<p>I was wondering what schools have good undergraduate programs in neuroscience.</p>
<p>well, i've been looking deeply into the neuroscience programs at various schools. I too am interested in neuroscience and plan to take a pre-med curriculum along with it. The best graduate schools that I have so far seen are Columbia, Northwestern, UCLA, and I think Stanford. Unfortunately, I am not looking westward. There are many great undergrad schools for the program besides for those mentioned above: WashU St. Louis, Cornell, MIT, UMich, Yale. I'm sure there are more, but I have looked into these. At UMich, you can even apply for the honors college in specifically neuroscience/cognitive science/biopsychology (each school calls it something different). Columbia, I think, is the greatest graduate program for neuroscience because they have made some huge innovations over the passed years. I will probably apply to WashU, Northwestern, Columbia, and UMich for neuroscience. Also, WashU, Northwestern, nd UMich have programs to take med school in ur sr. year of undergrad, if you are accepted (if you are looking at the medical aspects of neuroscience). I hope this helped.</p>
<p>UCSD and Johns Hopkins</p>
<p>I second UCSD.</p>
<p>I e-mailed columbia and they said that I would have to wait until graduate school to study neuroscience....</p>
<p>I don't know what you did, but I highly doubt Columbia told you that you must wait 'til grad school to study neuroscience. Take a look at this link, which outlines the UNDERGRADUATE areas of study offered at Columbia:</p>
<p>You'll notice that a program called neuroscience and behavior. It's in the biology department I believe, I think this is the info on the program:</p>
<p>You'll notice that many neuroscience and neuro-related courses are offered in the program. I don't know what your email to Columbia said exactly or what you wrote, but I'd find it highly unusual if Columbia offered absolutely NO neuroscience classes to undergrads. I'd be surprised if ANY top school doesn't offer at least a few neuroscience classes. </p>
<p>UCSD has an amazing neuroscience program yes, but at the grad level. I don't know for sure, but since it's a large state school it may be difficult to actually partake in meaningful research and get attention from professors as an undergrad. It might not be the case, but it is possible, very possible.</p>
<p>Other schools that are good would be JHU, UPenn, Wash U, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, Duke, Caltech and many more.</p>
<p>thank you =)</p>
<p>Stanford has neuroscience, neurobiology, neurosurgery, etc.</p>
<p>uchicago doesn't have any strong programs for undergard neuroscience right?</p>
<p>To my knowledge, Chicago unfortunately does not offer an undergrad Neuroscience program.</p>
<p>Chicago may have not have a formal neuroscience program per se, but there are still tons of opportunities for undergrads to study it. Check out the undergraduate biology catalogue:</p>
<p>You'll notice that if you scroll down, you'll see Chicago's biology program offers a specialization in neuroscience. They also list nearly 20 neuroscience classes open to undergrads. So while you can't get a degree that says "neuroscience" on it from Chicago, you still can take many neuroscience classes and have them count towards a biology degree. And honestly, some of Chicago's neuro classes sound pretty cool to me; a lot of them seem to integrate math and computers with neuroscience, something which really intrigues me. Furthermore you'll notice that Chicago offers a minor in computational neuroscience. This link gives more info:</p>
<p>So yes, Chicago DOES have plenty of options for studying neuroscience at the undergrad level. One thing I noticed during my college search is that neuroscience can be difficult to "nail down". By this I mean that it's a highly interdisciplinary field, and that often means that neuroscience programs often "hide" inside other departments (usually biology or psychology). But just because a school doesn't offer a degree in neuroscience does not at all mean that it's a bad place to study neuroscience, the quantity and quality of the courses offered, the strength of the faculty and the availability of research are much more important factors IMO than whether your degree says "Biology" or "Neuroscience". So... look a little deeper into Biology and Psychology departments and really see what they offer.</p>
<p>Wow, great post. I had no idea that cog sci was imbedded in other depts. Thanks a lot.</p>
<p>What about smaller schools, like Williams, Pomona or Dartmouth?</p>
<p>Out of the LACs, I believe Amherst has the most reputable neuroscience program...</p>
