Hi everyone!
My name is Sanjana, I use she/her pronouns, and I am a media project assistant at the
Chapman Learning Commons!
I'm currently in my 4th year at UBC majoring in Behavioral Neuroscience with a
minor in Law & Society.
Today I’ll be talking a bit more about my personal experiences in choosing my major
as well as some of the skills that I've gained from it!
I started out at UBC in the Science One program, which is an interdisciplinary
first-year program that requires you to take coursework in physics, chemistry, biology,
math, as well as computer science.
I learnt pretty early on that I wasn't really interested in a pure science specialization- so just a biology degree or just a physics degree
And I was looking for an intersection of science with something outside of science as well
Science One alumni generally organize a meet your major event
where they bring in students who used to be in the Science One program to come in and talk about how they went about choosing their major and the considerations that they had.
as well as some of the opportunities that they've gotten in the specialization that they did end up picking
This is where I first learned about the behavioral neuroscience major because it is a lot less talked about
in most Faculty of Science Meet your Major events
Typically because it is offered in the Faculty of Science
but it does have a lot of Arts courses incorporated in it. And I learned that this is probably exactly what I've been looking for
Because it is a perfect intersection of a lot of biology, chemistry, and psychology
which I've always been fascinated by.
And I was really excited at the prospect of being able to take this specialization!
When I was making my decision,
I also consulted the academic calendar quite heavily!
Because although there is a lot of flexibility, this also comes with the caveat of having to plan everything out well in advance
so that you know exactly what courses you're taking in your third and fourth year.
Because there aren't enough upper-level science courses built into the behavioral neuroscience degree,
it took a lot of time and research to understand what I could take to satisfy my degree requirements
The academic calendar is a great resource in guiding the structure of your degree
and understanding when you can take which courses to graduate in time.
It was initially difficult to switch between the approaches required to succeed in my science and arts courses
because they both require different skill sets and different learning methods.
I eventually learned to strike a balance, by talking to some of fellow peers,
as well as professors in the program who redirected me towards some great resources and study groups
and I soon began to appreciate the differing approaches to analytical thinking that both sides of my degree offer.
So if I have to pick the best part of my degree,
and this is something that I've already stressed enough, so far in this video,
it is how interdisciplinary my degree is!
I really love the fact that I can take courses in Psychology, Neuroscience, Biology, and Chemistry to satisfy my degree requirements
And it has really given me an opportunity to appreciate how these different disciplines approach the same subject matter
It's also really cool to see how so many different disciplines come together at the intersection
that is Behavioral Neuroscience! Because it's given me a lot of valuable skills both in the lab and otherwise
in understanding connections and just being able to appreciate the subject matter.
Although my major is very interdisciplinary, I still take a lot of science courses because it is offered by the Faculty of Science
and that is the Faculty requirement.
However, I wanted to use my elective credits to branch out of this sphere a little bit
I found myself naturally gravitating towards sociology and anthropology courses in my first and second year
and I really fell in love with the introductory courses for both of those and I really couldn't pick between choosing to specialize for a minor in either one
of those because I liked both courses so much and thought they added different values to my degree
And when I was browsing through other minors that the Faculty of Arts offers, I came across the Law and Society minor
And again, this worked out to be exactly what I was looking for because it allows for
a lot of flexibility in the kinds of courses you can take to satisfy the minor requirement.
I had some additional considerations when I was picking my minor.
The first one was how many credits it was worth and how well it would fit in to my existing degree plan.
I wanted to finish my degree in 4 years and it worked out well because I was able to fit in these courses in all the elective spaces I had.
And also just the courses I had taken as electives in my first and second year ended up working out counting towards the minor,
so I didn't have to take an extra semester or overload in any of my semesters.
Variety in coursework was also an important consideration.
Because I didn't want to choose between anthropology and sociology but I was also pleasantly surprised by the option to take
other courses to supplement my understanding in both. Law and Society also has some core Law and Society courses
which were really interesting takes on legal infrastructure as well as legal research and thinking which I found really fascinating and had always been fascinated by
and it was just really great that I was able to explore this even though it is not part of my major.
Overall, it's been a really great experience because the core Law and Society courses have really broadened my perspective on the role of courts
and legal frameworks and given me many great experiences, such as being able to go to the
Vancouver Supreme Court for assignments! and I'm really grateful for all the skills that I've gained from my major as well
and I feel like this is a bit of an unconventional combination, but a combination that has really worked to my interests.
And I'm really grateful that there are options like these at UBC that I've been able to explore and integrate into my undergraduate experience.