Any neuroscience majors out there?

<p>Hi, I am in the process of deciding what school I am going to apply ED to this fall. I am 99% sure I want to major in neuroscience/neurobiology. What schools have the best undergraduate programs? I would really like feedback from students who are majoring, or have majored, in neuroscience and can share information about about class sizes, professors, research opportunities, etc. </p>

<p>Right now Harvard, Stanford, Johns Hopkins and Columbia are on the top my list. Based on the research I've done, I know they all have awesome programs. But does anyone have personal experiences with these programs or can suggest other schools with great programs, as well?</p>

<p>Any help is GREATLY appreciated! Thank you!</p>

<p>I just finished my junior year as a neuroscience major. I didn’t go the ED route, so I can’t give any advice on that front, but I can tell you about what I looked for in neuroscience programs.</p>

<p>I started out looking at both LACs and larger research universities but after some looking realized I was drawn more to the larger schools because of the research opportunities and because they focused more on the major as opposed to a lot of core requirements that didn’t appeal to me. These schools would have giant intro classes, but I would also get out of a lot of those with IB/AP credit and get to move into smaller classes more quickly. At the time, I was interested in neuro because of my 2 years of IB psych in high school, so I was interested in a major that didn’t just feel like a biology major with a few brain-related classes tacked onto it. I looked more in depth to see if the specific programs aligned with my interests. My interest within neuroscience did shift once I got to college, but I’m still pleased with the program I picked because it offered a lot of flexibility. Being able to get involved in research was also really important to me, and it was something I asked about at every school I visited.</p>

<p>In the end, I narrowed down my choices to University of Minnesota and Northeastern, in large part because of finances. They weren’t the big names like you mentioned, but they were both offering me full scholarships and great opportunities. Minnesota even offered me a guaranteed freshman research experience. I think opting for these schools gave me a bit more of a chance to stand out early on and get involved. I chose Northeastern, and my decision has paid off. I’ve won a major national scholarship for my research and am in great shape to apply to top PhD programs for next fall. I did look at some of these programs you’re mentioning, but they didn’t end up appealing to me quite as much once I dug deeper. I just really liked the programs and the environments at those two schools.</p>

<p>Do you have any specific questions?</p>

<p>Emory has a great program in neuroscience:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nbb.emory.edu/”>http://www.nbb.emory.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>That’s a great response from nanotechnology. My D and I just went thru this process. She looked at schools of every size and region, but she focused primarily on those she could afford. Affordability is not something you’ve addressed in your post and it is of the utmost importance. You haven’t told us your grades and SATs, but assuming you get into the schools you’ve mentioned, can your family afford them? If you’re not lower income (I won’t go there right now), you will find yourself expected to pay most of the stated cost of attendance. I don’t think any of them give out merit, but if they want you they will make it possible for you to attend. What they want is a student of the highest potential academically and in terms of ECs and leadership. </p>

<p>So let’s say you’re interested in neuro and these schools are high reaches (as they are for all but a few thousand applicants), where else do you look. Well, you can look at rankings of programs but they usually are for graduate programs, which doesn’t always translate to undergrad programs. There might be professors who are cranking out world-stopping research who never speak to an u/g. It happens. So you might also look a bit below the ivies and near enough ivies (Emory, Berkeley, Duke, etc.) to programs D looked at: Pitt (which she will attend), Rochester, Tulane, Vanderbilt (which is getting near enough ivy), Bard, Claremont McKenna, Georgetown, Grinnell, Miami, Michigan, Mount Holyoke, New College of Florida, Northwestern, Ohio State, RIT, Rensselaer Poly, Richmond, Rhodes, Rutgers, Skidmore, Smith, South Carolina Honors, USC, Vassar, Wake Forest, and Wellesley. Bard, Grinnell, and NCF we tossed as too small; then we tossed the predominantly women schools; Georgetown and Michigan OOS, Northwestern, Smith, and Vassar were likely to be too expensive for us; then she tried to learn as much as she could about the remaining. Pitt had a rolling admission. Tulane was EA (both were generous; apply early for the best chance at the most money), but she applied nowhere ED because of the financial commitment. When you apply ED you essentially tell the school that your family is committed to sending you to that school unless the FA package is out-of-line with what your family can pay. That brings us back to affordability. You’ve got to run those net price calculators. </p>

<p>Pitt has had a neuro program about as long as anyone. There are over 200 u/g majors. They have a brain trauma research center and are building a new Brain Institute that they hope will do cutting-edge, Bell Labs kind of research. They have lots of u/g summer internships that are paid, and students routinely do research during the school year. D is interested in second language acquisition, and Pitt has strong faculty researchers in that area. Pitt also has a hospital (as did Tulane, USC, OSU, Rochester, maybe some others) and many research opportunities there and at the brain trauma center. It’s a great city for young people with a great arts and sports scene. It’s also too far for an overnight visit by her parents. Finally, even though we were OOS, Pitt was not much more than our baseline, the Univ of Maryland (which also offered aid but which doesn’t have a neuro major but a certificate or something like that). These are some of the reasons she chose Pitt and some of the things you might consider in putting together your list.</p>

<p>@nanotechnology Awesome, thanks so much. And a big congratulations on the scholarship!!!</p>

<p>@juillet I’m actually working in an Emory lab right now, haha. They have an awesome neuroscience program. Emory is on my list, but I’d really like to attend college outside of Georgia. :)</p>

<p>@jkeil911 I’ve spoken with my parents about cost, and they told me not to consider it a factor. I honestly don’t think that it will be a huge factor for me (unless I receive absolutely NO financial aid), so I am not worrying about it at this point. And the schools I have narrowed down to are not binding, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.But thank you! Do you recommend a way to get a pretty accurate estimate of FA from certain schools based on my family’s financial status? </p>

<p>You did bring up some points that I hadn’t yet thought of (like future growth of neuroscience programs and looking at research being done by specific professors). I’m definitely going to look more into that aspect. </p>

<p>OP, each school has a net price calculator. do a search at the school homepage, or look on the financial aid page. Fortunately, many schools use one of two npcs, so you won’t have to type all the data in for each school but each school will ask for some things and not others. So once you’ve done this once, you just have to do some simple adjustments for the questions that school wants to ask that the other one didn’t. You’ll need things like your mom and dad’s last year earnings, the number of children living at home your first year of college, your GPA, etc. Once you fill it out the first time, you’ll only have to bother your parents again once or twice. Your parents may be shy about giving you this info. I was with my kids. Still, it must be done. If your parents are divorced or one of them owns a business or farm, your results, the Expected Family Contribution, will be less reliable. The EFC supposedly doesn’t include merit aid, but some schools who do offer merit aid will roll the merit into the calculations for the EFC. One, in our experience, was Northwestern, which rolled one of their “scholarships” into the calc.</p>