I am a current high school junior researching schools to apply to in the fall. I plan to study neuroscience and am interested in a high caliber research school that has a small student body and access to a big city. I am looking into schools such as Lehigh, Tufts, Reed, and William and Mary. Does anyone have any suggestions for other schools I should consider?
Case Western, Rochester, Northwestern.
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It’ll help if you can post your budget and other info like GPA, rigorousness of current course load, current state, etc. (see other “match me” posts), but people who like William and Mary (but want more city access) often seem to like Rice, Emory, and WUSTL, though they’re pricey and have very low acceptance rates.
(Separately, Reed is often described as a “fit” school, meaning people either really connect with it when they visit, or are really turned off by it. Folks often strongly encourage visiting it to figure out which feeling is stronger for you.)
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You have been given excellent suggestions. I will add a few more:
Brandeis
Barnard
Skidmore
Vanderbilt
Lafayette
Muhlenberg
It would help if we had more information such as a budget, gpa etc. Remember to add a few safeties- academic and cost.
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Please define what “small” means to you.
Is Davidson too small?
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Don’t know your stats - but don’t get into the trap that high caliber research school means high ranked, perceived better names.
You’ve been given a variety - and Lehigh is different than Tufts than W&M. Find a school you can love.
And ensure you have names that one can get into.
W&M, btw, doesn’t have access to the big city - unless you’re willing to drive an hour.plus…and most would prefer a Richmond vs. heading East - which has population (heading East) but I was just there…really not big city-ish.
Small schools of different selectivity can range from Pomona or Scripps (I mean, all of LA is big city), to Trinity in Hartford and San Antonio to Macalester in St. Paul, to Kalamazoo (has a concentration and great merit for smart kids to Rhodes in Memphis,
Find the where you want to be and go from there. Weather, geography, and otherwise, Study curriculums. All Neuro doesn’t seem to be the same - not even the same base. And a lot of schools have degrees that have concentration or minor in neuro or course work that can effectively make it what you desire it to be even if the name isn’t neuro.
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For LACs:
Vassar is extremely well-known for Neuroscience. It is in the Poughkeepsie area in the Hudson River Valley, and about a 2 hour train ride from NYC.
Amherst is also extremely well-known in this area. They are part of the Five Colleges consortium in the Pioneer Valley, about 30 minutes from Springfield, 1 hour from Hartford, 2 hours from Boston.
Swarthmore is excellent in life sciences and they have a good Neuroscience major. They are about a 30 minute train ride from Philly.
Pomona again has a highly-regarded Neuroscience Department–not too large, but is one of the Claremont Colleges which expands your options, and it just outside Los Angeles.
All of these are very reachy. A slightly less reachy (still pretty selective) option would be Macalester. Strong department, quite a few majors for a smaller college, and they have a fantastic location in the heart of Minneapolis/St Paul.
Oberlin is about 45 minutes outside of Cleveland. Again, very strong, well-known department.
For universities, WUSTL, with a great location just outside St Louis, has a very, very good program.
Emory in Atlanta also has a very large, very well-regarded program.
For a less reachy option, I acknowledge this is really stretching the boundaries of “small”, but Pitt has a fantastic Neuroscience program (like seriously world-class research), and they have a great location in the heart of the university and hospital area in Pittsburgh. As usual you can make Pitt at least feel somewhat smaller if you get into their Honors program.
There are also great Neuroscience programs at several UCs, but they of course are tough admits. Still, San Francisco is legendary in this area, San Diego is great too, so might be worth looking into.
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Fordham- but is it too big?
I will also add SUNY Geneseo as a possible safety (not sure if it is a safety). It has the major, it is small, and it is about a 40 min drive to Rochester.
Honestly, we need more information.
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I was also going to suggest Pitt, although the size may be larger than OP wants. Great Neuroscience program.
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Hi everyone! Thanks so much for your responses. To give more stats info, I have a 4.0/4.6 weighted GPA and will have taken 4 APs, 1 IB SL, and 2 college courses at the time of application (but will be taking 3 more AP tests my senior year). I have not yet taken the SAT.
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Have you discussed a budget with your family?
Thanks so much! Fordham is a pretty good size, although I was hoping for something a little smaller. SUNY Geneseo would be a safety for me.
Please tell us what you mean by “small”.
Do you have a budget? While you do not have to share it if you do not want to, it is important to know.
Some schools can be approaching $90,000 a year (ie Rochester) if you do not qualify for FA or merit. I would ask your family what they can pay.
I was hoping for a school with a student population of 10,000 or fewer undergrads.
Thanks…I sort of view 10,000 as midsize so thank you for the clarification.
Most of the recommended schools above fall under or near 10,000 undergrads.
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I am open to learning about schools of all price ranges, and will discuss each specific school with my parents before deciding to apply. $90,000 would be too expensive though.
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Sorry for the confusion, and thank you.
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I agree that Rice, Emory, and Vanderbilt are good options. My D goes to Rice and it’s smack in the middle of Houston (but has a self-contained, pretty campus) and is right across the street from the Houston Medical Center which claims to be the largest medical complex in the world. Since Rice has a larger undergrad population than grad population there are a lot of opportunities for undergrads to get involved in research.
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