<p>Anyone have information on the undergraduate major?</p>
<p>Do people often drop out of this major?
Is it much harder than biology?
do people often do pre-med with this?
What year do you start the program?
Are the courses interesting?
Do you feel well prepared for graduate school?</p>
<p>I’m a Soph doing Neural Science and I’m pre-med. 90% of Bio majors are preMed and I would guess at least 60% of Neural majors are. I would say it’s about as hard as a Bio or Chem major. Neuroscience is very closely linked to the field of Biology, we take many of the same intro classes and I have a lot of Bio majors in my classes. </p>
<p>Neural Sci also covers most of the pre-Med requirements except 1 yr of Organic Chem, 1 semester Physics, and 1 Writing class (Writing the Essay counts toward preMed but you need 1 yr of English). You should start taking the basic Bio and Chem classes right away in freshmen year along with MAP courses. </p>
<p>How interesting it is depends on you - most Neural Sci majors love this program, it’s not offered by most colleges. If you enjoy topics like Biology, Chem, Cognitive Science, studying the human brain, nervous system, behavior, etc, you’ll like this major. There are some hard courses like Mollecular and Celluluar Biology but some easier ones like Psychology. I personally love Neuro and think the hard work is worth it and will prepare me for Med school. Btw you don’t have to be a Science major to prepare for Med school, taking the required preMed classes will do. </p>
<p>Neural Science Major Requirements:
7 courses in Neural Science (29 pts) or 6 courses and Physics II
3 courses in Biology (12 pts)
2 courses in Chemistry (12 pts)
1 course in Psychology (4 pts)
1 course at the Calculus level in mathematics (4 pts)
1 elective course in either Biology or Experimental Psychology. (4 or more pts) </p>
<p>Additional requirements for Honors Track:
Tutorial Research/Honors Seminar (4)
2 laboratory courses (4)
Thesis</p>
<p>I was wondering when you declare a Neural Science major.</p>
<p>“The Director of Undergraduate Studies for Neural Science (or a faculty member in the department designated by the director) may declare a student a Neural Science Major… In order to be eligible to declare a Neural Science major, a student must have grades of C or better in all courses required for the major that have been completed at the time of declaration.”</p>
<p>The C or better part is what confuses me. It makes it sound like you have to take classes before you can declare a neuroscience major.</p>
<p>No, you start taking classes for the major right away, but you don’t make it official until end of Soph year when you “declare” a major. I applied as a Neuro major, started classes Freshmen yr, but haven’t filled out a form or anything. I will need the Director to approve me for the major later, assuming I maintain a 2.0 - I believe in all CAS majors you must get at least a C for the class to count toward your major. If you get a D in a Neural class, sure you passed, but it doesn’t count toward your major. </p>
<p>Freshmen year you must take Principles of Bio I and II, and maybe Gen Chem I and II. You won’t take Intro to Neural Science til Soph year. The track is outlined on the Neural Science Undergrad website if you wanna take a look.</p>
<p>Do many neural science majors get involved in undergrad research?
How early can you start, during first year, 2nd, later?</p>
<p>well if you’re preMed, which most of us are, definitely get involved in some kind of research…most don’t start freshmen year, I’m starting Soph yr…talk to a prof or TA about it if you want to start right away. I think freshmen can do research, they just usually don’t.</p>