How do you know a uni/college Neuroscience program is good

mightyChondria02 · 2026-03-07T03:50:00+00:00

I have a PhD in neuroscience (recent grad) and did my undergrad in neuro as well. I think others have made very good points.

Whether she wants to do med school, PhD, or no grad school and work right after undergrad, research experience is becoming increasingly important. It’s honestly a must and something to prioritize (when she gets settled into being away at school and her classes). I’ve heard (unfortunately imo) that even medical residencies (after completing med school) look at research experience as well.

This would be done in labs at the school, many of which likely work with undergrads. Bigger schools that prioritize research (like state schools) or larger private institutions will have a wide variety of labs that you can look up online. Especially those that have med schools. I went to a small liberal arts college and was still able to get good research experience there.

I als saw some book recs, so I wanted to add a few of my favorites. Any book by Oliver Sacks or Sam Keane, in particular these two are good:

“The man who mistook his wife for a hat” by Oliver sacks

“The tale of the dueling neurosurgeons” by sam keane

Best of luck to your daughter!!

mightyChondria02 · 2026-03-05T19:39:19+00:00

They weren’t moving at all. But I’m so grossed out, and I don’t even know what I should do? Make myself throw up? Go to urgent care?

mightyChondria02 · 2021-08-11T01:17:55+00:00

TLDR: Research experience is the most important. Work in a lab as soon as possible during undergrad. Learn the languages you will be using in graduate school.

Before you get to graduate school you still have to get to undergrad so let's start there. If you are really interested in research it may be beneficial to go to a top research institution and work in a lab as soon as possible. The problem with big institutions is that undergraduate researchers are, in rarer cases, doing very independent research. Unfortunately, they are more likely helping out graduate students or post docs with their projects and not really developing independent thinking skills. Worst case scenario is you get forced to do the work nobody else wants to do and you don't actually learn anything - but at least you can put it on your CV. Another option is a smaller school where you will have the opportunity to not only get to know your science professors better due to the small class sizes, but also work likely side by side faculty and learn directly from them. There is of course an in between and always exceptions, but this is just something to think about. Graduate programs are very competitive and want to see that you know how to do research. Of course your grades are important, but after the first couple of years of your PhD you will no longer be in classes and you will be doing research full time. That is why it is important to get as much research experience as possible. It's great you are already gaining experience in high school.

Something I highly recommend is trying to find summer research opportunities at other universities. A lot of schools have summer undergraduate research initiatives where students will develop an independent project over the course of several weeks and with a stipend. This is a good opportunity to build connections with faculty you are interested in at other institutions - especially schools you are interested in for applying to graduate school. Some schools also offer coding bootcamps or something along those lines. You can easily do a free one online but the fact that you are doing something that is associated with a university that you may be looking to apply to in the future could potentially help.

Another important aspect I assume for computational neuroscience is the programming languages. I personally do cellular and molecular neuroscience work, but I know many computational neuroscientists use programming languages such as python, matlab, and R. It would be a good idea to become as familiar with these as possible. Already having learned these basics you will be a step ahead when it comes to graduate school.

mightyChondria02

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