Neuroscience vs. Physiology vs. Genetics

Somalion

So it's near enough the time to pick what we would like to specialise in for 3rd year in Science. I'm trying to make up my mind as to what I should pick. I was initially going to go down the Neuroscience route but a few people I've talked to seem unhappy with the Neuro department. Any students of these three care to share their experiences as I'm really having a tough time deciding what to pick!

Pet

Copied and pasted from a PM I sent about two years ago:

There is a LOT of continuous assessment (50% of your end of year mark!) but the advantage is that it really takes the pressure off you at exam time, especially considering that if you put in the effort, you can average a high % on your assignments. If I were doing it again, I'd put even more effort into CA, because doing really well in JS is almost more important than in SS, cos you generally apply for postgrads etc in January of final year, so they only have your JS results to go by.

The CA comes in the form of presentations, written assignments and lab writeups, but I personally found these to be way more interesting and engaging than the ones in JF and SF science. No more bumblebee practical ****!

The fact that there's only 20 of you in the course really helps matters, because you're thrown around between different departments, and nobody really gives a **** about NS students (because there is no "Department of Neuroscience" as such), so you all bond pretty quickly.

NS students seem to be well-regarded by the other departments, which does help matters from a postgrad point of view. Also, the versatility of the course means you can go into a lot of different fields. Almost everyone from my class is doing a PhD or graduate medicine.

What I liked: good mixture of courses (you do everything from genetics to psychology) as it's a truly interdisciplinary course, good camaraderie with your class

What I didn't like: there's no department, so there's no common room etc like Physiology/Zoology have, no internships set up for you, etc, so you have to do a bit more work yourself.

Jammyc

Pet wrote: »

Copied and pasted from a PM I sent about two years ago:

There is a LOT of continuous assessment (50% of your end of year mark!) but the advantage is that it really takes the pressure off you at exam time, especially considering that if you put in the effort, you can average a high % on your assignments. If I were doing it again, I'd put even more effort into CA, because doing really well in JS is almost more important than in SS, cos you generally apply for postgrads etc in January of final year, so they only have your JS results to go by.

The CA comes in the form of presentations, written assignments and lab writeups, but I personally found these to be way more interesting and engaging than the ones in JF and SF science. No more bumblebee practical ****!

The fact that there's only 20 of you in the course really helps matters, because you're thrown around between different departments, and nobody really gives a **** about NS students (because there is no "Department of Neuroscience" as such), so you all bond pretty quickly.

NS students seem to be well-regarded by the other departments, which does help matters from a postgrad point of view. Also, the versatility of the course means you can go into a lot of different fields. Almost everyone from my class is doing a PhD or graduate medicine.

What I liked: good mixture of courses (you do everything from genetics to psychology) as it's a truly interdisciplinary course, good camaraderie with your class

What I didn't like: there's no department, so there's no common room etc like Physiology/Zoology have, no internships set up for you, etc, so you have to do a bit more work yourself.

From a Physiology point of view:

CA is also 50% or 58.33% if your broad curriculum is assessed all in-course. Not having sat exams yet, I can't say I feel much pressure off, but I live in hope!

As above, presentations (oh god so many), written assignments, reviews, poster presentations, group-based discussions and lab reports (some written some on computers) make up your continuous assessment.

The course is broadly split into two key areas -
Neurophysiology (2 5-credit modules are shared with Neuroscience, as well as having some others alone)
and Exercise Physiology, which despite being awfully unfit and fairly uninterested in sports, is actually quite cool.
That being said, there are also some SS students that do their final year project in dietary-related areas.

The labs are a lot of fun and you really get on well as a class and with some lecturers/demonstrators.

We have the 2nd floor of the Biosciences buidling, with our own Physiology library, which we all use to do group work/assignments. The SS year have their own common room right next to us too.

We share some lectures with 1st/2nd year Meds, 3rd year Neuroscience, 3rd year Molecular Medicine and 3rd year Human Health & Disease. We also have a huge chunk of lectures alone. As there are only 16 of us, we get on well and do well.

Our timetable can be awesome some weeks and okay others. Never really have god awful weeks. As with neuro, people tend to go for PhDs, Graduate Entry Medicine or other Health Professional courses like Physiotherapy etc.

In short, Physiology is deadly.

Somalion

Thanks for the replies Neuro and Phys are my two front runners, very difficult to decide between the two right now!! So hopefully I can make up my mind soon :P (Although this could all be purely academic if I don't get the grades )