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I'm most likely majoring in neuroscience or biopsychology

I looked at the WUSTL website and saw they had a program in neuroscience-psychology-philosophey. However, I'm more inclined to the sciencey side of it rather than the social sciency side. Is WUSTL still a good place to go to study neuroscience, or am I selling myself short by not going to a school with a more focused neuroscience program?
(WUSTL has ceramics and women's rugby, my two ther main interests, so it's on the list)


Are there any 'create your own major' programs? If so, would this be possible with neurscience? Are there neuroscience/biopsychology faculty?

Any help would be really really appreciated. Thanks!

By Candi1657 (Candi1657) on Thursday, January 15, 2004 - 03:15 pm: Edit

aaahhhh...you're interested in neuroscience...like me...and more interested in the natural science component...like me...you're way cool!

By Goneinfivemin (Goneinfivemin) on Thursday, January 15, 2004 - 05:22 pm: Edit

At WashU, the attitude is very much "if you can dream it, you can do it". I wouldn't think there would be any problem creating your own major, emphasis, or even adjusting the major they have to fit your interests. The admissions office is really nice and they will help direct you to the right people. I would highly recommend giving them a call and they will get your question answered.
One thing...make sure you don't call over the noon hour or after 4. Sometimes you can get sent from extension to extension and it's no fun to hit a dead end.

By Abrandel05 (Abrandel05) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 10:28 pm: Edit

i am, yet another prospective "sciencey" neuroscience major...i posted all my info on the Hopkins post...out of curiousity wat other schools r u going to apply to and wat stuff have you done in high school? did you find out anything more baout that PNP program, i noticed it too.

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 11:25 pm: Edit

haven't found out anything more. except when I was filling out the app for WUSTL there was a thing about how you can call the admin office with academic questions and how they are into finding an academic plan for you (double major...that kind of thing)

anyways, I did a few summers of bioengineering research, but nothing directly neuroscience related. is that what you're askin?

i also applied to brown, pomona, and tulane
i visited jhu when i first started looking. it seems they have an exceptional program but i didn't like the school very much. where else are you applying?

i've had a hard time finding schools with neuroscience as well as my two other interests, ceramics and women's rugby

By Abrandel05 (Abrandel05) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 11:37 pm: Edit

wow theres a really varried interests, i like the programs at JHU and Duke (my favorites) aside from that i would apply to columbia but ive spent my whole life in ny (and did work there) and i think i should try other stuff, but its definately got a terrific pgrm

By Libsters (Libsters) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 11:47 pm: Edit

Ohhh .. I want to do Psych and Neuroscience but more on the Psych side of things ( probably ) ... What a coincidence ( sort - of .. ) Good Luck to you all = )

By Abrandel05 (Abrandel05) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 11:58 pm: Edit

lol i think we should start a "neuroscience majors" board...good luck to everyone (check out my post at JHU board)

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 12:41 am: Edit

ooh, we should!

in fact we should start a club! hehehe...there are a surprisingly large number of us out there

By Abrandel05 (Abrandel05) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 07:11 pm: Edit

lol...out of curiousity...what specifically do you guys plan to study?

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 07:14 pm: Edit

neuroscience with an emphaisis on the more life sciencey side, rather than the psychology side...kind of biological roots of the psychology stuff

By Abrandel05 (Abrandel05) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 09:33 pm: Edit

lol ok a lil vague but that sounds good, i hope to work more in learning about learning induced cortical reorganization, and in general the neurobiological underpinnings of higher cognitive function

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 09:52 pm: Edit

that sounds cool. are you still in high school? that's pretty exact

see my thing is i'm not sure exactly what yet. i'll figure it out once i get to college and start taking classes


i also really like genetics so i wanted to learn about the genetic roots of our brain function, like cognition, consciousness, memory, nerve signaling, etc, especially in comparsion to other species like chimps. kind of l ike what in our genetic code allows our brain to function the way it does that differentiates us from all the rest

By Abrandel05 (Abrandel05) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 10:19 pm: Edit

ya im a junior but ive done a lot of work in neuroscience, neurogenetics is a really kool field and were using genetic techniques in one of the studies im involved on now. it really opens up a lot of possibilities

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 11:09 pm: Edit

cool! what kind of research are you doing? where are you doing it? where all are you applying?

i did some bioengineering research earlier in high school with plants and fungi to test for antimicrobial and pesticidal compounds and neurotoxins.

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 11:15 pm: Edit

Abrand:

What's the name of your post on the JHU page?

By Abrandel05 (Abrandel05) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 11:25 pm: Edit

"Chance at JHU...special interest" something like that...im doing several research projects and will be doign more nextyear and over the summer. Im in NY so a lot has been at local institutions (right now Mt sinai, columbia etc..) but some profs at other schools have asked me to come work in their labs so perhaps in the summer ill venture out to more new places...all of my work is along similar lines and basically falls in the category of the neurobiology of learning and memory, hippocampus-depenent specifically of late. JHU is my #1 right now, but i really like Dukes program too and i have a string of meetings at both schools in feb with profs and med. profs. so ill get a better feel. WUSTL runs wat seems to be an interesting program but im having a hard time finding research there that i like

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 11:32 pm: Edit

what do you know about the more sciencey-side of neuroscience available at WUSTL

in terms of research at a uni:
Does any researach you do have to be associated with research a professor is currently doing? Like at Tulane, they have a decent neuroscience program, but none of the research profs are currently doing interests me. Am I limited to that?

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 11:33 pm: Edit

since JHU is so research-oriented I bet they will be very impressed by your work and you'll have a good chance.

By Abrandel05 (Abrandel05) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 11:39 pm: Edit

referring to your second post first, thanks i hope so cuz id love to go there..
in reference to the first, one of the hardest things about academia in general is what the big guy says goes. It tends to be that, although there is no rule saying you cant do research on one thing if the school has no1 doing it, the truth is it makes a differennce. In neuroscience particularly, the techniques are so vital and varied, on the other hand if you find a school with professors who do work you really like and you go there, chances are your chance to do work that you really enjoy and do it at a high level is greater

By Smarty1600 (Smarty1600) on Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 05:48 pm: Edit

Check out Brown, Dukem and JHU neuroscience - their programs are top notch and very "sciency." Esp. Brown - It even has a "brain science" interdisciplinary program. Its neuroscience major mixes mlc. biology, psych, chemistry, anthropolgy, and even math (like mapping neural networks) into one major. Very cool, very sciency.

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 06:09 pm: Edit

I applied to Brown and would LOVE to go there but i may not get in. check out my "chances at brown" post

By Abrandel05 (Abrandel05) on Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 10:22 pm: Edit

browns neuroscience program though of late has taken some big hits...theyve lost a few key faculty, a recent one that comes to mind is Mark Bear who went to MIT who was very good. still a good program and a fantastic school tho...i would also argue that its not that there more "sciency" becuase there are schools that are definately more technical in their appraoch, rather that Browns research tends to be in the middle, which in this field is definately where u want to be...biology of behavior, as opposed to too much biology or too much behavior...plus the undergrad program is good

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Thursday, January 22, 2004 - 11:29 pm: Edit

abrand: where do you go to school?

Yeah, in the middle is about where I want to be...but not to the socialsciency side. i want something with a lot of bio and science, but not overly technical.

was mark bear the nobel prize winner?

By Abrandel05 (Abrandel05) on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 11:39 am: Edit

no thats leon cooper...im in westchester, NY...ny by middle i mean behavioral neuroscience, cognitive neurobiolgoy those type of things

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 02:55 am: Edit

bump