Neuroscience Major

The Neuroscience curriculum is organized into three sets of courses, namely a common core set of courses and two sets of elective courses.

For more information about the program, honors/high honors, transfer credit, etc., visit the Neuroscience program page.

Major Requirements

Entrance into Major

Students should achieve a C- in NEUR 170 in order to enter the major. Students not meeting this expectation must consult with the coordinator of the program before continuing in the major.

Core Requirements

NEUR 170 - Introduction to Neuroscience completed with a grade of C- or better by the end of the first year
CHEM 101 - General Chemistry I should be completed in the fall of the first year
CHEM 102 - General Chemistry II should be completed in the spring of the first year
BIOL 182 - Molecules, Cells, and Genes should be completed in the end of sophomore year
PSYC 309 - Quantitative Methods in Behavioral Research or
BIOL 320 - Biostatistics
NEUR 498 - Senior Thesis

Core Electives

One of the following

Any 300-level biology course (excluding courses based in Ecology and those listed as neuroscience core or general electives)
CHEM 263 - Organic Chemistry I
COSC 101 - Introduction for Computing I
MATH 214 - Linear Algebra
MATH 315 - Mathematical Biology
PHIL 225 - Logic I
PHYS 112 - Fundamental Physics II
Any 300-level psychological science course (excluding
PSYC 309
or those crosslisted as NEUR)

General Electives

Three courses from the following, with at least one taken from each cluster:

Cellular & Molecular Neuroscience

Systems Neuroscience

Senior Thesis

NEUR 498 - Senior Thesis (one semester) must be taken in the fall or spring of the senior year. During the spring semester of the junior year, students will be asked to identify several areas of interest for their senior-year research experience. Students are then assigned to faculty research supervisors and assigned to the fall or spring semester sections based upon students’ interests and the availability of resources.

Students planning honors research are required to enroll in NEUR 498 in the fall of the senior year, followed by NEUR 499 in the spring of the senior year. On occasion, students who are not pursuing honors or high honors may complete two semesters of senior research by taking NEUR 498 in the fall and NEUR 491 in the spring.

GPA Requirement

An overall GPA of at least 2.00 is required in all courses counting toward the neuroscience major. A passing grade must be received for a course to satisfy a major requirement.