<p>I was recently admitted to MIT and am beginning to think about what I'd be interested in majoring in. I find course 9 (brain and cognitive sciences) really fascinating. But I have a few concerns: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is single-majoring in course 9 kind of looked down upon as being an "easy" major? </p></li>
<li><p>Is the BCS department strong in general? I've heard and read great things about it, but I guess my question is about whether it's one of MIT strong programs? Is it worth spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to MIT and majoring in 9?</p></li>
<li><p>This is kind of a general question about the area... but as far as job prospects/careers go would it be a bad idea to just major in 9? I want to have options after I graduate besides just research--one thing I'm considering is 9 with a minor in econ, polysci, or CS. I don't know if this is a smart idea or not or if I should drop the idea of majoring in BCS entirely :/</p></li>
<li><p>Would a course 9/course 6 double major be feasible without substantial AP credits? (considering I also want to have time/energy to do a UROP, participate in ECs, take electives, have a social life, eat, etc)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If you have any input that would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!</p>
It can be, but you’re always free to tell people to shove it.</p>
<p>
Yes, absolutely. It’s a top program in neuroscience, and the faculty are among the best in the world. I can’t really answer whether it’s worth it for you to go to MIT and major in 9, but it’s certainly a very highly-respected program.</p>
<p>
No, but if you’re interested in doing another major or a minor, 9 is quite flexible. It’s one of the easiest majors to double with, logistically-speaking, because there aren’t many required courses and there are a wide variety of electives.</p>
<p>What careers are you interested in, other than not-research? </p>
<p>
Somebody who knows more about 6 should answer this – my understanding is that 6 is a challenging double-major on the logistical/credit required front. From the 9 side, a double with 6 is feasible, but I don’t know about the 6 side. Certainly there are many people who major in one and take a number of courses in the other without being official double-majors, like Jessie, a former blogger and former CC poster – she was a course 9 major who took a bunch of course 6 classes, and she ended up with an engineering job where she was working with neural networks (IIRC).</p>