I applied to college with a major in mind - international relations. In fact, my first I-20 (a document issued by colleges for international students, serving as proof that we are actually studying in the US and allowing us to leave and re-enter the country) stated I was studying international relations. However, I was also considering English, I liked biology, and I kind of wanted to minor in French. Heck, had I stayed in my home country, I would have studied something completely different, and had I, as I was considering at the time, left to study in the UK, right now I would have been finishing my second year as a forensic anthropology student. So, it’s safe to say I was a bit uncertain on what I wanted.
Growing up a child of linguists, I appreciated and loved languages. In high school I spent four years studying Ancient Greek and Latin, and with my parents’ fields of interest based heavily in humanities, I thought I would likely take up literature, study a modern language, or at least major in anthropology. However, I had also always been drawn to biology, and after taking psychology my junior year of high school (a class that was, granted, mostly focused on Freud and personality tests) I found out that I liked that too.
Realizing that my freshman year of college was about to start and I had no idea what I wanted to study I started to feel panicky, so right before leaving for college I began considering my options more seriously. And good thing I did because through reading course catalogues on my school’s website I found, you guessed it, neuroscience. Neuroscience seemed to be the right combination of psychology and biology, and it appealed to my interest in both social and life sciences. By the time I arrived on campus I was certain (or, you know, as certain as one can be their freshman year of college) that it was a good pick for me. I signed up for introductory biology and chemistry courses my first semester, along with an English course. By the end of freshman year I had taken an introductory course in neuroscience, pushed through two semesters of chemistry (if you know me, you know I’m not a fan of chem - so that was an achievement), and I was hooked. Beginning of sophomore year I declared, and as someone who’s in love with her major I am now presenting you 5 reasons why neuroscience is awesome!
1. Neuroscientists take the coolest pics.
And by that I mean pics of brains:
And brain cells:
The first one is from “Bodies,” an exhibition I highly recommend you check out if you haven’t yet. The above picture was taken at the exhibition, and it’s all the vessels from an actual, real-life human brain! Now, isn’t that super cool?
2. Neuroscience explains SO MUCH.
For a fun look into applied neuroscience check out neuroscience-y youtube channels such as Brain Craft. In fact here’s a video about why we might have a natural inclination towards “listicles” (such as this one that you're reading right now!). Or why we might believe the world revolves around us (seriously though, The Truman Show messed me up!).
3. Want to impress friends with cool facts? Neuroscience is full of cool facts!
Did you know that a human brain on average has 100 billion neurons - each of which makes anywhere between 1,000 and 10,000 synapses (connections) with other neurons? You do the math.
What about those neurons though? Like, what are they? How do they look? Well, for a good pic look at this:
If this image of a hypothalamic neuron generated from stem cells doesn’t get you excited, I don’t know what will.
And for a perspective check, just know that around 30,000 neurons fit on the head of a pin. Like, what?! Mind. Blown.
4. Studying neuroscience can take you anywhere.
For realsies though, neuro majors are a pretty diverse group of students. Some of us want to go to med school, some of us want to pursue research, and some of us want to become counselors. This makes sense if you consider the diversity of the field itself: neuroscience is associated with a variety of other sciences, from biology, computer science, chemistry, physics, to psychology. In fact, just at my school, the neuroscience major branches into Neurobiology, Cognitive Behavioral Neuroscience, and Cellular Neurophysiology.
5. Finally: Mayim Bialik. A.k.a. Amy Farrah Fowler from The Big Bang Theory.
I’m only half-joking about listing a TV show actress as one of the reasons why I love my major. Jokes aside, I deeply support more representation of science in pop culture, and if Amy, a neurobiologist, isn't the coolest character on The Big Bang Theory, I don’t know who is. More importantly, Mayim is the only actor on the show with actual knowledge in the field that her character is in - besides from playing a neuroscientist she is an actual neuroscientist herself. Yep, Mayim, or I should say Dr. Bialik, has a PhD in neuroscience. In fact, here’s a book that she wrote on those hypothalamic neurons I mentioned earlier in this article! Additionally, here’s a video where she talks about science and how cool studying science is. :)
