Major: Brain and Cognitive Science at MIT

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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<p>Hey guys! I'll be applying to MIT come november (early action) and had a few questions regarding my <em>current</em> major plan- Brain and Cognitive Sciences.</p>

<p>First of all, how many undergraduates actually choose this path?</p>

<p>Does this major entail courses from all over (i.e. physics, chemistry, biology, comp sci. etc.)?</p>

<p>It's really the latter question that I am concerned with. The main reason I want to go into BCS is because I think i will be able to bring my knowledge and interests from all sciences into one defined area of study. </p>

<p>Thanks guys! i know these questions are kind of obscure, but any help is appreciated.</p>

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<p>The BCS website has details on course requirements; you may want to check there for answers to many of your questions about this major.</p>

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<p>Hooray course 9!</p>

<p>Mootmom is right, the website is good, but I'm procrastinating on doing homework (for 9.15: Biochemistry and Pharmacology of Synaptic Transmission) right now, so I'll answer your questions anyway.</p>

<p>There are usually about 35-40 undergrads per year who choose course 9 as a major. A few more usually join junior year as second majors, so I guess there are about 140 majors total in the department right now. (Not so many people, as MIT goes. Classes are usually pretty small.)</p>

<p>As for classes -- BCS majors are required, of course, to take the General Institute Requirements (2 physics, 2 calc, 1 chem, 1 bio, 8 humanities) that everyone at MIT must take. </p>

<p>The major itself is pretty free-form. Students have to take 9.00 (Intro Psych), 9.01 (Intro Neurosci), 9.07 (Stats), and one of three labs (Molec Neurobio Lab, Brain Lab, or Cog Sci Lab). Additionally, majors must complete at least one term of undergraduate research for credit. Beyond those core classes, students have to choose classes from three</a> lists; the six subjects must come from at least two lists.</p>

<p>The subjects are pretty diverse, and there are several different types of people in the department: the biology people who like cells, but like neurons the best; the EE/math/physics people, who are interested in the brain for its computational capacity and electrical properties; and the cog sci people, who are interested in the mind rather than particularly the brain.</p>

<p>(And to finally answer your second question...) No, the major doesn't require that you take physics, chem, biology, or comp sci classes outside the General Institute Requirements. But many classes in the major require these sorts of classes as prerequisites, so you are welcome to bring whichever perspectives interest you to the study of the brain and the mind. (By the way, course 9 isn't particularly requirement-intensive, so you'll have plenty of time to take other classes which interest you/which are prereqs for classes that interest you.)</p>

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<p>Along the lines of what Mollie B. said, my friends in Course 9 have told me it's a relatively easy course, and a lot of the people that go into it end up pairing their BCS degree with a Chem degree.</p>

<p>However, I have a friend who went through Course 9 who told me it would have been just as beneficial to major in Biology and take physics/chemistry minors. Apparently, the BCS is "not top-tier." Again, I hate to speak ill of MIT, but this is what I've been told (especially because that field interests me greatly, as well).</p>

<p>Again, I can't attest firsthand to the veracity of all this, it's just what my friends who are either there right now or alums have told me about the program.</p>

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<p>wow...thanks guys! this major really sounds cool! But, can i complete a double major with biomed engineering, or are the classes so different that it's just not possible?</p>

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<p>BCS and Math are generally considered the two easiest courses to double major with, with physics coming in a close third.</p>

<p>Go for it.</p>

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<p>one more question .... i want to go to MD/PhD school for funtional neurology or radiation oncology (random...i know). Do you think that MIT undergraduate is a good start for my career paln?</p>

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<p>Of course. MIT will definitely be able to prepare you for a medical career. I'd look into BE/Biology over BE/BCS then, if I were you. It seems to me like it would be easier to specialize in graduate school in neurology than it would be to branch out into oncology. It likely won't matter for acceptance reasons, but you might feel a bit better prepared if you started with straight biology.</p>

<p>Then again, that's an if. Hopefully someone with more experience than I have will come along and help with that one.</p>

<p>-Timur S.</p>

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<p>Actually, Olo, I think there are a lot more BCS/Bio people in the department than BCS/Chem. I mean, there are a few BCS/Chem people that I know of, but I know more BCS/Bio people (including myself).</p>

<p>It's true that single-majoring in course 9 (particularly if one is only taking cog sci classes) is looked down upon at MIT. But that's not what we're talking about anyway (and it's tacky, btw, to say it in public).</p>

<p>Because there aren't that many required course 9 classes compared to other majors, it's possible to double almost anything with course 9. The course list for the BE degree appears to be pretty similar to the course list for a biology (course 7) degree with some extra engineering classes thrown in instead of upper-division biology electives, so I think it should be okay to double in BE and 9 (keeping in mind that any double-major at MIT is hard work! :))</p>

<p>The real question is this -- how much AP credit would you putatively be entering MIT with? If you're not coming in with any, a double major is going to involve a great deal of unpleasantness. If you have any AP credit, or lots, this will make a double major significantly easier.</p>

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<p>well...i'm coming in (hopefully including this year):
bio
chem
physics
compsci (a)
psychology
english(dunno if that matters)
economics
government
--- 4 and 5's
do the liberal arts really get credit?</p>

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<p>quantumguy, just another aside: check the MIT website page for their rules on accepting AP credits. First, in all the exams they'll accept, you must have scored a 5. (4 only counts for Calc BC, and Calc AB is not accepted.) And second, they do not accept Chem or Comp Sci at all for credit; only Physics C is accepted for physics and you need to have a 5 on both parts to get credit. A 5 on either AP English exam exempts you from the summer Freshman Essay Exam and gives you automatic access to a wider range of HASS courses your freshman year. And yes, you can get a certain amount of credit for specified non-science APs -- check the website for details.</p>

<p>So from your list, 5s in Government, Economics, Psychology would all garner credit, as would 5s in Bio and Phys (if it's both parts of Phys C), and 5 in English would give you a benefit also.</p>

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<p>hey...I'm applying EA and BCS too...I like the information that was presented on this forum. Thanks guys =) appreciate it</p>

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<p>ditto merudh123</p>

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<p>Haha, lots of BCS hopefuls this year!</p>

<p>Anything else you guys want to know?</p>

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<p>Course 9 is one of the rarer majors, although it's becoming more popular because pre-medders are realizing that it's a very solid pre-med program as well. </p>

<p>The program requires 130 credits past the GIR and includes 9.00, 9.01, 9.07, 18.05, six subjects that you get to pick, another CI-M and some RESTs. It's friendly for ppl interested in clinical research, basic research, and medicine</p>