Studying what you like or studying what wil get you were u wanna go

[MadmanMurray]

I'm doing a pre college science course at the moment and my plan is to study chemistry in college because I'm fascinated by neurochemistry and neuroscience and I want to be a neuroscientist in the future. To be honest though chemistry isn't my favorite subject by a longshot and sometimes I find it really stressful and boring because its packed full of abstract concepts.

My favorite subject is actually physics and I'm pretty good at it because I can visualize every concept and I just plain love learning it. I'm sure a lot of people here have made similar decisions. Can anyone here share their experience with this kinda decision. Also if I do take chemistry is it set in stone then? Is there no chance of me ever studying physics in college unless I transfer? There are a lot of different scientific fields I like and it really pisses me off the way we're forced narrow it down to just one area when we all know how these fields interlink with each other so knowing one will be a huge asset when studying the other.

To be honest if I could I'd be studying organic chemistry, biochemistry, electrical engineering, general physics, genetics, computer science and probably more. I'm a natural born scientist i don't want to limit myself to just 1 field. But I suppose this is the way things go so I'm going to have to go with one of them. Anyway back to the question at hand. Should I study what'll bring me to my endgoal or should I study what I like best?

 

[jtbell]

Also if I do take chemistry is it set in stone then? Is there no chance of me ever studying physics in college unless I transfer?

Lots of students change their majors, or end up deciding to major in something different from what they thought they were going to major in when they first arrived at college. Remember at most places you don't have to declare a major immediately. Here, you do it any time during your first two years. And you can still change it after that, although of course you might have to stay longer, to take all the required courses for your new major.

This is if you're in the USA. If you're someone else, forget I wrote this and wait for someone from your country to come along and answer. In that case it might help to tell us what country you're in.

 

[mbisCool]

You are a long ways away from really concentrating in a specific major so don't stress. Also depending on the major you will have more or less room to study topics of your interest. Its not like you study only one subject for four years.

So don't worry you will have plenty of time to narrow down your interests and there will be ample room to learn various subjects. Also, you don't have to take a class to learn a subject. If you aren't able to learn effectively on your own now, in time you will develop such skill. hope that helps

 

[Nabeshin]

I can relate to your frustration at there not being enough time to be able to study everything! But, you are still in high school, so my advice to you would be this: Experience everything that you can. In high school, this is important, but in college it is imperative. If you feel genuinely interested in all these courses, take them in college and you will get a feel for the level of study in a lot of them (they will likely be introductory courses, but one can usually see much further into a field in college than in high school).

This will, hopefully, narrow down what you think you want to spend your life studying. If not well then... I'm sad to say that you're going to have to make a few tough decisions.

 

[MadmanMurray]

This is if you're in the USA. If you're someone else, forget I wrote this and wait for someone from your country to come along and answer. In that case it might help to tell us what country you're in.

Sorry I'm in Ireland.

Thanks for clearing that up I was thinking I just made a 5 year commitment by sending in the application. I don't know if many neuroscientists have physics majors but I suppose if I like the subject so much I'd be better off working in a field related to it.

Yeah mbisCool I'm getting into college as a mature student (I'm 22) so pretty much everything I've learned so far I learned on my own. You know how it is though when you like what your learning its easy.

 

[MadmanMurray]

I can relate to your frustration at there not being enough time to be able to study everything!

Haha yeah time the main limiting factor. Then again its surprising the amount of knowledge you can accumulate in just one day when your in the right mindset. I decided to start learning about neurochemistry a couple of days ago and I managed to grasp a good chunk of the basics (I'd say about 40% at least) in just one day.

 

[Cincinnatus]

Many neuroscientists were physics majors. Many even have PhDs in physics. Neuroscience is a highly interdisciplinary area, people have all sorts of backgrounds.