<p>So I have lately been very interested in cognitive science. However, according to CB, there is a very limited number of colleges that offer cognitive science as a major. I’ve noticed, however, that there are many colleges that offer cognitive science that are not listed, and that sometimes cognitive science is not actually listed as cognitive science. So…</p>
<li><p>How should I find a college with a good cognitive science program? How do I know which colleges offer it and which do not? Is there any listing?</p></li>
<li><p>Are there any rankings for undergraduate programs? </p></li>
<li><p>Should I also be looking at colleges that lack cognitive science as a major? Because cognitive science is an interdisciplinary major, should I just look for which colleges have good programs in the disciplines it draws from? </p></li>
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<p>I am looking for some advice in picking out a set of colleges to apply to. I’m still a junior, but I would like to establish this list soon so I can visit as soon as possible. Any advice would be appreciated.</p>
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<li>Google search cognitive science+college; Also try neuroscience</li>
<li>No</li>
<li>Yes, maybe a really strong program in psychology that offers courses in cognitive science. You may also find other areas of psychology you may enjoy.</li>
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<li><p>Back when I was looking at schools (ah, 2003/2004... seems so long ago :)) most college search websites allowed you to make major availability one of your search criteria, so check out those websites. That won't tell you a lot about what programs are good, but it will at least give you a starting point (like you already have from the CB website... now check out some others). From there, you can look at schools' individual programs, course listings, etc. to see whether they have what interests you.</p></li>
<li><p>I don't think so, and grad program quality is a poor proxy for undergrad quality. The main things you want to find out for undergrad IMO are whether the professors are good teachers, availability of research opportunities, and course availability (think about whether the program offers enough classes to keep you interested for four years).</p></li>
<li><p>Definitely! I was looking at cog-sci as a major when I was looking at colleges, and initially excluded schools without a cognitive science program. By some weird flukes, I ended up at a school without an actual cognitive science major that is actually exceptionally strong in all of the areas that make up the field. Focus more on overall fit when making up your lists (especially since you never know if you'll change your mind about your major), and from there investigate the cognitive science stuff. As I said, my school doesn't have a cognitive science major, but we do have a psychology department that's exceptionally strong in biopsych and cognitive psychology, a biology department with an amazing neuroscience program, and a linguistics department with several people interested in psych of language and computational linguistics. I ended up double majoring in linguistics and biology, with a bunch of psych thrown in, so I don't think there's anything I would have gotten out of a cognitive science major that I didn't get out of my college experience--and I think I have a better grasp of some of the subject-specific methodology and content of bio, psych, and linguistics than I would have gotten from a cognitive science major. In some ways I feel specializing so narrowly in the nervous system as an undergrad kills the benefits of an interdisciplinary field. Not to mention, I won't have any problems getting a job in a neuroscience lab with a bio degree, but from what I've heard a neuro degree won't easily get your foot in the door with an immunology lab.</p></li>
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<p>I took intro neuroscience in the bio department last semester with a bunch of friends: one psychology BA, one psychology BS with a bio minor, one bio major doing the neuroscience concentration, one bio major doing the molecular bio concentration. All of us probably would have done cognitive science majors at a school that offered it (because really, it's a little disturbing how excited we were to go to this lecture at 8am. We still haven't stopped talking about how on the first day the professor brought in buckets with brains in them), and we've all managed pretty easily to get what we wanted from cognitive science's constituent fields. One person is applying to neuro and cog-sci grad programs, one is going to nursing school with an eye towards being a psych nurse practitioner, one is applying to med schools, one is planning on working with developmentally disabled people after graduation, and I'm planning on either a research or case management job and then doing either a genetics or public health degree. Lots of paths, lots of options!</p>