When picking major, how many of you took "easiness" into account?

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numbersloth

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I'm debating between two majors--Psychology or Computational Biology--and I really love both. However, Psychology is far and away the easier choice and given the fact that I have to get really good grades as a pre med, I'm really torn.

How many of you chose one major over another based on the fact that it would be easier to get a high gpa?

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I'm debating between two majors--Psychology or Computational Biology--and I really love both. However, Psychology is far and away the easier choice and given the fact that I have to get really good grades as a pre med, I'm really torn.

How many of you chose one major over another based on the fact that it would be easier to get a high gpa?

In the end, it wont matter as much because you have to do the prereq courses which will make up your sGPA.

Do whichever one you can do best in and ace the science prereqs.
 
If you love them, do both and do well in both.

If Psych is so much easier for you, then it won't even be that much additional work.

By far, you'll be much more upset with classes that you didn't take in college that ones you did.
 
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I don't think psych classes will count in your science gpa - so you might want to keep that in mind.
 
If you love them, do both and do well in both.

If Psych is so much easier for you, then it won't even be that much additional work.

By far, you'll be much more upset with classes that you didn't take in college that ones you did.

I second this. I regret not carrying on spanish. :/
 
An ideal major is one that you enjoy and do well in. If you think you'll have a rough time achieving a competitive gpa with computational bio then go with pysch.
 
If you are torn, take intro classes for both and see which one you like better, what the levels of effort required are, and which one you do better in. Ease is something you can take into account, but if you aren't particularly suited for a discipline, it might not be as "easy" as you expect. It's also more likely that you'll try harder in a subject that you'll enjoy, which usually translates well to higher grades.

I was a biology major because I thought it was interesting and I was able to think in the right way to do well in biology classes. For me biology, was a challenging, but very manageable major even though the department/major GPA was bottom 3 at my school. Government/political science had a much higher departmental/major GPA, but based on the one class I took from that department, I didn't think in the right way to do well in those "easier" classes and thus had I been a goverment/polysci major, I would have likely ended up with a lower overall GPA.
 
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If I could back, I would have taken the fluffiest degree and the prereqs for med school and that's it. Choose the path of least resistance and study something you will never again have the opportunity to study when out of college.
 
I will agree with the latter (bolded part) and not so much the former. It certainly is a strategy, but it may not give you the study/work habits so needed for medical school.
That's understandable. I just know so many current med students who did that. Admittedly, they all reported having had a more difficult time adjusting to the material than their peers.
 
The ideal major will be whatever you want to do. For me, I loved neuroscience and the human body, so I majored in Human Physiology with neuroanatomy/neurophysio focus, and I took a bunch of Neuroscience class. I think generally, the only majors you should think twice about are things like hardcore engineering and physics. Then you have to really think if you can handle it or not.
 
The ideal major will be whatever you want to do. For me, I loved neuroscience and the human body, so I majored in Human Physiology with neuroanatomy/neurophysio focus, and I took a bunch of Neuroscience class. I think generally, the only majors you should think twice about are things like hardcore engineering and physics. Then you have to really think if you can handle it or not.

Yeah, the CompBio major requires 4-5 CS classes. I've done well with the intro CS classes, but CS is pretty notorious in difficulty and time commitment which is why I'm not sure. Also I do love psych.... wish I could do both but I want to graduate on time haha
 
In the end, it wont matter as much because you have to do the prereq courses which will make up your sGPA.

Do whichever one you can do best in and ace the science prereqs.
I don't think psych classes will count in your science gpa - so you might want to keep that in mind.
Comp Bio would count towards sGPA, while psych would not. Anything in BCPM goes into sGPA, not just prereqs!

Anyways to OP:

Do not major in something you can't do very well in. Among things you can do very well in, study what you enjoy.
 
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I want to say take the easy way out but you should consider a couple things. Pick a major you enjoy. Pick a major that is somewhat marketable (in case you decide medicine is not for you). Approach your major with a plan to succeed and the discipline to do so and difficulty will just be relative.

To answer your question: No I took one of the hardest double major combos I could think of because I was a crazy UG. Fortunately for me - it didn't bite me in the ***. Good luck with your decision!
 
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