How I Chose Neuroscience as my Major

My interest in neurology was almost forced on me by my dad. I knew I wanted to be a doctor, but I wasn't sure what specialty. At first, I wanted to do pediatrics, but I didn't know if I could do it forever. I also don't like the idea of making mistakes when treating a child because of how fragile they are. My dad was the one who told me to do neuroscience. I didn't listen to him because I thought neuroscience was boring. I decided to prove that by applying for programs that were centered on medicine as a whole rather than specifically neuroscience.

In the summer of ninth grade, I had the opportunity to participate in the Penn Summer Prep program at the University of Pennsylvania. In participating, I was introduced to elements of the STEM field while taking the “Physics of Energy” class and gained basic insight into the “physics” portion of medicine. The following summer I had the opportunity to attend the Biomedical Research Academy where I was introduced to biomedical research through skilled professors, guest lecturers, and cutting-edge technology.

Fall junior year, I had the opportunity to take a class at Penn in the Young Scholars Program. While taking the “Introduction to Experimental Psychology” class, I learned the psychological aspect of medicine and saw the interconnectedness of psychology and neuroscience. Although I have not taken a formal neuroscience class, this was my first exposure to it. Learning about it there heightened my interest in the brain, and it was not until I was exposed to it again in my IB Biology HL class was I positively sure that brain surgery was the path for me. Neuroscience is one of the most fascinating topics that I have learned because of how intriguing the information is. It brings to light the importance of the brain and how it is nearly impossible to function without it.

Now that I’m in college, I was able to narrow down my interest to genetics in neuroscience and the role of autism in the brain. I ended up writing my white paper in my writing seminar class about the stigma surrounding autism. All this to say that whatever you choose to study before college may change in college and there’s nothing wrong with it. I would advise to find what you’re interested in and see if you can find a major or minor that coincides with it. You shouldn’t worry about being too slow or too fast in choosing your major because there’s always time to change your mind if you discover another interest.

- Joyce D.