Neuroscience Major

A minimum of 13 courses (11.5 FC) are required for the Neuroscience major.

Students must earn minimum grades of C- or P for all courses that apply toward the major.

View the catalog page for the Neuroscience department.

Any variation in meeting the major requirements indicated below must be approved in writing by the Chair of the Neuroscience Department. Similarly, the department chair must approve course credit earned away from Oberlin before it can serve to satisfy requirements for the major.

Summary of Requirements

The requirements for the Neuroscience major are as follows:

Five Foundational Courses
One Statistics Course
One Bio/Organic Chemistry Course
Minimum of One Cellular/Molecular Perspective Course*
One Laboratory-Based Cellular/Molecular Perspective Course*
Minimum of One Systems/Behavioral/Cognitive Perspective Course*
One Laboratory-Based Systems/Behavioral/Cognitive Perspective Course*
One Cellular/Molecular Perspective Course OR One Systems/Behavioral/Cognitive Perspective Course*
One Senior Seminar Course: NSCI 400

*Note: Of the five lecture/discussion and laboratory-based courses, only one course can be taken outside of the Neuroscience department.

Honors

During the second semester of the junior year or earlier, students wishing to enter the Honors Program in Neuroscience should discuss their interest with one or more of the Neuroscience Faculty and submit a Statement of Interest Form to the Department. If a faculty member is able to work with a student, he/she will help the student develop an appropriate research project proposal. To be formally accepted into the Honors Program, a student’s research proposal is submitted to the Neuroscience Department early in the first semester of the student’s senior year. Proposals are judged for their quality and feasibility. Students whose proposals are approved enroll in NSCI 607 Research. Admission to the Honors Program requires a minimum of GPA of 3.1 in the major.

Transfer of Credit

The Neuroscience Department accepts courses taken at other colleges and universities as meeting requirements for the major if, and only if, the courses are judged to be equivalent in content to courses offered at Oberlin College.

Furthermore, only one course can be transferred. A request to the Chair of the Neuroscience Department for permission to substitute a course taken away from Oberlin for the major should be made in advance-prior to enrolling in the course. It is the student’s responsibility to make sure proper transfer of credit forms are completed and placed on file in the Office of the Registrar.

Pre-Medical and Health Career Preparation

Students planning to apply to medical school may major in any subject, provided they take those courses required by medical schools for admission. Early in their academic careers at Oberlin, students should discuss their health career plans with one of the Health Career advisors. For a list of these advisors contact Justin Crowley, Pre-Medical Program Director.