<p>Amherst has a fine program; Williams is strong too. Dartmouth has an incredibly strong neuroscience program (not many people realize it's that strong). They have some distinguished faculty, a fair number of neuro-related courses for a LACish school, and great research opportunities for undergrads (don't take my word for it, but I believe they have an fMRI machine intended for undergrad use). Look up their programs yourself (I'm too lazy to do it for you), but during my college search, I found Dartmouth to have great neuroscience. Brown has even better neuroscience, if you're into the whole large-LAC/small-university thing. In fact, Brown may very well be one of the best places to study neuroscience as an undergrad.</p>
<p>Pomona has a very strong program, and just opened a new center for neuro/psych/cog-sci, with plans to expand the departmental faculty over the next 2 years.</p>
<p>Neuroscience Rankings of best departments below.</p>
<p>Yale, Johns Hopkins, and UCSF (which doesn't have undergrad) are the only schools that show up among the top 10 in all three measures.</p>
<hr>
<p>2005 Academic Analytics / Chronicle of Higher Education</p>
<p>1 Yale U. 1.90 80
2 Vanderbilt U. 1.89 58
3 Johns Hopkins U. 1.78 26
4 Mayo Graduate School 1.71 37
5 U. of California at San Francisco 1.68 65
5 Duke U. 1.68 25
7 Brandeis U. 1.67 20
8 U. of California at Berkeley 1.58 39
9 U. of Pittsburgh 1.54 69
10 U. of Pennsylvania 1.51 92</p>
<hr>
<p>2002 Sciencewatch/ISI (based on quality of 1997-2001 research)</p>
<p>1 Caltech 319 +124
2 Rockefeller University 537 +111
3 MIT 429 +107
4 Univ. Calif., San Francisco 1,424 +106
5 Washington University 1,258 +105
6 Harvard University 2,997 +95
7 Yale University 1,738 +76
8 Oregon Health Sci. Univ. 729 +72
9 Univ. Illinois, Urbana 315 +71
10 Johns Hopkins University 1,897 +71 </p>
<hr>
<p>1995 National Research Council / Faculty Quality</p>
<ol>
<li>University of California-San Diego 8.6 4.8 </li>
<li><p>Yale University 8.6 4.8 </p></li>
<li><p>Harvard University 8.1 4.7 </p></li>
<li><p>University of California-San Francisco 8.1 4.7 </p></li>
<li><p>Columbia University in the City of New York 7.6 4.6 </p></li>
<li><p>Stanford University 7.6 4.6 </p></li>
<li><p>Johns Hopkins University 7.2 4.5 </p></li>
<li><p>Washington University in St Louis 6.7 4.4 </p></li>
<li><p>California Institute of Technology 6.2 4.3 </p></li>
<li><p>University of California-Berkeley 6.2 4.3 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Pennsylvania 6.2 4.3 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Washington-Seattle Campus 6.2 4.3 </p></li>
<li><p>Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5.8 4.2 </p></li>
<li><p>Rockefeller University 5.8 4.2 </p></li>
<li><p>University of California-Los Angeles 4.4 3.9 </p></li>
<li><p>Baylor College of Medicine 3.9 3.8 </p></li>
<li><p>Brandeis University 3.9 3.8 </p></li>
<li><p>Case Western Reserve University 3.9 3.8 </p></li>
<li><p>Duke University 3.9 3.8 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 3.9 3.8 </p></li>
<li><p>University of California-Irvine (Psychobiology, School of Arts and Sciences) 3.5 3.7 </p></li>
<li><p>Cornell University 3.0 3.6 </p></li>
<li><p>Northwestern University 3.0 3.6 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Chicago 3.0 3.6 </p></li>
<li><p>University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 3.0 3.6 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Wisconsin-Madison 3.0 3.6 </p></li>
<li><p>Yeshiva University 3.0 3.6 </p></li>
<li><p>Emory University 2.5 3.5 </p></li>
<li><p>Stony Brook University 2.5 3.5 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Iowa 2.5 3.5 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Oregon 2.5 3.5 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Virginia-Main Campus 2.5 3.5 </p></li>
<li><p>Vanderbilt University 2.5 3.5 </p></li>
<li><p>Mayo School of Health Related Sciences 2.1 3.4 </p></li>
<li><p>University of California-Irvine (Anatomy and Neurobiology, School of Medicine) 2.1 3.4 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Colorado at Boulder 2.1 3.4 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 2.1 3.4 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Pittsburgh-Main Campus (Behavioral Neuroscience, School of Arts and Sciences) 2.1 3.4 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Southern California 2.1 3.4 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas 2.1 3.4 </p></li>
<li><p>Colorado State University 1.6 3.3 </p></li>
<li><p>The University of Texas Medical Branch 1.6 3.3 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1.6 3.3 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Pittsburgh-Main Campus (Neurobiology/Anatomy/Cell Biology, School of Medicine) 1.6 3.3 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Rochester 1.6 3.3 </p></li>
<li><p>Rutgers University-New Brunswick/Piscataway 1.1 3.2 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Arizona 1.1 3.2 </p></li>
<li><p>Georgetown University 0.7 3.1 </p></li>
<li><p>The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston 0.7 3.1 </p></li>
<li><p>The University of Texas at Austin 0.7 3.1 </p></li>
<li><p>University of Connecticut (Neuroscience, School of Arts and Sciences) 0.7 3.1 </p></li>
<li><p>Brown University 0.2 3.0 </p></li>
<li><p>Drexel University 0.2 3.0 </p></li>
</ol>
<p>etc</p>