<p>I want to major in neuroscience or cognitive science in college. I want to go to Yale or MIT. I've done some research on Yale's cognitive science program and it doesn't seem to target my interests in terms of the combination of psychology, biology and a strong emphasis in neurobiology. I've also looked at MIT's Cognitive Science program, and its curriculum is exactly what I want to study. For anyone that has any knowledge of the Neuroscience/Cognitive Science program at Yale or MIT, could you give me information on how strong they are and if there is a major difference between the two school's programs?</p>
<p>I'm sure that MIT has better research opportunities in its Cognitive Science program than Yale does, but is a Cognitive Science major at MIT more comprehensive and targeted than Yale's? Basically, can I learn the same stuff in neuroscience as Yale as I can at MIT? Thanks!</p>
<p>Yale's Cognitive Science Dpt: Subjects of Instruction | Yale College Programs of Study
MIT's Cognitive Science Dpt: Free Online MIT Course Materials | Brain and Cognitive Sciences | MIT OpenCourseWare</p>
<p>I was a neuroscience major at MIT (class of '06), as was jessiehl (class of '07).</p>
<p>I can’t really compare MIT’s major to Yale’s, as I don’t really know anything about Yale’s department, but the program at MIT is very flexible, and you’re generally pretty free to take the courses that interest you as long as you meet some basic distribution requirements. If you want the major to be very comprehensive, you can choose to take classes in a wide range of subjects. Personally, I’m a cellular neuro person, so I chose to make my degree as narrow as possible – but not everybody makes that choice. (Actually, I suspect that most people end up taking a pretty broad range of classes.)</p>
<p>Research opportunities within the department are great, as there are relatively few undergrads (about 30-40 per year). I’ve never met a course 9 major who didn’t do undergrad research.</p>
<p>My D is a rising junior, premed and neuroscience major at MIT specializing in Cognitive Science. She loves the program and has been involved in research since freshman year. The department has been growing in popularity every year and they now approach 50 students majoring in it every year. The resources and faculty are simply incredible, with a 3/1 student faculty ratio. The department has its own fMRI unit for cognitive science research. The neuroscience center at MIT is actually the largest such facility in the world. While she also considered Yale, she found the MIT program was more focused on neuroscience as opposed to psychology at Yale.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about Yale’s program, but you can certainly learn neuroscience/neurobio. Note that MIT’s program is not “Cognitive Science”. It is “Brain & Cognitive Science”. It encompasses both the neuro side and the cog side (and you will be required to do at least a bit of each), and also their intersection.</p>
<p>Both Yale and MIT are extremely strong programs.</p>
<p>For my “core” BCS classes (non-labs that come from a list and are beyond the intro level) I took three neuro classes, three cog neuro classes, and a cog sci class (you only need six total; I took one extra). If I were doing it now, I’d probably trade one of the others for another cog sci class. But if you wanted, you could take, say, five neuro classes and one cog neuro class as your “core” - you just have to have one from a different category - and have both of your lab classes be neuro.</p>
<p>If you find rankings meaningful, MIT’s department is ranked #4 compared to Yale’s #7 in terms of neuroscience/neurobiology. In terms of behavioral neuroscience, MIT is ranked #6 compared to #7 for Yale.</p>