I'm learning Neuroscience!

So, I just found a sweet spot in the student center where I can chill, nap, study, and get free WiFi access; this could be habit forming. I have a nice 5 hour break in between classes on Wed. and since I’m bussing it to school I figure I might as well hang out and take care of bidness.

I’m sitting here with the sun at my back, thinking about the possibilities for the remainder of my education and my future career. I just came from my psychopathology class where we’re going to be learning the basics of neuroscience and how the brain malfunctions with different mental disorders.

We haven’t really gotten into any of the course material yet, but the professor started talking about graduate programs and how neuroscience is the future of psychology and how PSU has the nation’s top undergrad neuroscience program and how we had an incredible opportunity to amass loads of research experience in the numerous studies that are going on here. And, I’m excited.

I’ve always been very interested in how the brain works but I’ve also been intimidated by what I thought would be the memorization of gazillions of chemical names and mathematical equations. My professor told us about the eight class program that is in applied neuroscience, not an anatomy or chemistry program. We will learn the anatomy and chemistry as a by-product of what we are studying rather than that being the focus. He doesn’t believe in memorization or multiple choice tests but rather that his students come away from the classes being able to understand and explain the processes of the brain. Sounds perfect to me!

With the available research opportunities I should be able to put together a great grad school application. He was telling us that with the experience we can get here we should be able to get into the best clinical psych programs. My goal is to apply directly to a PhD program at a top school after I’m finished here. Stay tuned for posts on what I’m learning.