<p>I want to major in Neuroscience and I am applying to some large universities such as Brown and Johns Hopkins, where hopefully there will be alot of research opportunities in the area. However, I also enjoy the LAC feel and have heard that many LACs also have great Neuroscience programs. I couldn't find any rankings on this specific subject, so could anyone help shed some light on which LACs have the best Neuroscience programs? I am especially looking for research opportunities and great and accessible professors. </p>
<p>Try this site to identify which LACs have a neuroscience program at all:
[Undergraduate</a> Neuroscience Programs<a href=“filter%20for” title=“liberal arts” and “confirmed”>/url</a></p>
<p>Apparently a “yes” in the last column is supposed to take you to the school’s neuroscience (or related) page, but many of the links in the last column no longer work. If you like, you can click-sort on the “institutional ranking” column. This shows you the 2007 USNWR overall ranking of these schools (which in most cases probably has not changed all that much since then.)</p>
<p>Something like this approach (identifying highly-ranked colleges that have neuroscience programs at all) may be about the best you can do as a first pass to systematically identify strong programs at LACs. Then eliminate schools that don’t have enough courses or faculty members to cover your interests. Then visit and ask questions about programs on your resulting short list.</p>
<p>You also could have a look at the NSF statistics on PhD production in the biological sciences, other life sciences, and psychology. The numbers below show how many alumni from each school earned doctorates in these fields from 2007-2011:</p>
<p>Oberlin College 109
Wellesley College 105
Wesleyan University 101
Carleton College 97
Smith College 94
Pomona College 92
Williams College 91
Grinnell College 91
Swarthmore College 90
St Olaf College 87
Reed College 85
Vassar College 79
Colgate University 79
Allegheny College 78
Bucknell University 75
Amherst College 73
Mount Holyoke College 72
Haverford College 72
Macalester College 71
Barnard College 70
Colby College 67
Davidson College 60
Middlebury College 59
Colorado College 56
Bowdoin College 56
Kenyon College 53
Bates College 53
Gettysburg College 52
Furman University 52
Skidmore College 50</p>
<p>(Keep in mind that some of these schools are larger than others. Oberlin, for example, has more than twice as many students as Reed. They differ, too, in the relative popularity of each major.)</p>
<p>Some neuro programs are more hard science (bio, math/comp sci) and others are more “soft” science (psych). If you have an interest in one type, you should narrow your search because even larger Unis don’t necessarily offer all.</p>
<p>What about Emory? Research opportunities abound with the CDC right there. They also have a LAC-like feel as they are really focused on undergrads.</p>