<p>I've been accepted to UPitt and Emory's Oxford College for their Neuro programs and am waiting on Case to get off its waitlist. I don't know much about Oxford other than it has a LAC feel (which I do love since I'm more comfortable with smaller sizes). As for UPitt, I have a 5K/yr scholarship and only know that its Neuro department is more mature b/c of its age. I vaguely know Case's atmosphere in terms of Pre-Med and campus life but any more information on it would probably help me decide in the future if I get off the waitlist since they're all considered pretty good in Neuro/Pre-Med.</p>
<p>In general, I'm looking for a school that provides more attention from faculty as well as opportunities to dive into Med. I'm not much of a party animal, but of course would still want to have some time to explore whatever city that's nearby. Money isn't too much of an issue for me, but the friendliness + diversity of student body and flexibility of curriculum would be nice.
Another thing to note is that I'm focusing on Neuro but would like to diverge into other disciplines too, which for all I know I could possibly double major or even switch to. It's not really that I don't think I could handle med (my SAT scores are higher than 50% in all the schools, yay) but rather that I'd like to explore a variety of subjects both to ensure I like Neuro most and to understand basically anything that could affect mind and behavior.</p>
<p>Obviously, I can't go wrong with any of these schools but any advice you can give me would be great! Thanks! </p>
<p>I’ve answered this a couple of times but the answer is essentially the same. One of the biggest differences is that Pitt’s undergraduate neuroscience program is housed within a full fledged neuroscience department with all the accompanying resources, faculty, and dedication to the field that is inherent in departments. Emory and Case are excellent universities with excellent biomedical resources, but like most schools, it offers an undergraduate neuroscience major through a program that is either a separate track under a non-neuroscience department or cobbled together from borrowing resources combined from other departments like psychology and biology. That means the program doesn’t have its own professors, seminars, and other similar resources dedicated to the major, nor is neuroscience necessarily the focus of the faculty that are teaching the courses. Emory has an interdisciplinary program which essentially means other departments are responsible for providing the courses, but those courses by their nature have to serve the home department first and foremost. Neuroscience as a field is broadly interdisciplinary in its very nature, but that doesn’t mean having instructional faculty whose appointments and focus are rightfully centered in their home departments is an advantage: it is not. Emory’s program states on its website that it has a large behavioral psychology component. That won’t be as much of an emphasis at Pitt, whose program is more straight biological neuroscience as opposed to behavioral, not that you can’t customize electives down that track at Pitt because of the offerings that are available there. Case doesn’t have seem to have an undergrad neuroscience major, and to be honest, its cognitive science program description is quite unusual and appears more like psychology, not something I’d recommend for someone interested in actual science. There shouldn’t be any problem double majoring at any school.</p>