<p>First off, I'm a junior in high school. i think of myself as very dedicated and self driven, but I have a dilemma. I am really interested in attending a college with a strong neuroscience degree especially in the research aspect since that's what I would like to do. I have a 30 composite on the ACT currently and a 4.0 unweighted GPA and a 4.3 weighted GPA. My main concern is that since I live in Arkansas will it be easy to be a part of a solid neuroscience program? Also, would it be a viable option to major in something besides neuroscience such as chemistry or psychology? And if so which would better prepare me? I really do not like biology besides the nervous system part so I would not like to pursue a degree there.</p>
<p>I’m a neuroscience major going into research, so hopefully I can help you out with some of these questions.</p>
<p>Your first question is about finding a good program. Do you want to stay in Arkansas? That does limit your options (but so does any other geographic limitation). Use a college search website and narrow it down by major and your other interests or college requirements (like size and location). That’s how I found the university I ended up at. Once you have narrowed it down with generic, searchable features, dig in a little more: What opportunities are there for undergraduates to get involved in research? Do the courses for the neuroscience program interest you? What about scholarships and financial aid?</p>
<p>Your next question seems to be whether neuroscience is your best bet for a major. That depends on what you want to do. If you want to go into neuroscience research (grad school and then perhaps academia), then neuroscience is the obvious major choice, but not the only one. I chose to major in neuroscience because I really enjoyed my high school psychology classes but wanted to take a more scientific approach. For this reason, I opted for a neuroscience program with a strong psychology component. Neuroscience is a broad field, so a lot of different programs can fall under that umbrella and lead to neuroscience research, including biomedical engineering, biochemistry, mathematics, etc. Pick an aspect that appeals to you. If you’re not certain, majoring in neuroscience is a good direction to go to start with. You can always change your major or pick up a minor along the way as your interests evolve. (I ended up adding a minor in computer science and taking a bunch of additional math classes as I got more interested in computational neuroscience.) You can also pick a university where the major focuses on a particular aspect, like I did.</p>
<p>For your question about preparation, I’m not sure what you are referring to. Preparation for graduate school, research, career, or something else?</p>
<p>Thank you for your answer nanotechnology. Now to clarify, I’m honestly open to going to some out of state schools in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, or maybe even Missouri. And the other part of my question, I am really interested in doing neuroscience research. I would love to be a part of a school with a neuroscience program, but if that does not work out would another major such as chemistry or psychology be a good fall back for the research aspect and graduate school?</p>
<p>@nanotechnology Thank you for your answer nanotechnology. Now to clarify, I’m honestly open to going to some out of state schools in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, or maybe even Missouri. And the other part of my question, I am really interested in doing neuroscience research. I would love to be a part of a school with a neuroscience program, but if that does not work out would another major such as chemistry or psychology be a good fall back for the research aspect and graduate school?</p>
<p>In some sense, if you are looking at graduate school, the name of your major is not the most important part. The websites for graduate neuroscience programs even point out that they have students coming from a variety of undergrad majors. What is important is that you have experience. The biggest part of graduate school applications is your research experience. Go somewhere where you will have a chance to get some research experience as an undergrad and fulfill the requirements for neuroscience grad programs (i.e., having biology background even if you major in psych). You do not have to be doing in undergrad exactly what you want to do in grad school. (I know a physics/bio major who ended up going into a neuroscience PhD program.)</p>
<p>If you are really interested in neuroscience, I’d find a neuroscience program if possible. If not, pick something related and get involved in research. You could also have opportunities to explore neuro research through REUs or something similar even if you end up somewhere without a neuroscience program.</p>
<p>@nanotechnology Thanks! That really cleared up my question. I can tell you know your stuff pretty well. </p>