<p>Hello, I'm thinking of majoring in CogSci at berk and i want to know what the program's like. Could you tell me what it mainly focuses in, what classes are like, how difficult, how linguistics oriented it is, etc. </p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>I am in the intro class and it’s great in my opinion! It’s a really new field, but a lot of the pioneering research is going on in places like berkeley so it’s a good place to be. Plus the Cognitive Science Student Association seems to be active in arranging events etc.</p>
<p>There are quite a few classes if linguistics is your bend (in fact, there are quite a few classes in all the disciplines). For instance, Lakoff–a pretty famous linguist–teaches a class here. Intro to Cog Sci didn’t seem too hard.</p>
<p>I just took Lakoff’s CogSci 104. It was one of the easiest upper-divisions I have taken at Berkeley.</p>
<p>Eh, Lakoff’s reviews on ratemyprofs often say that his class is pretty pointless, that he’s stubborn and dodges questions, and you should just read his books instead if you like his ideas.</p>
<p>My Comp Sci teacher, who did Cog Sci at Berkeley, says Lakoff may be a big deal here, but on the East Coast, he’s pretty much a nobody.
In context, I was basically telling my teacher that this Lakoff guy sounded arrogant/noobish, and my teacher basically said yes.</p>
<p>Not really ironclad proof, but it was somewhat of a turnoff for me, so just food for thought.</p>
<p>My friend took lakoff’s class, and he does agree that he does sound arrogant like a know-it-all in lecture. Lakoff is really well known in the field. In his office hours though, he is REALLY nice and considerate. I’m gona take his class next semester.
I’m doing cogsci + cs, so far, i really like cog sci (particularly, the psych classes in cognition is REALLY interesting)</p>
<p>The best part of being cog sci major is you can easily double major. You basically fulfill nearly ALL of your breadth requirements just by being a cog sci major cuz its so interdisciplinary. The classes aren’t too difficult, they’re actually pretty easy. (compared to Computer Science). Even the CS requirements for cog sci is not bad. (some will find it hard)</p>
<p>ooh thanks a lot you guys! i was asking about linguistics cause thats not really my bend… i like the other aspects much more, like neuroscience and psychology. yeah i heard berkeley’s program was one of the best in this area and just wanted to hear some students’ opinions.</p>
<p>do you think cog sci would apply well for law? cause ive been thinking about that?</p>
<p>Hey I am in L&S CS at Berkeley (2nd year), and I have been hearing only good things about cog sci. I want to double major now, but I can’t wrap my head around how to double major but still graduate in 4 years. Can anyone shed some light as to their courselaods for every semester?</p>
<p>bump
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<p>All the cogsci classes that are related to neuroscience, are actually cross-listed as psychology classes… and it seems like psychology might be a better fit if you those other classes like linguistics and CS aren’t of your main interest… Psychology classes tend to be very intrinsically interesting, and there’s lots of classes that blend neuro w/ psych.</p>
<p>And I think psych applies well w/ law as well, and I know some psych majors who’re looking into law, and the major goes pretty well with it.</p>
<p>thanks for that neurobear. im still trying to figure out what i want to do. im a little worried about psychology because i heard that its hard to do much with it? or is that way off? i like brain mapping and technology so thats why i was considering cognitive science. because i thought it had a technological aspect to it as well.</p>
<p>Well, I think you’ll have to weigh the pro’s and con’s of each major. In the psych department, there are definitely quite a number of neuroscientists, so it’s always interesting taking a course under a prof who does neuroimaging research… or there’s animal neurobiologists if you’re into that too. </p>
<p>Your idea that it’s harder for psych majors to find something to do w/ the major, is defintinitely untrue… The fact is, what you major in during undergrad doesn’t matter too much, as long as its in something that interests you. Psych majors go into a variety of fields, varying from med school, to law school, to research, etc. </p>
<p>About whether Cog Sci would help you w/ the imaging/technology - that part I’m less sure about… I do think cog sci offers classes on comp. programming, so you might want to check which classes would be useful for that… you could also take those classes w/ psych ofcourse. I do know that it’s not difficult to get into neuroimaging research as a psych major (which is what I’m doing), as long as you have an interest in it, then you’re probably going to be willing to learn about it. </p>
<p>Anyway, I’m not saying Psych is the right major for you, I’m just showing you another viable option instead of CS if you end up finding out that it’s not your fit.</p>
<p>thanks youre really helpful! and how is the psychology department at berkeley? i’d imagine it to be really good.</p>