taken any of the courses. Don't really want to take a notoriously hard major since I don't want to abandon sports and other extracurricular activities. Kinda want to have a shot at Medicine after.

 

Here are some questions.

 

Anatomy: Is it all going to be brainless and painful memorizing? Is the major THAT easy? I think it should prepare someone for research as well, but I may be wrong.

 

Physiology: Is it THAT hard? It appears that everything in that major will be covered in Med school anyway... And since its a lot of studying organ systems, I don't see how it can be useful for research.

 

Microbio: People say it's very hard compared to, say, Anatomy. Don't know if I want to study unicellular organisms so in detail. Immunology should be very interesting.

 

Neuroscience: How difficult is it? I don't want to be stuck going for Neurology after med school; I may be completely wrong.

 

What do you think?

[RiceWine]

Hey there,

 

I applied to Med, but If rejected, I'd be happy to do a B.Sc. However, I am really having a hard time deciding which major to choose: Anatomy & Cell Biology, Physiology, Microbio. & Immuno. or Neuroscience.

 

Here's my situation: I looked over the courses, all the majors seem super interesting because I have not taken any of the courses. Don't really want to take a notoriously hard major since I don't want to abandon sports and other extracurricular activities. Kinda want to have a shot at Medicine after.

 

Here are some questions.

 

Anatomy: Is it all going to be brainless and painful memorizing? Is the major THAT easy? I think it should prepare someone for research as well, but I may be wrong.

 

Physiology: Is it THAT hard? It appears that everything in that major will be covered in Med school anyway... And since its a lot of studying organ systems, I don't see how it can be useful for research.

 

Microbio: People say it's very hard compared to, say, Anatomy. Don't know if I want to study unicellular organisms so in detail. Immunology should be very interesting.

 

Neuroscience: How difficult is it? I don't want to be stuck going for Neurology after med school; I may be completely wrong.

 

What do you think?

 

anatomy is the easiest program at the time (i don't know if it has changed since). Most of my friends have ridiculous high GPA coming out of the program and a lot of them are in med right now.

 

physio is harder because it's not straight memorization and you have to be able to understand some concepts in order to do well in some courses.

 

i've taken classes from both programs and they are a lot of fun.

 

again, if gpa is your concern, can't go wrong with anatomy..........

[Akmed89]

Microbiology and immunology at McGill is actually a pretty good program.

 

I know alot of people say its hard, but honestly, the hardest class is immunology and you still have to take that class if you were in anatomy.

 

1st year should be a piece of cake since there are not too many required courses, so you could fill with either electives or if your doing a minor. it gets harder in second year with virology and the year-long lab, but even then I find those courses interesting.

I do have to warn you that the department is totally disorganized and it can get very frustrating at times (like when they called everyones house the day before the midterm that was scheduled at 4pm telling us it was chaged to 9am!!!).

 

One good thing from this prgram is that you have room to take alot of the main classesfrom other departments like physio, histology, pharmacology,, etc.. and plus its one of the few undergratuate science programs that you can actually get a job from.

 

Getting a high GPA is not too big a problem, most of the ppl i know have 3.75+.

[Inspiration]

Microbiology and immunology at McGill is actually a pretty good program.

 

I know alot of people say its hard, but honestly, the hardest class is immunology and you still have to take that class if you were in anatomy.

 

1st year should be a piece of cake since there are not too many required courses, so you could fill with either electives or if your doing a minor. it gets harder in second year with virology and the year-long lab, but even then I find those courses interesting.

I do have to warn you that the department is totally disorganized and it can get very frustrating at times (like when they called everyones house the day before the midterm that was scheduled at 4pm telling us it was chaged to 9am!!!).

 

One good thing from this prgram is that you have room to take alot of the main classesfrom other departments like physio, histology, pharmacology,, etc.. and plus its one of the few undergratuate science programs that you can actually get a job from.

 

Getting a high GPA is not too big a problem, most of the ppl i know have 3.75+.

 

Hey I'm just curious, which kind of job can you get from it?

[Drakoulias]

I didn't go to McGill, but I wanted to recommend that in general you should pick the major that interests you the most. This will make it so much easier to do well and also to enjoy your time as an undergrad. Picking a major with an "easy" reputation may backfire if the content bores you, leading to poor grades.

 

Like some of the other posts have suggested, it doesn't hurt to think about your job prospects after graduation with a particular major.

[mydream]

The thing is they all seems interesting. Does going into physiology give you a better chance for med school?

[Drakoulias]

The thing is they all seems interesting. Does going into physiology give you a better chance for med school?

 

As long as you have the prerequisites for med school (e.g first-year sciences), it doesn't matter which major you choose. Most (maybe all) med schools in Canada allow you to major in whatever you want, and the choice of major doesn't factor into their decisions.

[Akmed89]

Hey I'm just curious, which kind of job can you get from it?

 

You can work as a lab tech in companies (mind you all you'll be doing is mindless repetitio). Im sure there are also other jobs..

[doc5]

Sorry to stray off topic.....

