What classes should I take as a premed in Neuroscience?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
1

Hello everybody! I have decided recently that I am going pre-med at Brown University. I really want to major in Cognitive Neuroscience, or maybe just Neuroscience. Anyways, I was looking at the background course class requirements for Neuroscience at Brown. They are as listed:

MATH0090 Introductory Calculus, Part 1
MATH0100 Introductory Calculus, Part 2
PHYS0030 Basic Physics
PHYS0040 Basic Physics
BIOL0200 The Foundation of Living Systems
CHEM0330 Equilibrium, Rate, and Structure
CHEM 0350 Organic Chemistry
Statistics
Multiple Neuroscience Courses (Duh

I noticed that some of these classes seem to line up with the requirements for a pre-med student. Can you guys help me figure out what other classes I will should take? Thanks for you help!

2

Calm down! Plenty of students come in thinking they’ll be “pre-med.” Some stick with it, many don’t. Plenty of others do a post-bacc or something else if they don’t complete all the required pre-med courses.

Generally, the Neuro requirements will match up with a lot of the pre-med curriculum. You’ll most likely need to take another semester of orgo (360), as well as biochem and a few more bio classes. Depending on the med school, you may also be required to take a psych class, or something involving writing.

The biggest advice I can give you: don’t sweat it, especially in your first year. You’ll be able to complete the courses if you want to, especially as a Neuro concentrator. Make sure at least one class that you take per semester (most students take 4) is outside your normal area of expertise/comfort. That’s the whole point of the open curriculum.

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Or don’t. I certainly didn’t. It’s up to you OP. That’s the whole point of the open curriculum.

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What exactly do you mean by what classes should I take? Your first semester?

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By the way, I’m a rising sophomore at Brown.

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A lot of people take two classes that pertain to their concentration/pre-med requirements, and then two classes for their own interest, especially in the first year when you still want to explore things. Definitely take NEUR0010 if you are interested in neuro, you will have a lot of companies because it is a popular (but challenging) class among freshmen. A lot of people take math or chem0330 with neuro in their first semester.

Those are my recommendations, but don’t worry about requirements yet! You will have plenty of time to worry about those…

7

If the OP has any questions, these are the classes I took last year at Brown during my first year. I will also be taking Neuro 0010 this upcoming fall semester. I am also pre med at Brown.

Fall 2014
CHEM 0330 Equilibrium, Rate, Structure
MATH 0100 Intro Calculus, Part II
BIOL 0530 Principles of Immunology
PHP 0320 Introduction to Public Health

Spring 2015
CHEM 0350 Organic Chemistry
BIOL 1560 Virology
ENGL 0180 Intro to Creative Nonfiction
POLS 1130 The American Presidency

8

Pre-med/neuroscience concentrator/rising sophomore here. Here are the classes I took this past year:

Fall 2014
CHEM 0330 Equilibrium, Rate, Structure
BIOL 0190P Development of Scientific Theories: Context and the Individual (first year seminar)
NEUR 0100 The Brain: An Introduction to Neuroscience
CHIN 0100 Basic Chinese (year course)

Spring 2015
CHEM 0350 Organic Chemistry
NEUR 1020 Principles of Neurobiology
COLT 0180E Confession, Autobiography, Testimony
CHIN 0200 Basic Chinese (year course)

I used AP credits to get out of MATH 0900, MATH 0100, BIOL 0200 and CHEM 0100–many students without AP/IB Chem but with some chemistry background in high school use the chemistry placement test to get out of CHEM 0100 and right into 0330. If I had not placed out of the two maths and intro bio, I probably would have used first year to get these courses out of the way.

Very very few pre-meds opt to take physics during their first year…no need to have that on your radar quite yet.

If you aren’t able to place out of any of the background courses for Neuroscience and want to have a schedule consistent with other pre-meds’, I’d suggest doing something along these lines…

Fall 2015
CHEM 0100 (if you don’t think your chem background is strong) or CHEM 0330 (if you pass the placement test/have credits)
MATH 0900
NEUR 0100
elective

Spring 2016
CHEM 0330 (if you took CHEM 0100) or CHEM 0350 (if you took CHEM 0330)
MATH 0100
BIOL 0200
elective

On the other hand, if you can place out of the maths/bio, you will have more freedom in carving your first year schedule. I have friends, like IvyHopeful89, who jumped right into BIOL classes beyond the intro-level…BIOL 0530 (immuno), BIOL 0480 (evol bio), and BIOL 0470 (genetics), among others, can be taken in the fall; BIOL 0500 (cell/molecular) and BIOL 0510 (microbio) can be taken in the spring; BIOL 0800 (physio–perhaps the most popular of the mid-level bio courses) can be taken either semester. Other pre-meds I know continued on with math past calc 2…MATH 0180/0350 (multivariable/honors multivariable calc) and MATH 0520/0540 (linear algebra). I personally sought out some small classes of interest to me in order to balance out the large lecture environments of my NEUR/CHEM classes. Regardless, as a pre-med at Brown, you will have a lot of freedom; I recommend you get through some of your requirements, pursuit your areas of interest, and cultivate a well-balanced, personally-fulfilling schedule. In making your schedule, you may want to use The Critical Review to see student evaluations of particular courses. Also realize that you can finalize your schedule after having meetings with your faculty and peer (Meiklejohn) advisors as well as exploring as many courses as you want during shopping period – the first few weeks of school permit you to add/drop courses freely.

Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions! I’m happy to talk about anything (e.g., engaging in research, quality/difficulty of specific courses, general Brown things) and will be a Meiklejohn Peer Advisor during the upcoming year.

9

Thank you. This information was extremely helpful! Unfortunately, I come from a small rural school that does not offer AP classes, therefore I am not sure if I will be able to start out in any upper level courses right away. I am sure that the shopping period will help out a lot when choosing classes.

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http://www.brown.edu/academics/college/advising/health-careers/sites/brown.edu.academics.college.advising.health-careers/files/uploads/Sample%20Time%20Line%20for%20Health%20Careers%20or%20Pre-med%20Students%202014-2015%20color.pdf