<p>@collegehelp,</p>
<p>At the undergraduate level, “neuroscience” could be called Neuroscience or Cognitive Science, they are all studying the same stuff. For example at Pomona, they call it Neuroscience and at MIT they call it Brain and Cognitive Science. I know that my DD is applying for “Neuroscience” major for sure.</p>
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<p>Yep. Neuroscience as a major is usually pretty broad–you’ll be taking core sciences, a few upper-level bio courses, a psych course here or there, and then a handful of real neuroscience courses. Only a few of these will be offered by the neuro department and taught by a neuroscientist, which is why you don’t need an excellent neuro department to get a good education. </p>
<p>If you’re thinking graduate school, research matters most. Sure, a kid at Johns Hopkins has access to some of the best neuro labs in the world… but the kid at the school with a lower ranked neuro department can get substantial research in also (plus they might have less competition in landing jobs in a lab). I went to a university with a mediocre-ish neuro department, and know some kids who got really cool work done there… they did just fine getting into graduate school. Other than research opportunities, you don’t have much, if any, of an advantage in grad admissions just because you went to Superstar Neuro University.</p>
<p>If you’re thinking med school, then the ranking of the neuro department really won’t matter.</p>
<p>UCSD does not have a neuroscience major.</p>
<p>Here is the difference between “Cognitive Science” and “Neuroscience” according to US Dept of Education:</p>
<p>30.24 Neuroscience. (NEW) Instructional content is defined in code 30.2401.
30.2401 Neuroscience. A program that focuses on the interdisciplinary scientific
study of the molecular, structural, physiologic, cognitive, and behavioral
aspects of the brain and nervous system. Includes instruction in
molecular and cellular neuroscience, brain science, anatomy and
physiology of the central nervous system, molecular and biochemical
bases of information processing, behavioral neuroscience, biology of
neuropsychiatric disorders, and applications to the clinical sciences and
biomedical engineering. (Moved from 26.0608)</p>
<p>30.25 Cognitive Science. (NEW) Instructional content is defined in code 30.2501.
30.2501 Cognitive Science. (NEW) A program that focuses on the study of the
mind and the nature of intelligence from the interdisciplinary perspectives
of computer science, philosophy, mathematics, psychology,
neuroscience, and other disciplines. Includes instruction in mathematics
and logic, cognitive process modeling, dynamic systems, learning
theories, brain and cognition, neural networking, programming, and
applications to topics such as language acquisition, computer systems,
and perception and behavior.</p>
<p>UCSD does have Neurobiology and Neurophysiology</p>
<p>26.0906 Neurobiology and Neurophysiology. (NEW) A program that focuses
on the scientific study of the cellular and molecular basis of the lower and higher neural functions in animals and human beings, organ system
behavior and the immune response, and the control of physiological
systems. Includes instruction in computational biology, computer
modeling, protein biochemistry, electrophysiology, morphological basis of
behavior, neural signal transduction and reception, synaptic activity,
neurotransmission, sensory perception and sensorimotor interaction,
inflammation and neurodegeneration, neurological and autoimmune
disease, immune response, maintenance of homeostasis, and autonomic
function.</p>
<p>Here is one of the only [rankings</a> available for neuroscience research](<a href=“http://rccse.whu.edu.cn/college/sjkyjgxkjzlphb2007/sjkxyxwkx.htm]rankings”>http://rccse.whu.edu.cn/college/sjkyjgxkjzlphb2007/sjkxyxwkx.htm), and yes, this is research output, but neuroscience is a research discipline even at the undergrad level, so the ability to find a good lab that you enjoy and are interested and do meaningful work in is important. All things being equal, like preference for setting and size, I would not recommend a LAC for neuroscience because there won’t be the same research opportunities, and that is what is going to get someone into a good graduate program.</p>
<p>BTW, Pitt absolutely has one of the best [undergrad</a> neuroscience departments](<a href=“http://www.neuroscience.pitt.edu/]undergrad”>http://www.neuroscience.pitt.edu/) in the country. It has a fantastic undergrad research program with access to a huge neuroscience faculty in a large variety neuroscience disciplines. It’s one of the oldest undergrad neuroscience departments in the country. The university as a whole has the 5th most NIH funding in the nation.</p>
<p>“All things being equal, like preference for setting and size, I would not recommend a LAC for neuroscience because there won’t be the same research opportunities, and that is what is going to get someone into a good graduate program.”</p>
<p>That is not necessarily true depending on the LAC. In fact, you may actually have more meaningful research opportunities at the undergrad level at an LAC because there are no grad students so undergrads have more opportunities to work much more closely with the professors. </p>