But I am in the same situation, I applied to med, but in case of rejection I also applied to anatomy and chemical engineering.

I know in anatomy you can get high gpa= higher chance to get into medicine, but if I still do not get in.... I do not want to go into research, so its a wasted three years (assuming I still don't get into med).

Chemical engineering, I hear is tough, so it is hard to get a good gpa, but if I don't get into med, I can study further into it (masters,mba..)

What do you guys think? Is engineering really that tough?

 

 

 

On a side note, do they offer petroleum engineering anywhere in montreal?

[deeman101]

Some majors give you more of an advantage in med school. I know people that did the anat program are at significant advantage in my class compared to....pretty much any other major. The pace at which we learn anatomy is waaay beyond undergrad. So knowing a lot before hand definitely helps.

 

Microbio gives practically no advantage at all in McGill's med curriculum. I say go for anat.

[iTro11]

Some majors give you more of an advantage in med school. I know people that did the anat program are at significant advantage in my class compared to....pretty much any other major. The pace at which we learn anatomy is waaay beyond undergrad. So knowing a lot before hand definitely helps.

 

Microbio gives practically no advantage at all in McGill's med curriculum. I say go for anat.

 

I came in from CEGEP, and I haven't done any anatomy or microbio, and only get low-mid 90s in BOM right now. Those people with anatomy and microbio degrees probably have high 90s. No wonder those people with undergrads are so chill

[deeman101]

I came in from CEGEP, and I haven't done any anatomy or microbio, and only get low-mid 90s in BOM right now. Those people with anatomy and microbio degrees probably have high 90s. No wonder those people with undergrads are so chill

 

LMAOOO! More like we realize its pass/fail thats why we're so chill.

[bystander]

I came in from CEGEP, and I haven't done any anatomy or microbio, and only get low-mid 90s in BOM right now. Those people with anatomy and microbio degrees probably have high 90s. No wonder those people with undergrads are so chill

 

The key to success in BOM lies in learning how to optimize the result/effort invested ratio. Here's a protip to turn those low 90s into high 90s or even 100s. First and foremost, you should try taking a different approach to life, mature a little bit and learn to enjoy the various things it has to offer. As a result, you'll grow into a better individual and perhaps eventually you will get closer to mastering the ability to achieve exceptional grades by applying the crucial principles of academic success known by every competent undergrad:

 

 

1-Always choose the path of least resistance

2-Sleep during every class or simply abstain from attending

3-Party whenever you get the chance

4-Only study the night before exams

5-???

6-PROFIT! (Get high 90s or 100)

 

To answer the op's post, you should simply choose a major that interests you and in which you are confident that will be able to do well in regardless of whether it is known as a hard major or not, as GPA is the primary academic factor evaluated by the admissions committee.

 

It is of course conceivable that people who have majored in certain life science programs might initially have an easier time grasping some concepts when compared to people who have not been exposed to this material beforehand, but would you really want to relearn the same things you learned during undergrad? This applies mainly to physiology majors as some of the professors from this department also teach a substantial portion of the preclinical medical curriculum in which they will literally use the exact same slides covered during the courses they teach in undergrad.

 

The backgrounds of the students in McGill's medical school are very diverse and even include history and drama majors yet everyone does well on preclinical exams as the class averages always revolve around 80, so not having a prior degree in life sciences won't necessarily jeopardize your ability to succeed in medical school, although having one can certainly be useful.

[johndoe88]

Hey there,

 

I applied to Med, but If rejected, I'd be happy to do a B.Sc. However, I am really having a hard time deciding which major to choose: Anatomy & Cell Biology, Physiology, Microbio. & Immuno. or Neuroscience.

 

Here's my situation: I looked over the courses, all the majors seem super interesting because I have not taken any of the courses. Don't really want to take a notoriously hard major since I don't want to abandon sports and other extracurricular activities. Kinda want to have a shot at Medicine after.

 

Here are some questions.

 

Anatomy: Is it all going to be brainless and painful memorizing? Is the major THAT easy? I think it should prepare someone for research as well, but I may be wrong.

 

Physiology: Is it THAT hard? It appears that everything in that major will be covered in Med school anyway... And since its a lot of studying organ systems, I don't see how it can be useful for research.

 

Microbio: People say it's very hard compared to, say, Anatomy. Don't know if I want to study unicellular organisms so in detail. Immunology should be very interesting.

 

Neuroscience: How difficult is it? I don't want to be stuck going for Neurology after med school; I may be completely wrong.

 

What do you think?

 

I majored in Anat and Cell bio at McGill. It was a good program but be prepared for a lot of cell bio. It's almost all molecular stuff that is rather quite boring in my opinion. The anat courses like systemic were really really good. That being said Physio will prepare you well for med as you will learn many systems etc. My friends at mcgill med all say Physio prepared them best.

 

As for grades Anatomy is probably your best bet so long as you can stand the cellular biology. Of note Cellular trafficking don't take it, cellular neurobiology don't take it unless you really have to (midterm class avg was a 60).

 

Then again all McGill majors have tough courses so you should pick what you really really like.