<p>I would throw in Emory but you don’t want to go but so far.</p>
<p>Is anyone familiar with the Five College Certificate in Cognitive Neuroscience?</p>
<p>[Five</a> College Certificate in Cognitive Neuroscience : Welcome](<a href=“http://www.fivecolleges.edu/sites/cogneuro/]Five”>http://www.fivecolleges.edu/sites/cogneuro/)</p>
<p>Is this really any advantage to just studying neuroscience at Smith?</p>
<p>Sorry it took so long to reply, jaga47. I ended up enrolling at Macalester in St. Paul for this fall. I didn’t mention it because it was so far outside your search radius. (I live in Indiana, so only the eastern half of my college search would be beneficial to you). </p>
<p>Another suggestion of mine would be Skidmore. Perhaps it’s a little below the other schools you are looking into stats wise, but before I convinced myself that I needed an urban campus, Skidmore was one of my front runners. There was just something unique about the college that I fell in love with (and then I fell in love with Macalester even more).</p>
<p>Hi I’m also looking for good cog neuro sci/ linguistic undergrad schools
Especially ones with good financial aid.
outside of the ivy’s anyone know any?</p>
<p>CMU has a really interesting decision science major which sounds pretty similar to what you like. It’s the neurological aspect of the psychology of decision making.</p>
<p>I have decided that I feel a LAC environment with a strong program/dept is favorable for one’s undergraduate education, and that postgraduate education is the time for a big-name University.</p>
<p>With that in mind, my top schools are now Wesleyan University, Oberlin College, and University of Rochester.</p>
<p>^^How about Dartmouth? If your stats are in range it would be an excellent choice - very LAC-like.</p>
<p><a href=“Home | Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences”>Home | Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences;
<p>Coureur, my stats were posted–Dartmouth would probably be a pretty big reach.</p>
<p>So I’ve reformed my list a bit. Ideally, I would like to go to a very-active research university that still has a relatively small number of students. The schools I’ve found that suit this are:
University of Rochester
Lehigh University
Brandeis University
Case Western Reserve University
Tufts University</p>
<p>My second choice would be a liberal arts college with a strong science program:
Oberlin College
Wesleyan University
Colgate University</p>
<p>Does this sound good for someone planning on seeking postgraduate work in research? If you have any more suggestions for schools, particularly ones that fit the first category, please contribute.</p>
<p>michigan has a neuro major. have you searched via collegeboard?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Damning with faint praise?</p>
<p>Statistics are available on the baccalaureate origins of PhD recipients. On a per capita basis, which schools produce the greatest number of PhD-earning alumni? The top 20 rankings are dominated by technical schools (CalTech, MIT), a few selective national universities (Chicago, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Hopkins), … and many small liberal arts colleges (not necessarily the very most selective ones).</p>
<p>For all disciplines, half or more of the top 10 for PhD productivity are LACs. For Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Chemistry, and Mathematics, the percentages may be a little lower but LACs still have a disproportionately strong showing.</p>
<p>[COLLEGE</a> PHD PRODUCTIVITY](<a href=“http://www.reed.edu/ir/phd.html]COLLEGE”>Doctoral Degree Productivity - Institutional Research - Reed College)
[nsf.gov</a> - SRS Baccalaureate Origins of S&E Doctorate Recipients - US National Science Foundation (NSF)](<a href=“http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08311/]nsf.gov”>http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08311/)</p>
<p>The schools with the most homogeneous student bodies, having a high % of students who desire PhDs and are smart enough to get them, will always show better on a % basis.</p>
<p>At the more diverse schools, the denominator will usually include a greater proportion of students who are not reasonably anticipating getting Phds than is the case at schools with more limited programs of study where a PhD is a very typical outcome. For example, students in separate colleges of a multi-college university, studying education, nursing, business administration, etc., where more matriculants expect from the outset to seek employment,one might expect far fewer will get a Phd. Hence their PhD%, measured across their entire, diverse student body, will typically be lower for this reason alone. </p>
<p>However this in no way necessarily means the (smaller %) subset of students at the more diverse university who actually have such interests and abilities are disadvantaged in obtaining Phds in their fields. Or that students at the less diverse schools are actually advantaged for same over that subset. There are no liberal arts colleges in Table 3 of that link, the largest future Phds producers are all universities. </p>
<p>The relevant denominator would be students of comparable abilities who actually want Phds, but of course this is not available.</p>
