<p>I'm currently signed up for a general chemistry lab at my school, however, chem lab isn't a requirement for a neuro major here. I'm thinking of dropping it during our "change of class" period and filling it with a psychology requirement, but I'm wondering if not having an intro chem lab like this might be detrimental to me later on (ie: if I apply to grad school). I do want to do neuro research later on, so I don't know.... Any suggestions? I think the only "lab" that's required for this major is a psych lab. Are there any other lab courses I should consider taking, though?--Bio possibly? Thanks to anyone who replies.</p>
<p>What sort of neuroscience graduate programs would you be interested in applying to? (Something more like biology, or something more like psychology?)</p>
<p>Generally speaking, it would be great to take lab classes that generally cover the sorts of things you'd like to learn in graduate school, if only for your own personal ease of transition into graduate studies. If you're not thinking you'll work in a neurochemistry-type lab as a graduate student, it's probably fine not to take a chemistry lab.</p>
<p>I think it'll be something more like biology. I'm still in the early stages of college, so I really don't know. I think I don't understand enough about neuroscience to know. I am interested in memory and learning, though. I'm also thinking of something like the biological side to psychological problems (ie: biological factors of something like schizophrenia, etc.). Should I wait and do an organic chem lab instead? Can I survive in it without an intro chem lab?</p>
<p>If you want to do neurobiology, you definitely need to take General Chemistry... most schools would not let you take organic without taking general first.</p>
<p>Most neurobiology these days is at the cellular/molecular level. If you want to understand biology at that level (ie, not ecology), you have to understand chemistry.</p>
<p>Talk to your professors, I think they would say something similar. This doesn't rule out the option of taking chemistry as a summer course, but you should have it if you want to do neurobiology and not cognitive science.</p>
<p>For what you want to do, a chem lab would be helpful, but probably not required. Chem itself, of course, would be an absolute necessity, and if it comes bundled with a lab component, so much the better.</p>
<p>I think o-chem is somewhat overrated for bio/neuro, but it's usually a prereq for biochem, which is highly useful.</p>
<p>Does your program not have a molecular neurobiology lab? If not, see if you can get into a molecular bio lab in the bio department. My first pure lab was a systems & computational neuroscience lab, since that was the direction I was more interested in (and ended up being my bridge into my current field, CS).</p>