<p>Looking for your opinions, should I study neuroscience and pre medicine at a large research university with a big program in the field or a prestigious liberal arts college with small but still strong program?
I understand the benefits of both for students in general, lot's of resources vs small classes+lot's of personal attention. For science majors, neuroscience specifically, what type of school have you found to be best?</p>
<p>MIT, if you can get in. :)</p>
<p>haha not really the answer I was looking for… and no I can’t get in.</p>
<p>From a practical matter, not many small colleges even offer Neuro. One great program is at Amherst, however. (Also highly selective.)</p>
<p>Just take care to review the curricular offerings of the college particularly if it is small. Some Neuro programs are more psych-focused, some on bio, and some on CompSci/math.</p>
<p>Good advice from blue on checking the curriculum. </p>
<p>If you think you’d prefer a small school environment, find a LAC that offers neuroscience (it’s a short list, about 30 or so). If you go that route, I’d encourage you to consider the opportunities available outside the classroom. At Rhodes we’re lucky with our location in Memphis and partnerships with St. Jude, device makers, and others in the medical industry. Our program, for what it’s worth, is more psych focused with a health dose of bio.</p>
<p>My D has similar interests and decided to apply to small LACs with neuroscience departments. She really likes the idea of smaller classes and overall she is excited by environment she found at the smaller schools. But as you said, it is a tradeoff and two people can reasonably make different (and equally good) choices based on what they want in out of their college experience. I suggest you visit a few different types/sizes of schools and see what feels right to you.</p>
<p>Frankly, my DD is in neuroscience. We looked into it deeply. The best public U for Neuroscience are UCLA and UCSD, private schools starts with MIT, Brown, JHU etc. We did not look into small LACs, we do understand the the benefit of the attention you get at a small school, but neuroscience is not for everyone, if you cannot follow through, you will have difficulty to fall back and change majors. And for all practical purposes, neuroscience is useless with an undergraduate degree, advance degree is needed for all who are interested in research or practice.</p>
<p>How’s Furman’s neuroscience?</p>
<p>@ creekland I’m not sure about Furman’s. </p>
<p>@artloversplus I’m thinking about going to the University of Pittsburgh for neuroscience since I got into the honors college. It seems like the fact it has one of the oldest/largest departments in the country and the fact it is next to the UPMC, it is really the best option. I was thinking about applying to UCLA or UCSD but the OOS tuition in CA is way too high. </p>
<p>@happy 1 Has your D found the neuroscience program at her LAC to be too small or has she found there not enough resources?</p>
<p>My D spent a lot of time at her top couple of choice. She sat in on classes and visited the lab facilities. She felt that both schools have more than sufficient resources and she really liked the student-professor interactions and the overall environment of a small LAC. But there were a few LACs where she was not at all impressed by the facilities so they came off her list. You need to do your homework. We did also look at a larger school, she just felt it wasn’t for her. Again, it is a personal choice and there is no right or wrong answer. Life is full of trade-offs and everyone should make the ones that work best for them. But I do suggest that if you do visit a large school, be sure to find out what resources are available to undergraduate students (some things may be reserved for grad students in a university). Good luck.</p>
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<p>I’m not sure about Furman’s either - hence the question. It’s one place where my middle son has applied and he likes the campus. He also got into Pitt (and their Honors College) but wasn’t as in love with the urban environment there. Whether they stay on his list or not will depend on the merit aid offered. He liked Wash U in SL (theirs was a different type of major - can’t remember what they called it), but we won’t know if he gets in there (or if we can afford it) until late March. Wash U had more of a contained campus than Pitt.</p>
<p>He liked U of Rochester until we got our early snow in October. Then he decided to restrict his colleges to our latitude or further south. 
If winter doesn’t bother you, consider U of R. They were one of his top choices based on size, classes, and research opportunities before that snowstorm.</p>
<p>I haven’t been there, done that, but just sharing info middle son has gleaned with his search for that major. (I should add that my guy isn’t 100% certain of that major either. He also likes microbio.)</p>
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<p>Perhaps, but just know that UCLA’s program is very math/comp sci focused. So “best” for one student…</p>
<p>Personally, I’d add Michigan, Cal-Berkeley and Pittsburgh to the list of publics with great Neuro programs. Pitt offers plenty of merit aid and D1 sports. While a fine college, Brown’s curriculum doesn’t jump out at me as strong in Neuro. IMO, Amherst has better offerings. Emory and Rochester are also excellent.</p>
<p>Also, be sure to add UVA as a public with a top neuroscience program. You do have to apply to the program after your fourth semester, and it is rather competitive, with only 20-25 seats for each class, but we also have a cognitive science major in which you could concentrate your studies to neuroscience.</p>