I think of neuroscience as what kids say when they really want to major in psych, but don't want to sound dumb.

Anonymous wrote:Any field where the word “science” is part of the name is not a real science.

(And my degree was Computer Science. I just realize that, very unlike Physics or Chemistry or Biology, experiments in CS or neuroscience or social science are only rarely reproduced and even less commonly are the handful of reproduced experiments published.)

Good lord. Do you have any idea what the current field is like? The 1990s called and it wants its neuroscience textbook back!

But I guess my arguing doesn’t matter, since neuroscience is probably an oversubscribed major much like cs and biology, and most of these kids will never go into research. Neuroscience and bio are classic premed tracks.

Anonymous wrote:There is gender balancing in male dominated STEM fields. In the UK, at places like Cambridge and Imperial where there is no gender balancing in math and CS there seem to be far fewer girls.

Most US schools do not admit by major and so there is not gender balancing by major, like you suggest. Some programs are still very gender skewed.

Any field where the word “science” is part of the name is not a real science.

(And my degree was Computer Science. I just realize that, very unlike Physics or Chemistry or Biology, experiments in CS or neuroscience or social science are only rarely reproduced and even less commonly are the handful of reproduced experiments published.)

Some people here either are referring to schools with low-ranked neuroscience programs or are completely delusional. There is nothing wrong with psychology, but if you are interested in psych then major in psych. Neuroscience courses focus on an entirely different aspect and is very mechanistic and probably not completely satisfying to a kid mainly interested in psych. And I have never heard students say, for example, that a systems neuroscience class is “easy.” If it is, your kid is not being taught right.

Anonymous wrote:Neuroscience is basically psychology with a strong STEM/Biology component. A lot of females are drawn to psychology because they value relationships and people.

No they are just trying to understand their own numerous mental problems.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Neuroscience is basically psychology with a strong STEM/Biology component. A lot of females are drawn to psychology because they value relationships and people. The STEM/biology piece works for pre-med. For pre-med, it’s a lot easier than a biology or chemistry major.

What? The neuroscience major is extremely difficult. You have to take tons of chem (including organic), biology, physics, etc. Not for the faint of heart.

It's easier than chemistry or biology because neuroscience majors take the same base classes (organic chemistry, biochemistry, etc) but instead of tough 300 and 400 advanced/capstone classes in your major, you take intro psychology classes (100 or 200 level). Basically, you sub hard upper level classes with easy classes. So yeah, it's easier.

There is gender balancing in male dominated STEM fields. In the UK, at places like Cambridge and Imperial where there is no gender balancing in math and CS there seem to be far fewer girls.

Anonymous wrote:Women are dominating college populations now and are the majority. Almost every major is a "female major" now, except for 2-3 outliers that are still majority male.

Don’t worry; everyone is puta ton of pressure to make those majority female as well. You know, for equity reasons.

DD who is interested in neurology and biophysics was told by CC to say her potential major is physics rather than neuroscience, esp for strong pre-med schools like Wash U. She does have transcript/grades to support physics major.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ivy kid, overall has close to 50:50 females to males. The following stem majors have more females for the classes of 2027 and 2026:

-Biology, BioEngineering, chemE, molecular/materials science, chemistry, neuroscience, environmental science, environmental engineering. Even CS is 45% female.

There are even phD programs in some
Stem fields that have tipped in favor of females as far as the applicant pool, in the last 2 yrs. It will be more soon.

Chemistry and Chem Eng are female majors??

I was a chemistry major 15 years ago and we were about 2/3 female my year. But there were some older professors who were quite sexist.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Neuroscience is basically psychology with a strong STEM/Biology component. A lot of females are drawn to psychology because they value relationships and people. The STEM/biology piece works for pre-med. For pre-med, it’s a lot easier than a biology or chemistry major.

I disagree that it’s easier than biology and seems about the same as chemistry to me.

Chemistry is a hard major. Organic chemistry, physical chemistry...tough! Tons of lab time too (same for bio).

It can be if one gets a BS in Chemistry.

A growing number of colleges now offer a watered-down degree as a BA in Chemistry. I am told that, at such colleges, some pre-med students go the BA route because it has fewer required Chemistry classes.

Anonymous wrote:Ivy kid, overall has close to 50:50 females to males. The following stem majors have more females for the classes of 2027 and 2026:

-Biology, BioEngineering, chemE, molecular/materials science, chemistry, neuroscience, environmental science, environmental engineering. Even CS is 45% female.

There are even phD programs in some
Stem fields that have tipped in favor of females as far as the applicant pool, in the last 2 yrs. It will be more soon.

I read that percentage of females in CS is going down now.

Anonymous wrote:Ivy kid, overall has close to 50:50 females to males. The following stem majors have more females for the classes of 2027 and 2026:

-Biology, BioEngineering, chemE, molecular/materials science, chemistry, neuroscience, environmental science, environmental engineering. Even CS is 45% female.

There are even phD programs in some
Stem fields that have tipped in favor of females as far as the applicant pool, in the last 2 yrs. It will be more soon.

Chemistry and Chem Eng are female majors??

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Neuroscience is basically psychology with a strong STEM/Biology component. A lot of females are drawn to psychology because they value relationships and people. The STEM/biology piece works for pre-med. For pre-med, it’s a lot easier than a biology or chemistry major.

What? The neuroscience major is extremely difficult. You have to take tons of chem (including organic), biology, physics, etc. Not for the faint of heart.

Premed applicants heavily skew female these days, about 60-40, and they all take organic. Organic is not a deterrent for females or anyone else. Pp is wrong, neuro is usually harder than bio, easier than chem. However most biomajors are also premed so they too take organic