Heyoooo
So I’m gonna have to start the whole college application shin dig real soon, and am hoping to major in neuroscience/neurobiology wherever I go. Right now, the schools on top of my list are UC Irvine, Brandeis, and Notre Dame (though if I’m being honest the Catholic vibes is turning off my inner Hindu, you dig?) While both these schools made it on the ugliest campus list, I’m still fully ready to go for it. Does anybody know how the programs are at these schools, or perhaps have any other schools that are strong in this field? Really appreciate it!
I’m studying Neuroscience this fall at Simmons College, but my dream school was Northeastern. Their Neuroscience department is excellent, from what I saw. You should look into it.
Another suggestion, depending on how high you’re aiming, is Johns Hopkins. I would kill to go there for Neuroscience.
Loved my time studying neurobio at Stanford, where I and many of my friends got to do neuro research with med school profs. In general, for neuro you really can’t go wrong with any research universities that have a medical school, although there are plenty of excellent neuro departments at other schools.
If you’re looking for schools with good neuro research opportunities, check out their websites and see if they brag about any faculty with Nobel Prizes, National Medal of Science, etc. (If you’re looking for schools with good neuro teaching in the classroom, that’s harder to tell from online.)
I did neuroscience at Northeastern and really liked it. It’s a great program, and small enough to get personal attention. It also set me up well for research experience and getting into all of the PhD programs I applied to (starting at Harvard in less than a month - woot!). It’s a great balance of being a large research university and having loads of opportunities, but at the same time still having a strong focus on undergraduates. (A lot of the really well known research unis that I visited felt like grad students are the primary focus and undergrads are an afterthought.) So I’d second the recommendation to at Northeastern!
For Notre Dame, I don’t expect it would end up feeling very Catholic as a student; it’s a big school and doesn’t seem to really push the religion front, from what I’ve seen. It’s totally up to you, though, and what feels right. If you haven’t visited, I’d definitely recommend it; you can end up with a very different feel in person than from a website/brochures.
I’m an incoming freshman to Northeastern for neuroscience. I personally think their program looks excellent. My other choices of schools were Emory/NYU, hope that gives you any ideas.
I just ran across this list of what someone somehow decided are the “best” undergraduate neuroscience programs: http://study.com/articles/Best_Neuroscience_Undergraduate_Programs_List_of_Top_Schools.html
I’m by no means saying this list is definitive, but it’s some more places to take a look at.