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College Degree: What to choose?

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shadowwhuntress

shadowwhuntress

Divergent

Hi there!
I'm a senior high school student who's graduating this March from a special science curriculum. Just last December 23, I passed a state university's entrance exam out of approximately 80000 people. I passed my first choice and campus with the degree BS PSYCHOLOGY as I thought that it would be a good pre-med course (and mostly because my friends pressured me in joining them), but originally I had BS PUBLIC HEALTH which is geared to a more hands-on and specialized health program which is in another campus.

I'm torn between taking Psychology and Public Health. I have listed the pros and cons of each already, but I still am confused with what I'd take.

Psychology is more on theory and on understanding people's choices and actions, while Public Health is more on the body systems and collecting blood samples, etc.

Other than the two above, there are two courses that I'm also considering -- BS CHEMISTRY and BS MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY.

Chemistry deals with chemicals and can also be a good pre-med course as it talks about how the different elements or compounds affect the body; and Medical Technology, on the other hand, is a comprehensive study that's just like Public Health but is more hospital-based.

So to sum it all up:

BS PSYCHOLOGY vs BS PUBLIC HEALTH vs BS CHEMISTRY vs BS MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

Any ideas/suggestions, please :(
And ah, as you probably know already, I plan to pursue medicine.

here for a moment

Darthas

Retired Moderator

Darthas

レキシコン

If you plan to pursue medicine, you need to be in med school in order to do it - because of this, BS courses have really nothing to do with studying Medicine. You decide from year 1 what you want to do, since med-school is about 6 years in length and everything else doesn't matter as much after that. Nothing's a problem when you have your A levels, if your school follows British educational system.

All the BS topics does for you is to basically tell where your interests are. Pretty sure I explained this to you already that it won't have an effect on pursuing Medicine afaik.

Are you interested in behavior? Take Psych.
Interested in the human body? Take PH.
Interested in molecular theories/makeups and structuring? Take Chem.
Interested in hospital workings and other misc. items? Take Med Tech.

There is no 'wrong choice' that bars you from taking medicine - so this becomes entirely a "What do you think you can do your best in?" question. The entire point of education is mainly fueled by your personality, your drive to study and interest in the course you take - if you lack in any of these things you'll have sub-standard grades or have difficulty performing in future where it really matters most.

After all no one can argue with a genius in their field except someone with considerable equal standing. This will not affect anything or pertain to anything except your interests in the field - none of this is really a 'requirement' for med school.

Here, I'll quote this for you but this is a UK-based med school:

Quote: The standards of entry for any medical teaching centre are exacting. Applicants called for interview will face searching questions about their motivation, their work at school, hobbies and personal interests, as well as having to produce evidence of their academic achievements. A key question will be their reasons for wanting to become a doctor.

[20:54] Lexicon: I may be 3rd place in the popularity poll but at NASA, the # order is 3>2>1.
[20:56] DXBlair: its a placement poll..not a countdown idiot
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Valuna

Retired Moderator

Valuna

Naughty Artist

^What Darthy said.

Don't forget to consider "How do I see myself working with this occupation in 10 years?" Difficult question, but it should make your decision final. Sometimes you lay your interests in it, but you don't see yourself working there or having to do such work your whole life. So, be sure to think about that with each choice.

These beautiful, fragile days are reborn, unfaded
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angelxxuan

angelxxuan

ぬいぐるみ !

actually med school varies from country to country, takes a lot in the states, you have to factor in pre-med and the waiting list to get into such schools, due to the new obamafail it's probably best to wait it out entering medicine, you're going to be abused in that field in my opinion. to be honest, pick the course which you want to do, at least you have a plan in place, some kids would rather run around knock people out than attend school anymore >.< but let's see, possibly psychology? you can always return to school to obtain more training while you're working, you're probably going to need that eventually. but there's nothing wrong with taking other classes along the way, because most college degrees require something else anyway. at first cruise the knowledge and success rate of finding jobs with each profession you wish to pursue and then look at the money rate. yes, if you're going to go into this sort of thing, money is a good thing, you're going to need that trust me. and then just start doing more pros and cons and before you know it, you will have obtained the proper schooling idea and future. and never fret, you can either make a life with college life or, once obtained a certain point of education to graduate, you can return for more fun and get a higher degree and more money in your pocket.

hope that's helpful some.

BuBbLeS!


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pandemonium91

Retired Moderator, Tagger

pandemonium91

Darthas is more knowledgeable on the topic of Psychology and I suck at Chemistry, so I won't touch those.

As for the interviews, yes, it does happen in some cases, some universities interview candidates before allowing them into certain Master-level programs. The university I'm currently studying at didn't have an interview section for the Master program I'm following (International Diplomacy), but another university did, for the same program.

A former classmate in uni (Bachelor level) did go through an interview in order to continue studying there (different university and Master program). Among others, they asked her why she wanted to continue studying there, whether she did her Bachelor degree at a different university or there, and (upon finding out she'd been a student there) what she liked most about it. I'm pretty sure all Doctorate-level programs have an interview stage, since only a handful of people follow those.

But some things you should keep in mind IMO:
- like Valuna said, try to imagine yourself doing all these in the future, x years from now (2, 5, 10 etc.);
- consider your own interests, not just sticking with your friends;
- Psychology and Public Health are quite different from each other. Think about what you're more interested in. Same goes for Chemistry and Med Tech;
- talk to current students from each program, stalk them if you must, lol. Having hands-on knowledge about the inner workings is very useful;
- visit those universities, if you can. Ask for brochures and info. If they have this, attend some classes too.

Good luck, and keep us posted! :)

If you can't handle me at my best, then you don't deserve me at my worst!

shadowwhuntress

shadowwhuntress

Divergent

Thank you for all your informative inputs. They really helped me on what things to consider.
I still have some months to think on what I want, and hopefully, I'll choose what's fit for me.

