I am a high schooler who is very interested in neuroscience, specifically research. I was wondering what colleges had the best programs for this. My plan is to finish college and spend my career researching neurological diseases. Which universities have great programs to prepare me for that, instead of a more medically-focused path? Thanks!
Lots of colleges will give you a good foundation at the undergraduate level, though neuroscience (or cognitive science, depending on the college - they can be a bit broad). Some great programs are:
Brown
Duke
Columbia
JHU
Pomona
UCSD
UCB
Cornell
U Pitt
of course MIT, CalTech, Stanford, Chicago, Princeton - how selective are you looking for?
Where you’ll get into more advanced research is at the graduate level. For that, UCSD has one of the best neuroscience programs in the country: http://sccn.ucsd.edu (my brother just finished his PhD there and now runs a neuroscience startup; he got his undergraduate in cognitive science and artificial intelligence.)
You might also consider some LACs that are strong in the sciences. LACs can offer many opportunities to do research as an undergraduate. My D is at Lafayette College and her friend has done research in neuroscience, has co-authored a published paper with a professor, has attended a national conference, and is going on for her PhD. Just another option.
OP, you do realize that for a career in research you will need a Ph.D.?
I second @happy1 - where your choice of university will be more important is at the graduate level depending on the specific research you want to do. At undergraduate level there are lots of opportunities and some small LACs like Reed and Harvey Mudd/Pomona have a very high percentage of students who go on to get a PhD.
Another option I’m familiar with is RPI, has a strong cognitive sciences program and does research on neurological diseases (https://www.rpi.edu/dept/bio/research/neuroscience.html) - though the others I listed earlier are probably better if you can get in.
@insanedreamer Thank you for your response! I’ve been doing some research on the schools you suggested and they sound great. I saw that at Reed you can do a major with Biology and Psychology-- sounds great!
So far (I’m a freshman) I have a 4.15 weighted GPA and do lots of extracurriculars (student government, girl scouts, sports, it’s academic, etc.) Do you think I have a good chance of getting into some of those schools? I also don’t want to spend millions of dollars on my undergrad, so I don’t know if Ivy League is the best path.
Oberlin has the oldest neuroscience program. Tufts has one of the largest - lots of multidisciplinary opportunities as well.
Actually, I believe Amherst has the oldest neuroscience program dating back to 1973 (at least according to Wikipedia and the Amherst website). Not that is matters. Oberlin and Amherst are both great schools and both give undergraduates the best of opportunities.
Washington University in St Louis has an interesting program - PNP. Very selective school though.
Emory has a great program - their major is called neuroscience and behavioral biology.
But yes, OP, to pursue this you’ll either need a PhD or an MD and some training in research. It’s a long road.
An unfortunate acronym.
@rileyhoffman If you are serious about Neuro, and are comfortable with the fact that you will have to get a PhD, consider UCSD, Penn, Princeton, Columbia, Stanford, Pitt (I can 2nd that - buddy’s son studied there and raved about it. He chose to not take cornell in order to go to Pitt since he got dual enrollment credit and with time saved he got to do a yearlong neuro research project with faculty). Finally, Reed, Oberlin and Swarthmore will blow your mind (pun intended) academically and prepare you better than you would expect for grad school
[Philippine National Police](PNP - Definition by AcronymFinder)?