phantasmagoric

No problem. You definitely can study molecular biology in relation to the other cognitive science areas, esp. neuroscience. Many universities offer courses to cater to that interest specifically. For example, Berkeley offers a course titled "the Neural Basis of Thought and Language." That's the sort of course you would find at a university, and it'd be hard to find at a LAC.

erudite1

Yea those are the exact types of courses I would love to explore. Now what about LACs that are working with universities to allow students to take courses there (such as the consortium) Do you still believe it would be better just to go to the university and not have the hassle of taking the bus everyday?

doctarini

Yes UMich--Ann Arbor does have top ranked Neuroscience major (i want to major on that). It's my first in-state choice

tk21769

doctarini, to what undergraduate program ranking are you referring?

There's this:
Best Neuroscience Undergraduate Programs: List of Top Schools

This includes a bunch of LACs, but not Michigan. Since it does not seem to describe any criteria, I would not trust it too much (although I assume the listed schools must at least have a fairly comprehensive set of courses in neuroscience or related areas).

Then there's this:
http://premium.usnews.com/best-gradu...ences-rankings
(which is yet another graduate program ranking).

phantasmagoric

I personally think so, but it's up to you to decide whether it's worth the extra hassle. Some definitely find it worthwhile. You might check out Swarthmore, which is strong in CS, linguistics, and perhaps also psychology/philosophy; it's right near Penn, which is very strong in cognitive science. Haverford and Bryn Mawr are also part of this consortium. If you're looking for a LAC that's part of a consortium with a university that's strong in cogsci (and all the constituent areas - Penn is one of the best for CS, linguistics, neuroscience, AI, etc.), I can't think of a better consortium than this one.

erudite1

Very cool, Penn is certainly at the top of my list considering some of the research coming out of there on Machine Learning...Would you suggest Brown over Penn though considering my interests?

CollegeXC1993

Apologizing ahead of time for the fairly long post..
I thought fairly seriously about doing something with Neuroscience/AI in college (though I eventually opted to go down the Econ/Applied Math/IR route...things change) so I'd like to think I know a little bit about the good programs.

WashU: I know already been mentioned and not an LAC but a medium sized research university. Their PNP (Philosophy/Neuroscience/Psychology) program is pretty interesting and I'd think they have a good Compsci program, though I don't know for sure.

Brown: One of the top CogSci and Compsci programs in the country, hard to beat. Didn't look at seriously for non-academic reasons but apparently it has an "lac-feel" to it even though it is a mid sized university

Franklin and Marshall: if you are applying to Brown/UPenn, Franklin and Marshall is probably a safety. Nonetheless, if you are thinking about Neuroscience/CogSci it is probably worth a look. Even though it only has 2,000 students, it still has Neurosci/Linguistics/Animal Behavior/Scientific and Philosophic Studies of Mind/Compsci Majors. The Compsci department probably isn't that great, but it will probably more than make up for it in the other departments.

Swarthmore: LAC with top programs in Cognitive Science, Compsci, Linguistics. Honors majors are seminar style and very intense. A perfect fit for the right kind of person.

Oberlin: Don't know much about it academically other than it was the first LAC to develop a neuroscience major and it is arguably their strongest department.

University of Rochester (Note--I go here so I'm biased...): At 4500 students (and 1000 at Eastman SOM about a mile or 2 away) it feels like a LAC in alot of ways. What it lacks in seminar style classes it more than makes up for in department strength and research focus. Top Linguistics/Neurosci/Brain and Cognitive Science/Compsci departments with lots of research ops. Honestly, I think a small university is your best bet as a lot of LACs lack significant Compsci offerings and an understanding of AI requires a solid Compsci background.

phantasmagoric

For your academic interests, I wouldn't say either Penn or Brown is better. But given all your other criteria, Brown seems to be the best of all those suggested so far. It's especially worth a look given that Brown is kind of like a LAC and a university at the same time - IMO it straddles the line between the two better than any other Ivy except maybe Princeton.

leolesinate

hi

i have an undergraduate degree in psychology and i want to go for my further studies in cognitive and computational neuroscience and need suggestion in this as some institutes offer computational modeling but i really do know extent of that and can any one recommendbest university for that and university of california san deigo offer specialization in computational neurscience so please suggest me best place to go .