Right now, Psychology is in the top of my list. It may miss some biology or other science topics but as angelxxuan said, I can always take other classes c:

EDIT:

Quote by pandemonium91
- consider your own interests, not just sticking with your friends;


^ I'm guilty of being too clingy to my friends. I guess I need to understand that sometimes I have to step out of my comfort zone.

here for a moment

Valuna

Retired Moderator

Valuna

Naughty Artist

Forget your friends when it comes to your future occupation. They should have no influence in your choice as in, wanting to stick together. Walk your own path because I'm sure every one of you and your friends differ quite a lot. In friendgroups, especially from school, there tends to be a certain degree of pressure to stick together, even in the same degree. Thing is, the same goes for love and relationships. One should respect the other to stand on his/her own feet and be able to live independently from the rest. Of course, you can stay friends.Well, keep it a good thought on a weekly basis at the least. Good luck with everything. It really is a tough choice if you ask me ^^;

These beautiful, fragile days are reborn, unfaded
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Darthas

Retired Moderator

Darthas

レキシコン

Never factor in your friends for any choice based on education.

[20:54] Lexicon: I may be 3rd place in the popularity poll but at NASA, the # order is 3>2>1.
[20:56] DXBlair: its a placement poll..not a countdown idiot
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SnickerdoodleNinja

Retired Moderator

SnickerdoodleNinja

Snicker-Logical

One thing you might also consider: If for some reason (there are a number of them) you decide at a later date not to go on to med school, which undergrad degree would at least let you get a reasonable job in the meantime?

Of course, I'm still in college myself so I'm not much of an expert on these sorts of things, but I say these things because my brother got a BS Psychology because he thought that he wanted to go on to become a psychologist or psychiatrist, but when he took a break between his bachelor and graduate-level education he realized that he wants nothing to do with the field in general, and there aren't many good jobs for a bachelor level psych degree, so it's hard to even afford to go back and get another degree in what he wants to do. Similarly, from what I understand there isn't much that you can do with just a bachelor's in a hard science, so if you decide not to go on to med school those degrees might not be lucrative. I'm not saying you shouldn't do what you love, but you might want to make sure that you pick a stepping stone that can support you at least temporarily if need be.

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There's a skinny girl who lives inside of me that's trying to get out, but I can usually shut her up with cookies.
"Dance like no one's watching. Sing like no one's listening. Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt before. Live like there's no tomorrow."

CyanideBlizzard

Retired Moderator

CyanideBlizzard

Margarita Time!

Darthas pretty much covered all the points I would go under as in choice of field to take. The only thing I would really additionally offer is this.

Don't be afraid to transfer or change majors, regardless of level of education. I've gone from Law, to Business, to Political Science before I ended up going to Graphic Design. Even now, I'm working on Project Management. Both Business and PolySci I was pretty decently in the program before I changed as well, so don't let money or time investment make you think you need to stick it out. If you truly do not like what you are doing, don't force yourself to do it unless you can continue that same attitude throughout your career. No job is perfect, but you should never stick with something that you find miserable.


Quote by shadowwhuntress

Quote by pandemonium91
- consider your own interests, not just sticking with your friends;


^ I'm guilty of being too clingy to my friends. I guess I need to understand that sometimes I have to step out of my comfort zone.

There's nothing wrong with that. However, odds are you won't end up going to school with your friend and even in the off chance you did, you won't be employed at the same place.

Most people, by general nature, grow away from each other once they start to branch out in different areas. While you may want to stick with them, there's no guarantee that they'll end up sticking with you even if you decide to try and stay close to them. A lot of aspects in life come down to if they work out, great and if not, it's simply the nature of things. However, it doesn't mean you can't make efforts to stay in contact with them and keep in touch.

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UsagixKitsune

UsagixKitsune

nsɐƃıxʞıʇsnuǝ

Most of the Psychology students I went to uni with are unemployed now. Make sure you know what you're doing if you want to pursue it because clearly many people don't.

From what I understand you need a subject to study before studying medicine. While it's good to pick something related, unless there are strict prerequisites for getting into a medicine programme, you will learn everything you need to know there.

With that in mind the only reason you're taking this subject is to impress universities into offering you a place on their medicine programme. The best subject you can pick is one that is considered difficult but one you know you can do. Things like PUBLIC HEALTH and MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY are fairly unheard of. If they're Micky Mouse subjects where you skip all the lectures, turn up for a multiple choice exam at the end of the year and everyone gets a B then they're not worth your time because serious universities are not interested in that kind of stuff.

Solid subjects like Physics, Maths and Chemistry are always a safe bet.

shadowwhuntress

shadowwhuntress

Divergent

Hello.
I just passed another entrance university exam, and this course has a Health Science (4 years) program. This program leads to a graduate degree which offers MD-MBA (Doctor of Medicine and Master of Business Administration). This course was originally my first choice out of all and now I'm thinking of taking it for college. My father really wants me to take Business so I thought why not take this, instead?

I'll keep you guys updated.

here for a moment

Darthas

Retired Moderator

Darthas

レキシコン

Quote by UsagixKitsuneMost of the Psychology students I went to uni with are unemployed now. Make sure you know what you're doing if you want to pursue it because clearly many people don't.

That too.

You'll need to go far in the field to be able to apply much of what you learned - but also depends on your overall outlook on how you're going to go about getting things done when you fast forward a few years in your life. Psych degrees/achievements/slips of paper have very specific applications, some are really good but only if you pursue the field, so isn't one of those '1 size fits all' bills.

[20:54] Lexicon: I may be 3rd place in the popularity poll but at NASA, the # order is 3>2>1.
[20:56] DXBlair: its a placement poll..not a countdown idiot
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