[Newbie Question] Seeking undergrad in Neuroscience

[neuroscience]

Hi All,

I don't have any college credits to transfer and I'm looking to get a Bachelors in Neuroscience.

I haven't been able to find any distance learning programs that specialize in Neuroscience, so I'm assuming I'll have to do a Psych degree and just take neuroscience classes.  If there's a program that has a specialty in neuroscience, that would be great.

Any recommendations on the best program?

[sanantone]

There aren't a lot of undergraduate, neuroscience programs. Most people get a bachelor's in psychology or biology and go on to grad school. You can't become a neuroscientist with just a bachelor's degree.

[neuroscience]

Neuroscience is not commonly offered at the undergraduate level. Most people get a bachelor's in psychology or biology and go on to grad school. You can't become a neuroscientist with just a bachelor's degree.

Yes, that's what I figured.  Any recommendations on the best psych degree that can lead to a masters in neuroscience?

[sanantone]

Neuroscience is not commonly offered at the undergraduate level. Most people get a bachelor's in psychology or biology and go on to grad school. You can't become a neuroscientist with just a bachelor's degree.

Yes, that's what I figured.  Any recommendations on the best psych degree that can lead to a masters in neuroscience?

Getting into a neuroscience program will be competitive, so you're going to want to make sure you have good grades. You don't want a degree that almost entirely consists of pass/fail credits.

There are some BS psychology programs that require biology courses, but I don't think any are online, and the science courses may not cover all the prerequisites anyway.

It is common for people who want to go on to medical school to take prerequisites as a part of a pre-med track, minor, or just in their free electives. My sister majored in psychology and had plans to go to medical and just so happened to meet all the requirements for a biology minor. It wasn't intentional.

I know you aren't going to medical school, but all of this still applies. You'll want to research several neuroscience programs and see what they typically require as prerequisites. Whichever psychology program you choose, you can always complete the prerequisites to meet general education requirements and fill electives.

Before someone brings up this school, I do not recommend Patten because it does not allow for flexibility in course choice. You can always complete prerequisites in addition to the credits required for your degree, but you might as well kill two birds with one stone.

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Michigan State University, University of Florida, and Drexel University offer online graduate certificates in neuroscience.

[dfrecore]

I agree with Sanantone - you are going to want to work backwards from the Neuroscience Master's degree. Find some programs that interest you, figure out what the prereqs are, and then work those into a degree from wherever you want to get one. Even if it's one of the Big 3, you will want to make sure that you have graded credits for the prereqs and any courses that they will be looking at, and that you have all of the lab science courses you need from Butt-in-seat courses.

[neuroscience]

This is awesome info.  Thank you so much!

So to be clear, I'm looking for a bachelors in psychology with no pre-existing credits.  I'd also like to include as many classes as possible that would fulfill a requirement for a masters in neurobiology.  I checked out a masters program that I'd be interested in and here are their requirements:


-One year of Chemistry
-One year of Biology
-One semester of Organic Chemistry
-One semester of Physics
-One semester of Calculus or advanced math

I do not absolutely need to finish these requirements, however if I can include them as part of a online, affordable psychology degree, that would be bonus.

[dfrecore]

Unless you're already at that level of math, you're going to need to get up to speed fairly quickly to get through Precalc, so you can take Calc. I would say that you don't need to take that butt-in-seat, but that's a guess.

But you're going to want to take the science courses with labs at a CC or other inexpensive school that you can find near you.

If you don't take these courses at all (because they're not required for the Psych degree), then it's just going to slow you down later, because you HAVE to take them. So just start taking them, and incorporate it into your plan for Psych. Whichever school you end up at, those courses will be used as Science requirements, and then in Gen Ed Electives.

You'll want to make sure that you don't take too many other Gen Ed Electives, since these are going to give you a lot of credits there. I show you only need 1 GE Elective course after you're done with the science.

Also, if I were you, and you're going to get your Psych degree through TESU, I would take all of Study.com's Psych courses before 12/31 - some are considered UL by TESU now, but that may change after 12/31, and you're going to need those as UL. If you apply at TESU, take those courses, and then send them in, they will put them into your degree plan as UL and you're all set.

[neuroscience]

Also, if I were you, and you're going to get your Psych degree through TESU, I would take all of Study.com's Psych courses before 12/31 - some are considered UL by TESU now, but that may change after 12/31, and you're going to need those as UL.  If you apply at TESU, take those courses, and then send them in, they will put them into your degree plan as UL and you're all set.

Thanks dfrecore!

Would you recommend TESU for a psych degree over the other 2?  
Is there a good place to find an updated psych degree plan?

I've done some searching for psychology but there's so much info in this forum, it's difficult to figure out what is most up to date.

[jsd]

Is there a good place to find an updated psych degree plan?

I've done some searching for psychology but there's so much info in this forum, it's difficult to figure out what is most up to date.

My TESU Psych degree plan needs a little work, but there are still some good options on there

http://degreeforum.wikia.com/wiki/JSD%27...1st,_2015)

Some things to take note of are that the Study.com courses listed as UL will not be UL starting next year, unless they get ACE re-evaluated at the upperlevel (which apparently they are working on)

Also, the info on their about Social Psych is out of date. TESU now is very specific about what they'll accept for those 6crs, so contact them directly about this.

Study.com now has an NCCRS approved hist/systems of psych degree not listed on that wiki, which really really helps. The other option through Coopersmith was bad.

I have been lazy, i need to get that page updated.

[hsfamfun]

My son is 18 and is doing both butt in seat college classes and distance learning college classes, while dabbling with ACE credit using the Guardian Scholarship.  So, far he likes it all, but isn't extremely sure what he wants to do with his life, which many 18 year olds haven't figured out yet.  So far the program that interests him most is the Distance Learning degree from CSU Pueblo Independent Studies in Social Sciences.  They have a lot of Psychology and Sociology courses and have 2 other Distance Learning degrees, one in Sociology and one in Sociology with an emphasis on Criminology.  Their program is very flexible and they have classes that are semester based and classes that are totally self paced.  He is taking self paced right now.  You can find information here: https://www.csupueblo.edu/extended-studi...index.html  This is more expensive than getting a degree at the big 3, but the classes are $555 each and that is only slightly more than the Community College in our area charges and they will accept 20 ACE credits, I think.  This is not a Psychology degree, but I think it would be a good degree for someone who wants to go on to a more specific degree in Graduate School.