<p>A small school won’t keep you from your goal, and if your goal is academia or research, it can help you attain it. For one thing, you’ll be around more (a higher percentage of) students who share your goal, partially (largely?) due to self-selection.</p>
<p>Actually you’ll be around fewer students who share that goal, as Table 3 indicates. Within comparable majors, and within comparable courses appealing primarly to those with inclinations to further study, there might be more future PhDs in a given class at the big U, not fewer. So for example I’m guessing there were more future physics PhDs in any one of my upper level physics classes at Cornell than there were in basically any LAC. Other people at Cornell were studying Hotel Administration, Architecture, etc. in separate colleges there, and were less likely to get a Phd than many students enrolled in its Arts & sciences college. The mere presence of these other individuals on the same campus had no bearing whatsoever on the destinations of the Arts & Sciences college students. Zero. None whatsoever.</p>
<p>Ive seen no data that shows that students at the less diverse schools are actually advantaged for attaining PhDs over the subset of simlar students at the larger schools. Certainly the % statistic does not accomplish this, as noted above…</p>
<p>Is “more” in raw numbers or percentage? Some students might prefer to be in the 50 of 5000, others in the 40 of 400.</p>
<p>In my example I suspect it might be more like 10 out of 30 physics majors, vs. 2 out of 6 physics majors. Within the 30 there’s more likely to be a few kids I like so I’ll pick that, thanks. Not to mention the additional course offerings available, particularly at advanced level, and frequency they are offered and # sections available to reduce scheduling issues, which is actually more important.</p>
<p>In comparing PhD production rates, it is fair and appropriate to raise questions about self-selection. This is especially the case with respect to schools like Cornell or Penn, which do have pre-professional programs in fields such as engineering, communications, hotel management, nursing, etc.</p>
<p>However, the research universities in the cited PhD production tables also include the University of Chicago, which has virtually no undergraduate pre-professional programs. They include Harvard, which does have engineering programs, but they account for less than 2% of all majors. At Yale, engineering accounts for only 4% of all majors and architecture another 2%. Virtually all other students at Harvard and Yale major in programs identical to the majors offered at typical liberal arts colleges. Yet, Swarthmore, Reed, and Carleton each produce slightly more PhDs per capita than Chicago, Yale, or Harvard, which all have strong graduate schools and robust research activities. </p>
<p>These 3 LACs each produce more than twice as many PhDs per capita as Berkeley. Berkeley does have many pre-professional majors, but liberal arts majors still account for the majority of students. Berkeley is the largest per capita producer of PhDs among public universities. Many public universities have robust research programs in the sciences and other fields.</p>
<p>So, it may be true that the PhD production statistics do not prove that students at LACs are advantaged for earning PhDs over the subset of similar students at larger schools. However, they do at least suggest that the lack of graduate divisions and large research programs do not prevent small colleges from motivating and preparing students to succeed in graduate school. I think it’s safe to assume that high-quality instruction in small classes more than compensates for any lack of jobs washing test tubes or crunching numbers for big DOE-funded research projects. If so, the best course would be to seek high-quality instruction in small classes, whether in a LAC or a research university, whichever strikes your fancy.</p>
<p>Comparable majors is a significant factor, however there are other factors, including comparable capabilities and comparable goals and opportunities. All of these have to be normalized before a fair comparison can be made.</p>
<p>It is possible that a [e.g., public] university might admit individuals with a wider range of capabilities, and hence even given comparable majors and interests a smaller % will attain PhDs, for that reason. This does not mean that the subset there with the same capabilities are disadvantaged in attaining their desired goals, vs. those at another school.</p>
<p>On the other hand it is possible that an institution which gives great training to future phDs also provides great access to lucrative industry placement out of college, hence
it attracts students interested in both these objectives, not just one. Its % Phd will be reduced as a consequence of so many students seeking other objectives. This in no way means the [substantial] subset of students there who do desire phds are disadvantaged vs. other schools where students cannot so readily get investment banking jobs, etc. A school is not necessarily “better” at something than others simply because it offers nothing else, whereas the others do.</p>
<p>Bump to hopefully get some new suggestions or advice on my current ones.</p>
<p>U of R
Tufts
Wesleyan
Brandeis
Oberlin
Case Western Reserve
Pittsburgh or Binghamton</p>