<p>It seems that you just take a few classes from Bio and Psych and call it a neuroscience major, no?</p>
<p>[Columbia</a> Psychology Undergrad Curriculum Overview](<a href=“Department of Psychology”>Department of Psychology)</p>
<p>well neuroscience is essentially curious about the biological basis of behavior…so in essence yeah it is an interdisciplinary major where you take bio and psych courses. but when you read what you are asked to take it sounds pretty much like they gear you toward courses in each department that teach you especially along the way about psychophysiology - which seems rather relevant - and puts you in touch with faculty whose research is specifically ‘neuroscience.’</p>
<p>it is housed in the psych department, so it has a psych tinge to it. compared to other schools it is a bit more psych based from what i can tell comparing courses (other schools require chemistry, i gather the chemistry requirements are implied in columbia’s case). </p>
<p>but what a weird question in the first place.</p>
<p>and a last parting shot - in the words of David Helfand: your major doesn’t mean crap, so why do you care? to extend your question further: what major really matters anyway?</p>
<p>to add to what admissionsgeek said, the major, neuroscience and behavior, is the study of psychology through the neuroscience school of thought. just as there are different perspectives in psych, freudian, social-cognitive, etc, neuroscience is one. hence the concentration in both psych and biology.</p>
<p>it’s a legitimate major. and most schools don’t offer it as an undergrad major because they see it as a bit too advanced, at least, that’s what i’ve read. and it does seem to correlate with the fact that only schools like columbia, johns hopkins, and university of pittsburgh, all which have very strong medicine departments, offer it.</p>
<p>Just a bit more info on a neuroscience major and the curriculum:</p>
<p>a neuroscience major is offered at quite a few more universities than the ones that wombat mentions above. Often, the concentration in a curriculum leading to a neuroscience degree will be classified as either more “behavior-based” (ie more psych courses) or more “cellular-based” (more emphasis on cellular and molecular neuroscience). </p>
<p>Barnard, for example offers a Neuroscience and Behavior major, with a choice of concentrations in either Behavior or Cellular Neuroscience. Or you can do both. And it has the added advantage of the fact that you graduate with your Bachelor’s degree, having completed original research and written a thesis on that. Very unusual for an undergrad experience in the relatively “new” field of neuroscience. And quite the “hook” when applying to those fully funded PhD programs!</p>
<p>To answer the OP’s question, though, neuroscience is of course a “legitimate” major and Columbia’s approach of taking courses from the Psych and Bio depts. is pretty typical of many undergrad offerings.</p>
<p>To add to my post above: I was curious to see exactly what Columbia College offers in the way of curriculum for their neuroscience undergrads. I searched for “Columbia Neuroscience”, then went to “undergrad programs” and was directed to this page which lists the CC neuroscience program AND the Barnard one. </p>
<p>[Columbia</a> Neuroscience](<a href=“Neuroscience | Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons”>Neuroscience | Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons)</p>