I was recently admitted into JHU, Berkeley, and UMinnesota for the class of 2019, and am interested in studying either cognitive science or psychology. I was wondering about potential pros and cons of attending these schools from the perspectives of JHU students or alums, mostly based on the strength and rigor of the cognitive science and psychology programs offered. I’m also interested in seriously delving into CS as part of the cogsci major, although I’ve only dabbled with it in the past. Also, I would appreciate any general information about these campuses (such as student/academic life, job/internship opportunities, competitiveness, student happiness) that I should consider in making my final decision!
It’s me again, lol. Let me try and keep things short(er) this time. Excuse my fragments, lol. This is based on my experience with JHU, all the major course reqs for each school, and various reviews of all schools:
Cognitive Science
- []Strong program with classes on the smaller end of the spectrum
[]Similarities: Similar setup to Berkeley—some intro reqs and focus areas
[]Differences: Larger amount of Neuro and Psych courses; no Linguistics department (does have courses, a minor, and Language Disorders Practicum); foreign language requirement; no focus areas for the more sociological side of CogSci
[]Rigor: As much as you want, particularly if you focus in CS or Neuro and take upper-levels
Cognitive Science / Computer Science – Based on me dabbling in CS my first semester
[ul]
[]Took Intro to JAVA – Pretty easy to pick up with little/no prior programming background
[]Realized that programming is time-consuming, don’t have the patience for debugging, lol
[]Will probably be hard for you to take upper-level CS courses unless you have the CS/Applied Math background for it
[]Many CogSci majors focusing in CS are double-majoring/minoring in CS
[li]If you want to pursue CS as a career, I’ve heard Berkeley’s one of the top schools for it[/li][/ul]
Psychology
- []Large and strong program, IMO, lots of faculty and course content overlap with Neuro
[]Differences: A lot of freedom in choosing courses (3 semi-electives off a list, 5 electives make the major), most Psych majors double major because the requirements are so few (CogSci and Psych possible, I believe)—freedom has pros and cons depending on whether you want a solid foundation in all areas of Psych or just want to take whatever you want
General Info – Let me try to say what is different, because you’ll hear good and bad about all schools’ rigor / teachers / students / party scene / school spirit / etc.
[ul]
[li]Student / Academic Life – Academics = Supreme importance here—we have fun and have lives, but we also work hard and spend a lot of time studying; most people are passionate about what they’re studying since there are no Gen Ed reqs; engineering / applied math / CS majors and premeds have the most intensive workloads; party scene = Greek party scene; Baltimore = not a college town; sports events (if you’re not an athlete) = minimal; a capella / dance = big[/li][li]Job / Internship Opportunities – IDK if you mean in general or in relation to your majors; very many jobs you can get both on- and off-campus; IDK about internships but I’m sure major departments will offer research/internships; Career Center on-campus can connect you with jobs and internships[/li][li]Competitiveness – If you’re engineering / CS, actually very tight-knit; rumor generally applies to premed students, and I don’t see myself in competition with anyone else (we just all want As because we’re neurotic and want to get into med school), definitely help each other/collaborate[/li][li]Student Happiness – Answers vary: A. love the school, B. love the school but get frustrated with the amount of schoolwork, C. hate the school, and the stress/work makes the hate stronger. Most people are B (generally those with the work-intensive majors), then A (generally, other people), then C. Other reasons to hate the school, in the eyes of some people: Students not friendly enough / hate the cold weather (West-coasters), college ignores the needs of minorities (some minorities), campus not social justice-conscious or active (liberal, social justice oriented people)[/li][/ul]
Thanks, OnMyWay2013!