<p>Several Neuroscience and other science majors at my LAC have had no problems entering and thriving in Ivy/Ivy-type PhD programs in their respective fields. In fact, Oberlin and some other topflight LAC science departments are well-known among science academics I’ve talked to at a couple of Ivies as notable feeder programs for students hoping to enter PhD programs to become research scientists. </p>
<p>One thing which also helps is our science departments are geared towards preparing potential research scientists…not pre-meds. A reason why I’ve had to advise some budding pre-meds away from applying to Oberlin if they cannot accept entering a program where their needs as pre-meds aren’t prioritized as much (Mainly concentration on the pre-med core and mania with attaining straight -A/A level GPAs).</p>
<p>Sure, students can be successful at lacs and get into great grad programs, but on average, the typical undergraduate research experience there is going to pale in comparison to what you could get at most research institutions. Most lacs try to have you do some summer research experience at another university, for like a month, and there is just not the time to integrate oneself into a lab or project to get anything meaningful accomplished. Lacs don’t have equivalent facilities either, or funding. They won’t offer the breadth of courses in the topic either. Oberlin is the exception with their course offering, not the rule, but they have a limited, small faculty that isn’t publishing regularly (for instance, the ten current faculty listed on their neuro web page have published a total of 5 papers there over the last five years). It isn’t necessarily true that students will work less closely with a professor at a research institution, although that depends completely on the size of the lab. Even in a larger lab, working with a post-doc on a meaningful project that gets published is a lot more valuable than working closely with a professor on a project that does not. A goal of any student wanting to pursue neuroscience at the graduate level would be to get some sort of authorship, or at least get their names on some abstracts, so you want to integrate yourself into a lab that is well-funded and publishing. It’s also important to do work you are interested in and like to do because bench work seems to have about a 75% failure rate, and a place with more opportunities to explore, IMO, is superior. If a student is more comfortable and will perform better with the setting offered by a LAC, than they should go there regardless of what I said above, but all other things being equal, I wouldn’t advise a Lac for a research discipline like neuroscience. Primarily, when talking about applying for grad school, it is about the research experience one has.</p>
<p>Check number of research assistant positions available to undergraduates and who has the priority. And what you do for the research. Not all students of their research univ. get the opportunity, especially meaningful one. It varies from school to school.</p>
<p>Top LAC students have at least the same opportunity for these positions as research univ. students.</p>
<p>what is a research assistant position as an undergrad level? Sounds like a school specific thing.</p>
<p>Here’s what you do. Find some labs (look on the school’s web pages) whose work seems interesting to you. Email the PIs (principle investigator) of those labs. See which ones are willing to take you. </p>
<p>I’ve never heard of a student at a reasonable sized research school not being able to get into a lab in order to get experience.</p>
<p>Is there a U.S. News ranking on this for undergraduate schools? Seems like most of the ones you guys are posting aren’t verified, no offense, but anybody could have generated these lists.</p>
<p>If you really are looking into Neuroscience, I’m gonna go ahead and say for undergrad Hopkins really gets the cake. Although it was mentioned earlier that bachelor’s in neuroscience doesn’t do anything anymore so if you wanted to go to Hopkins for grad school for neuroscience you prob wouldn’t go undergrad. Anyway A lot of times the undergrad professors who teach graduate students who mostly come from top schools have undergrad classes that would outperform the graduate students on questions. Also the biggest thing for neuroscience is research, which obviously goes to Hopkins. This place literally has buses that leave every 15 minutes filled with students heading to the medical campus which rivals the size of downtown Baltimore. The caliber of research able to do, either as an assistant or your own novel research is pretty incredible. So many famous scientists and professors really give you more than other places that have a program</p>
<p>^^^ This thread is from 2009. I suspect they’ve found a school by now. Why post to this thread now? There have been plenty of more recent neuro threads…</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna College also has a pretty good program</p>
Hello! What you mentioned is exactly what I have been trying to figure out in my search for colleges that offer neuroscience as an undergraduate major. I want to become a research neuroscientist, therefore I do not look forward to colleges that only offer courses which are mainly focused on pre-med preparation. Could you perhaps suggest universities in California that fit such criteria? Thanks!
MODERATOR’S NOTE
@2Random4You This is a thread from 2013. Please use it only for reference and post your new question in a new thread.
Thank you.