UCSD vs UC Davis vs UCI vs Pitzer vs Scripps - Neuroscience

ColdWombat
Tue, 29 Mar 2022 09:47:40 +0000

All of the schools you listed are obviously good schools. UCSD neuroscience is basically second to none. I am speaking about their graduate program and research reputation. I don’t know about the undergraduate program, but I would think that’s also excellent.

However, in general, I don’t think that undergrad majors in neuroscience are a great idea. They restrict in a way that is unhelpful for future directions and job searching. They are too niche, and do not serve the student nearly as well as a broader degree with a concentration would. Something like a biochem major with a neuro minor is great. You don’t even need an official neuro concentration if they don’t offer one–you can just take a bunch of neuro electives. I guess it’s fine to do a neuro major if you are positive you want to do a neuroscience PhD later, but it wouldn’t really give you much of an advantage in that scenario either.

That said, I would make an exception for doing an undergrad neurosci degree someplace like UCSD, which is widely regarded (by neuroscientists) as the top neuroscience institution in the US. I still think it’s prudent to do the more generic degree, but at least a UCSD neurosci degree would have some cache (amongst other neuroscientists). If she’s not at UCSD, the marketability of the neurosci degree goes way down. The Claremonts are wonderful schools but there is nothing special about neuroscience there. Davis is a great med/bio school, but again, nothing super special about neuroscience there, nor at Irvine.

Unless she has some overwhelmingly compelling reason to do a neuroscience major specifically, I would encourage your daughter to consider pursuing a more general major degree (chem, bio, physics, bioengineering, or psych) with a neuro minor/concentration. A double major would also be fine (such as bio/neuro). Best of luck!