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A Comprehensive Education

Wellesley's neuroscience majors graduate with a liberal arts background coupled with sufficient concentration in this specialized field to be competitive among students coming from exclusively research-oriented institutions.

Of Wellesley's graduates in neuroscience, approximately 60% proceed to medical school, which makes sense, because of the intersection of the interests in the fields of neuroscience and medicine. Approximately 15% continue on with graduate work in neuroscience, psychology, or neuropsychology; and approximately 10% pursue careers that intersect with neuroscience - for example, patent law or work in the biotech industry.

Success in Science

Wellesley's active and early role in neuroscience education is manifest in the success of its graduates. These include: Story Landis '67, Director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Nancy Adler '68, Professor of Medical Psychology and Director of the Center for Health and Community at the University of California, San Francisco, and Joanne Berger-Sweeney '79, Allene Lummis Russell Professor in Neuroscience and Associate Dean at Wellesley College.

Unconventional Success

Wellesley provides such solid grounding that its graduates successfully move forward and pursue their individual areas of passion. They are not bound by convention; they can typically find role models in virtually every field imaginable, even those that are historically male dominated. No matter what their field of pursuit, Wellesley women seem to be intellectually engaged, and many achieve impressive levels of success at the top of their fields.

"State of the Art" equipment

At Wellesley College, we study the morphology, chemistry and physiology of neurons. We have acquired all the necessary and modern tools to enable research and teaching in all of these areas of neuroscience. Our electrophysiology facilities are used to study electrical potentials in neurons using both intracellular and extracellular recording techniques. Faculty laboratories, as well as a teaching lab housing four electrophysiology set-ups, are used by undergraduates in course labs and for independent research projects. In addition, Wellesley College was among the first colleges to acquire a confocal microscope, which uses lasers to optically section tissues for high-resolution fluorescence studies. This instrument also is devoted to course labs and student projects. Our most recent acquisitions are instruments for DNA sequencing and a 9.4T magnetic resonance imaging facility that is used to examine living organisms in longitudinal studies. Other large equipment items include two electron microscopes, an NMR, cryostat, HPLC and a water maze; every teaching lab is outfitted with the highest quality compound and stereo microscopes.

A Current View of Neuroscience at Liberal Arts Colleges