second year: human behaviour or integrated rehabilitation and humanities

[u/Eastern_Amount_9608]

Second year applications have opened up and I am confused on what to make my first choice from the two programs. There's not much info on irh but it seems interesting to me especially since I really don't know what I want to do after my bachelors, I just know that I am interested in healthcare and social aspects of it. The same goes for the human behaviour program, i think both are cool because healthcare and humanities/social aspects are integrated in it but I do not know which one to make my first choice.

[u/GlottalStopIt]

Hello! Just wanted to clarify something important about how major selection works, especially when it comes to programs like Human Behaviour and IRH. If you meet the prerequisites for your first-choice major, you’ll be automatically accepted into that program—and your second and third choices won’t be considered (this applies to open-entry programs like Human Behaviour). So if you put Human Behaviour first and meet the requirements (minimum 5.0 GPA and the PSYCH prerequisites), you’ll get in and won’t be considered for IRH. IRH, on the other hand, is limited enrolment. So if you’re interested in it, you need to rank it first in your selection to even be considered. Do note that IRH also has a 500 word supplementary application (essentially a personal statement) to submit by April 30th and the bio requirement.

I personally think IRH could be a great fit for you. Even if you don’t pursue a career in rehabilitation specifically, IRH offers unique courses that explore health and its social dimensions, courses you wouldn’t get access to otherwise. You can still take PSYCH courses as electives, along with other Humanities and Health Sciences courses to meet degree requirements and cater your degree more to your personal interests (see here: https://irh.healthsci.mcmaster.ca/current-students/#tab-content-course-lists-a-b-c ).

Another huge plus is that IRH includes a required practicum in third year, which gives you hands-on experience that can guide your interest exploration in an easier way (as getting experience as an undergrad can be quite difficult). Plus, some grad programs require clinical hours so this would help there too. Good luck!

[u/Spirited-Medicine-48]

As a human behaviour student, I would suggest you go with IRH because many psych courses (required by the general stream of human behaviour program) can still be taken as electives by people in other programs. And if you find that you actually do not enjoy IRH, you could transfer into human behaviour later on as the program is open enrolment as long as you have 5+ cGPA. But definitely talk to current IRH students to learn more about the courses and dynamics of their program.

[u/lychee_lemon]

I cant comment on Human Behavior, but I'm in IRH if you have any questions about it. I'm also more intetested in the policy/ethics side of healthcare and it was a great fit for me :)

[u/Fun-Reflection-8923 → u/lychee_lemon]

not applying but I was wondering what kind of stuff yall learn in IRH?

[u/lychee_lemon → u/Fun-Reflection-8923]

IRH is exactly what it sounds like: A fusion of the Healthsci program and Humanities. There are some hard science courses (anatomy, stats, research methods, etc) as well as more theoretical courses (bioethics, inquiry, communications, etc). The idea is to prepare students for healthcare careers with more focus on the social/ethical viewpoints than a traditional science degree.

[u/Eastern_Amount_9608 → u/lychee_lemon]

is it possible to do a minor while being in this program? Also, is there a practicum?

[u/lychee_lemon → u/Eastern_Amount_9608]

There is a practicum in third year! I believe there isn't enough elective space to complete a minor during the regular school year, but you probably can if you take spring/summer courses.