<p>I was admitted into the Class of 2015, and am currently trying to decided between Northwestern and other schools.
I intend to major in Neuroscience, but since Northwestern does not have a Neuroscience major, I designated Cognitive Science as my major, hoping to have a concentration in Neuroscience.</p>
<p>I am hesitant about NU since neuroscience is only a concentration within the Cognitive Science major. Because research is a huge part of what I look for in colleges, I wonder if undergraduates have enough chances to work on latest research with great professors, even during freshmen year. Do the graduate students "take up" all the professors?</p>
<p>Also, would the Cognitive Science major be as focused on neuroscience as Neuroscience in other colleges?</p>
<p>I’m speaking for my undergrad institution (UCSD), but there was a lot of overlap between CogSci and Neuroscience coursework/research in our program.</p>
<p>Also, I was able to work laterally with professors in departments that were not my own (I was a Joint Math/Econ and Psychology double), like working in a Neuro-Pharmacology lab (at the Pharm School), an epidemiology lab (at the School of Medicine), and am Immunohistochemistry lab (Biology department) without much problem.</p>
<p>I would only imagine NU would be much the same as long as you’ve taken adequate requisite coursework to be able to join the lab.</p>
<p>Also, I ultimately didn’t apply to Ph.D. programs in Neuroscience (but I was thinking of it for a good part of my undergraduate), but many students were accepted as CogSci, Psychology, Bio, and (of course) Neuroscience majors. </p>
<p>Your degree doesn’t define what you want to ultimately study. My graduate program at NU is something I’ve never had coursework/research experience in during undergraduate, but I got around that issue by showing why I’d still be a strong fit.</p>
<p>Is your name N Yandere, or NY andere? If the first, is it Neuroscience you have the unhealthy obsession with?</p>
<p>Aside over:Neuroscience is not the same as Cognitive Science. Neuroscience would be more akin to a double major in Biology: Neurobiology specialization and a Cognitive Science: Neuroscience. There are neurobio and neuroscience labs (through psych).</p>
<p>Cognitive Science is an interdisciplinary department spanning Philosophy, Linguistics, Computer Science, and Biology. Neurobiology is a hard brain science, but you’re in the bio major, meaning contending with all the pre-meds. </p>
<p>As for research, there are abundant opportunities, even for freshmen. But know that at no school will you be doing original research right away- at first you will be working in labs, doing slide preparation, etc. </p>
<p>In regard to your last question, flatly no. Cognitive Science is a tremendously diverse field (that can be as narrow as you want!) but that is intended to cross disciplines to broaden understanding (neural network theory, computational linguistics, etc.)</p>
<p>It sounds like what you really want is the Biology: Neurobiology, since it seems you want a concentrated “hard” science biology/ brain science major. </p>
<p>Either way, NU is an absolutely fantastic place to study these topics with a faculty that’s on the absolute cutting edge of research (at least in the Cognitive Science end- can’t speak to the level other than generalities for the bio sciences end).</p>
<p>Where else are you looking? I’d be shocked if NU wasn’t among your very best options.</p>
<p>@arbiter213: Neuroscience Yandere. (see what i did thar? doh ho ho)
Now I’m just trying to decide between NU and Oberlin College.
After reading your post, I do feel that I lean more towards CogSci than Neurobiology. But I’m still extremely interested in the biology part of brain science, so Oberlin’s Neuroscience program is also extremely enticing.</p>
<p>My goal is to become a neuroscientist or a professor of neuroscience, so graduate school, post-docs are all part of my future plans.
The question is, where should I start my keikaku from?</p>
<p>Too much effort to respond in Japanese to all that lol.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in Japanese: The program here is absolutely brutally punishing, even with the degree of proficiency you seem to have already. (My guess is you’re self taught? From the look of it you’d probably be placed into late first year or second year.)</p>
<p>It is also exceptional at preparing you. We have tie-ins with study abroad programs at Waseda, IES-Nagoya, Sophia Daigaku, as well as KCJS (though we’re not affiliates so it’s super selective- I got in but I was lucky and it was a long story). NU does NOT have a manga club. We do have a Japan club, which is mostly Japanese culture and less anime and manga. There’s definitely a decent faction, and they’d be easy to find, btu it’s not as big as at some other schools. NU is more bro-y than nerdy. Feel free to ask me any other questions you want about that.</p>
<p>Also, you can’t abbreviate NU as 北西. Doesn’t work that way.</p>
<p>@LoremIpsum: I, and a native speaker, could barely read it, so it’s not just the translator’s fault.</p>
<p>It’s an excellent attempt for someone who’s self taught, mind you. It’s just not well formed/ natural Japanese, and non-native Japanese does not translate well via google.</p>
<p>The advice was: I think you should go to NU, but only you know what’s right in your heart. And from (I can’t tell if NYandere is a girl, as implied by the user name, or boy, as implied by the use of the pronoun 俺 (or-ay), basically they like manga and want to know if people at NU will be accepting and have similar interests.</p>
<p>Based on a reference in one post, I’m guessing mostly a Naruto fan.</p>
<p>so much facepalming…and i’m not a narutard…
Let’s get back to neuroscience/cogsci.
Is the cogsci track a flexible route, such that I can choose to do med or research in the future?</p>
<p>Yes. For medicine you just have to complete the pre-med core, which is basically a bio major. If you want that option, just major in Bio, concentrate in Neurobiology, and double major in Cognitive Science. There will be plenty of research opportunities, and you will get the interdisciplinary AND depth you want, and you could choose to pursue medicine or PhDs in the future (assuming you make it through the pre-med course-load with the requisite grades).</p>
<p>Unless NU has some policies disallowing students taking classes from other departments, you don’t necessarily need to be a Biology major to complete the pre-med requirements. At UCSD, I only minored in Biology and nearly finished the entire track (I was never even intending to go Med either).</p>