<p>I will be a freshman studying neuroscience at Northwestern next year. Northwestern has a good program (as it does with most sciences). They have a several upper-division neuroscience classes for biology students, and they have many clinical research programs going on through their medical school. Their psych department also has a number of very active neuroscience researchers, and I have talked with several current students at NU about their experience with biology/neuroscience programs, and they have by and large found neuroscience at NU to be to their liking. </p>
<p>I also can give suggestions about several other schools that I was impressed by during my college search, and if anyone wants to hear my views on NU neuroscience, feel free to PM me. </p>
<p>Washington University in St. Louis- I actually chose to go here after I was accepted, but for reasons that still escape my understanding, my parents did not let me go (fortunately, I really liked NU as well, so go Wildcats!). The PNP major is a very unique approach, and Wash U has traditionally been very strong in neuroscience research (as with most life science research; Wash U's med school is an amazing research laboratory). There are plenty of opportunities to get involved as an undergraduate, as Wash U has a freshman seminar class that brings in Wash U researchers to discuss their work and show freshman what opportunities exist on campus. See: <a href="http://www.nslc.wustl.edu/courses/Bio181/bio181.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.nslc.wustl.edu/courses/Bio181/bio181.html</a> and <a href="http://www.nslc.wustl.edu/courses/Bio500/bio500.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.nslc.wustl.edu/courses/Bio500/bio500.html</a>. Also, there is a program called Mind-Brain-Behavior for freshman and sophomores that gives freshman an introduction to cognitive/neuroscience and later pairs them with mentors as sophomores to give them lab experience. It's definitely worth checking out: <a href="http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/%7Ecollege/First_Year/Programs/Mind-Brain/%5B/url%5D">http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~college/First_Year/Programs/Mind-Brain/</a></p>
<p>Brown- Very strong in neuroscience. They have a lot of interesting research going on, particularly the "BrainGate" project and the work conducted by Prof. John Donoghue: <a href="http://donoghue.neuro.brown.edu/aboutus.htm#sec2%5B/url%5D">http://donoghue.neuro.brown.edu/aboutus.htm#sec2</a> , <a href="http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2006-07/06-002.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2006-07/06-002.html</a>. They have several different options for neuroscience students (majors in cogntive science, neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience), and their open cirriculum offers great flexibility when choosing classes. They are also very undergrad-focused, which should help a lot when trying to find research. I would be here, except I was rejected (again, go cats!)</p>
<p>UPenn- Like Wash U, UPenn has expansive life science research facilities because of their medical school and has a reputation for having very good neuroscience research. Their "BBB" (Biological Basis of Behavior) major is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the brain, like Wash U's PNP program. Here's the link for the info about it: <a href="http://www.psych.upenn.edu/bbb/%5B/url%5D">http://www.psych.upenn.edu/bbb/</a>. Penn also has well-defined research programs for undergraduates, especially University Scholars: <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/curf/scholars/scholars_us.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.upenn.edu/curf/scholars/scholars_us.htm</a>. </p>
<p>I also briefly considered some LACs, and found Oberlin, Amherst, Dartmouth (not 'technically' a LAC, but pretty darn close to it) and Colgate to have programs to my liking (especially Colgate which has an NIH internship program). However, I decided that I wanted the resources of a large university early on in my college search. </p>
<p>So I personally recommend Wash U, Brown, Northwestern, UPenn for large universities, and Dartmouth, Amherst, Oberlin and Colgate for LACs. I haven't had any personal interaction with these schools, but I think HYPSM, Duke, JHU, Rice and Vanderbilt would also be worth a look. Again, just the opinions of a student who just completed their college search, but the links should give you decent info about what each school offers.</p>