Choosing Majors or a Specialist?

[Guest TN]

Hi,

 

I was just wondering what would be better, two majors or a specialist? Some people have told me that two majors might be too broad and that it will be very difficult after graduation to find a job without persuing professional or graduate school. Some professional school and graduate school have also said that they prefer students who are specialize in one field. My options are either a specialist in Human biology (Health and desease) or Physiology or a double major in biology and philosophy. I would prefer to keep all the door open if possible, but I would prefer to know that there is some type of security in doing so. If anyone has any advice or suggestion, please let me know, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

[Guest cheech10]

Well, here are my thoughts. Take them with a grain of salt.

 

For professional schools, there is no difference. A major or double major generally gives you more freedom to take interesting/easier courses, especially if the 2 fields overlap significantly. So there may be an advantage there, but this really comes down to interest, as you'll likely do better in courses that hold your interest.

 

For grad school (often plan , the opposite is generally true, as a MSc physiology program will likely prefer a student with a specialist in physiology over a student with a major in physiology. However, you aren't required to take a specialist program for grad school.

 

So, it depends on what you feel your chances are. I personally feel that a double major *may* boost your marks slightly, but may also limit your choices for grad school (although if your marks are high enough for consideration at med schools, you'll likely have no problem with grad school applications). Just take whichever program appeals to you the most in terms of required courses and opportunities to take other courses.

 

Oh, I have some close friends in the Health and Disease program, but from what I've seen I personally think it's far too broad for a specialist (kind of defeating the purpose of taking a specialist program), but if you enjoy the courses offered it can be a good choice. Just keep in mind that your course selections in 3rd and 4th years will have a big impact on the grad programs you can apply to (if you end up doing that). So just find the courses you enjoy, pick a program that lets you take them, and don't worry about your major. Best of luck!

[Guest 123]

Take my thoughts with a grain of salt too, but I disagree that grad schools will always prefer a specialist degree. Perhaps it depends on the field, but having visited a bunch of grad schools in the last while and talked to profs, they seem more interested in the fact that you have thinking skills, etc. They will teach you specialized knowledge, and you'll study to pass your comprehensives. imho, it's much better to take a variety of courses and learn what you like than to specialize too early. (and the difference between a major in many schools - say, 4 fourth year courses, vs a specialist, 6 or 8 fourth year courses, is really not THAT big a deal)

[Guest Poster]

Do ALL grad schools in canada require an Honours degree? or is it just preferred?

[Guest TN]

Hi,

 

Just wanted to thank you for your advice, a few people have been telling me some quite similar things. Although the bit about improving your average via a double major sounds very tempting as well. Once again, thank you for your help:)

[Guest 123]

Not all grad schools require a specialized honours degree, and not all grad schools even prefer it. (That is, specialized honours vs double major)

 

But, as far as I know, ALL grad schools require a four-year honours degree in general. Why would you be interested in doing graduate work if you weren't interested in taking honours courses in the first place?

 

I found, at university, that the level of fourth year courses was a HUGE jump from the level of third year courses. It would be a rather large step to go from third year to grad school right away.

[Guest Poster]

I went to a few grad school websites(UT and UBC) and NONE of them require Honours degrees. It says that you can get in with a regular Bachelor's degree, but the length of your Master's program will be 2 years instead of 1.

 

With this in mind, what's the general admissions process like for grad students?

[Guest Liana]

Poster,

 

What programs are you looking at? I've looked into a lot of grad programs (U of T and UBC as you listed, among others) and all have required a four-year degree. In addition to that, Master's programs (if we're talking about MSc here) usually require two to three years with that Honour's degree, not one year as you suggested. Are you talking about a different type of Master's?

[Guest BCgirl]

I think that there might be some confusion about what classifies as an honours degree since I think it might vary from school to school. From what I've read, at U of T, a 3 year degree is a "major" and a 4 year degree is an "honours" - is that right? So, at U of T, if you take your 4 year honours degree, does that involve doing research, writing a thesis, and orally presenting the thesis, etc? At my school, there are 3 year degrees in which you have a concentration in a certain subject. Or, you can take a 4 year (20 credit) degree that's a major -- or you can take a 20 credit degree that's an honours (you need more credits in the honours subject and have to write a thesis, etc).

 

I thought Poster was saying that someone with a 4 year degree (not honours though) could get into grad school.

[Guest Liana]

BCgirl,

 

You're right, the "honours" label isn't totally consistent from school to school.

 

Some schools may define an honours degree to be one that promotes development of research skills in the subject area through an honours thesis project, or other similar research activities. At Guelph, an Honours degree is any 4-year program, although some require completion of research credits, while others do not. Ultimately, grad schools require completion of a four year degree, or the equivalent number of courses in a shorter/longer time frame.

 

My previous comments are probably still applicable. I imagine that, in the same subject area, an honours degree would only differ from a regular degree when you get to the higher levels (year 3 or year 4). When choosing a program to enter, you should decide whether you think you might like to do research or write a major paper, and also look at the course differences between the two programs. This will vary from school to school, but I imagine that schools that offer 4 year honours and 4 year regular programs may also provide the option for you to switch from one program to the other if you do so in the first year or two, so it's not crucial that you decide right now.