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My point is that you cannot afford to let a course or two scare you away from an outstanding program. Cognitive science is one of the most interdisciplinary fields imaginable. You certainly should be able to approach it from the perspective you described above, but realize that others with whom you are working may come from a diverse variety of backgrounds. It’s not just biology - I know of an electrical engineer going into the field. Sitting in an ivory tower of theoretical perfection is probably not a good approach. You may choose to specialize on the more mathematical linguistics end, but knowing a little bit of neuroscience would probably make your skills far more useful.
The fundamental flaw with your CS/math comparison is the idea that all of mathematics is fundamentally alike and that one can either like “math” or not. For what it’s worth, most good programmers solve problems in a rather similar vein to a pure mathematician working on a proof.</p>
<p>Just as all cogsci majors ought to have some base in psychology, I would argue that they should all have some base in the physical processes that work in the brain. I don’t really know enough about cogsci to say whether grad school is a common option, but if it is I would recommend decreased specialization as an undergrad. A more general major would leave your options open.</p>