Neuroscience Major

Major Requirements

Major requirements. Students wishing to major in Neuroscience complete a minimum of 14 courses (16 units) across four different departments. See the Neuroscience section of the course catalog for a summary of regular course offerings. Required courses are:

PSYCHOLOGY

100 (or 101 or 111):Introductory Psychology
202:Research Design (2 blocks)
297 and 298:Neuroscience I and II (2 blocks)
One 300-level Psychology course (1 unit)

and

Two of the following: 412:Neuropsychology; 417:Advanced Neuroscience Seminar; 420:Cognitive Neuroethology; 433:Neuropharmacology

BIOLOGY

131:Introduction to Molecular and Cellular Biology
231:Genetics (or Chemistry 382, Biochemistry I)

CHEMISTRY

107–108:General Chemistry I, II
250:Structures of Organic Molecules
251:Reactions of Organic Molecules

MATHEMATICS

126:Calculus I

SPORT SCIENCE

SC 206: Exercise physiology or SC 207: Human Anatomy

Note: Although they are not required, PC141/142:Introductory Physics I, II (or PC241/242:Introductory Classical Physics I, II) is highly recommended, especially for students planning to attend medical school.

In addition, the following courses may also be useful for graduate study in Neuroscience: BY280:Population Genetics; BY332:Animal Behavior; BY350:Advanced Genetic Analysis; BY356:Mathematical Models in Biology; BY366:Comparative Animal Physiology; BY380:Advanced Cell Biology; BY466:Developmental Biology; PC151:Biophysics: Physics and Living Things. Note that some of these courses have prerequisites that are not part of the Neuroscience major requirements. 

Students who wish to pursue graduate studies in the neurosciences are strongly encouraged to complete at least one block of relevant independent laboratory research under close faculty supervision from one of the following: PY451–454; BY309/409; CH201/301/403. Note that such research projects must be conducted with one of the neuroscience advisers. If the adviser is in the Psychology Department, the student must complete a proposal the academic year before the research is to be conducted. Proposal forms are available on the Psychology Web page.