A Biopsychology Undergrad Major Can Prepare You to Master in Counseling - Geneva College
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A Biopsychology Undergrad Major Can Prepare You to Master in Counseling

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Graduate Studies Program Spotlight

When you’re interested in how the mind and body both work, biopsychology could be the ideal undergraduate major for you. Biopsychology combines the study of biological processes with the study of behaviors, emotions, and other areas of psychology. This can help you understand how our brains and behaviors are connected. As a biopsychology student, you can expect to study genetics, adulthood, aging, biomedical ethics, cognition, and learning.

If you’re planning on pursuing a master’s degree in counseling later on, biopsychology can be a good major to choose for an undergrad. In fact, this major can end up being the best one to pursue before starting a master’s program for a number of reasons. Learn more about how biopsychology can benefit you when you want to earn a master’s degree in counseling.

Better Prepare for a Master’s Degree Program
A background in biopsychology can help you get a head start in terms of what you’ll be learning in a counseling-oriented master’s degree program. Counseling degree programs and biopsychology majors might not seem that similar. However, they both cover some of the same concepts. For example, counseling programs often include courses that focus on human development. These courses explore major events of development from conception through death. Biopsychology coursework also often covers adulthood and aging, as well as genetics.

Both master’s degree programs in counseling and undergraduate degree programs in biopsychology cover ethics. While biopsychology programs usually focus on biomedical ethics regarding health care and medical technology, counseling programs explore ethics involved in helping those who are struggling with mental-health issues or relationship problems. When you go through a biopsychology program, you’ll already have an understanding of ethics and other concepts by the time you start a master’s program. This knowledge helps prepare you for your counseling degree program.

Gain a Competitive Edge
Your master’s degree program in counseling will focus more on the mind so that you can learn how to help clients or patients. It will help you develop more in-depth knowledge of the mind in terms of behavior, emotions, and similar concepts. When you take the time to study biopsychology as your undergrad major, you’ll be well positioned to more fully understand how to help others. During your biopsychology program, you’ll explore how the mind and body work together. Instead of only focusing on the mind, you’ll learn about physical processes that can have an impact on human emotions, thoughts, and behaviors.

Combining the study of biological processes with the study of psychology can give you a competitive edge in this field. You’ll have a wider range of knowledge to draw on in order to find the most effective ways to help those in counseling. This can make it easier for you to stand out from the competition for advancement opportunities and help you thrive throughout your career.

Make Learning Advanced Material Easier
Choosing biopsychology as a major when you’re an undergrad can end up making your master’s degree program a bit easier. Keep in mind that any master’s degree program will be more challenging overall since its purpose is to help you gain advanced knowledge in a specific field. However, when you have already studied some of these concepts as an undergrad, you’ll be better equipped to understand them in a master’s degree program.

Exploring these core concepts for the first time as a master’s degree student can make grad school that much more difficult. Processing some of this knowledge before starting your grad school program should help you have an easier time keeping up with classes. This can help you perform better as a grad student in terms of your assignments, tests, and projects.

Gain Confidence
Doing well in grad school requires having confidence. When you choose biopsychology as an undergrad major, this can help you gain the confidence needed for a master’s program. Studying biopsychology gives you a good introduction to psychology in general as well as a deeper look at the body and mind. Learning about key foundational concepts early on can help you feel more comfortable as you tackle more challenging material later.

Since going through a biopsychology undergrad program helps prepare you for a master’s degree program, you should be able to handle your assignments and projects with greater ease and confidence. As you perform well on exams and other school-related tasks in grad school, you can expect to keep feeling confident. This can help ease stress you might normally feel when learning new material in a master’s program and allow you to focus better.

If your academic plans include earning a master’s degree in counseling, please contact Geneva College. We offer a graduate-level counseling that can help you build a career where you can focus on helping others. If you’re pursuing an undergraduate degree and planning to become a counselor, our school offers biopsychology as an undergraduate major. Studying biopsychology, then going on to earn your master’s degree in counseling can help you thrive in this kind of career. As a Christ-centered academic institution, our degree programs and majors can help you understand how to put your faith to good use while working in the counseling field.

Opinions expressed in the Geneva Blog are those of its contributors and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official position of the College. The Geneva Blog is a place for faculty and contributing writers to express points of view, academic insights, and contribute to national conversations to spark thought, conversation, and the pursuit of truth, in line with our philosophy as a Christian, liberal arts institution.

Mar 24, 2022

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