Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the study of the structure and function of neurons and how they are assembled to produce behaviors.
Neuroscience was implemented as a new interdisciplinary major in 1999, replacing the Psychobiology Program and providing a strong foundation in neuroscience and related courses. In 2019, the Neuroscience Program became the Neuroscience Department, which better represents how we function and the prominence of our curriculum and research. Because Neuroscience is a broad, interdisciplinary field, we remain an interdepartmental major. Students benefit from the involvement and contribution of the cognate departments, in addition to the dedicated neuroscience faculty who teach the core courses and most of the advanced 300-level classes in neuroscience. This interdepartmental nature of the major can only strengthen the student experience. It’s the best of both worlds - faculty appointed in the Neuroscience Department and dedicated to its mission, as well as a breadth of experience across several departments.
Our students benefit from small classes and investigative labs in their introductory and advanced courses.
Our majors graduate with a liberal arts background and a strong foundation in neuroscience which allows them to proceed to medical school or attend top-ranked graduate neuroscience, cognitive science, and psychology Ph.D. programs, including Columbia, Duke, Harvard, MIT, Northwestern, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC San Diego, UCSF, UMass Medical School, Univ. Of Cincinnati, and UT Southwestern.
The best proof of the success of the Neuroscience Department:
- 60 percent of our graduates proceed to medical school;
- 20 percent of our graduates continue on with graduate work in neuroscience, psychology, or neuropsychology;
- 10 percent of our graduates pursue careers that intersect with neuroscience—for example, patent law or work in the biotech industry.