Requirements for the Major:
At least 14 credits
- Fundamental - 7 courses
- Biology 120: Organismal Biology
- Biology 221: Molecules, Genes, and Cells
- Chemistry 115: General Chemistry I
- Chemistry 116: General Chemistry II
- Psychology 110: Introduction to Psychological Science
- Psychology 221: Research Methods and Statistics I
- Psychology 222: Research Methods and Statistics II
- Core - 2 courses
- Biology 346/Neuroscience 301: Neuroscience: Neuron to Brain
- Psychology 370/Neuroscience 302: Neuroscience: Brain to Behavior
- Electives - 4 courses chosen from the following list. (At least 1 Biology and 1 Psychology course; At least 2 of the 4 electives must be taken at Lake Forest College):
- Neuroscience/Psychology 128: Introduction to Neuroscience: Medical Mysteries of the Mind
- Biology/Neuroscience 130: Deadly Shapes, Hostage Brains
- Health Professions Program/Biology/Neuroscience 209: Human Physiology
- English/Neuroscience 232: Stories from the Spectrum: Neurodiversity, Health, and Medicine in Literature
- English/Neuroscience 249: Brains, Minds, and Madness in Literature
- Theater/Neuroscience 254: The Mind Onstage: Performance, Action, Emotion
- Music/Neuroscience 268: Music and the Mind
- Philosophy/Neuroscience 291: Descartes to Kant
- Philosophy/Neuroscience 296: Philosophy of Mind
- Psychology/Neuroscience 310: Sensation & Perception
- Psychology/Neuroscience 320: Learning
- Biology/Neuroscience 322: Molecular Biology
- Biology/Neuroscience 324: Advanced Cell Biology
- Computer Science/Neuroscience 325: Artificial Intelligence
- Biology/Neuroscience 326: Immunology
- Biology 325/Neuroscience 327: Frontiers in Cell Biology and Disease
- Psychology/Neuroscience 330: Motivation & Emotion
- Biology/Neuroscience 340: Animal Physiology
- Biology/Neuroscience 342: Developmental Biology
- Biology/Neuroscience 344: Animal Behavior
- Psychology/Neuroscience 350: Psychopathology & Clinical Science
- Biology/Neuroscience 351: Personal Genetics
- Biology/Neuroscience 352: From Genotype to Phenotype
- Psychology/Neuroscience 360: Cognitive Psychology
- Biology/Neuroscience 362: Mechanisms of Brain Dysfunction
- Biology/Psychology/Neuroscience 365: The Neuroscience of Sleep
- Biology/Psychology/Neuroscience 372: Pharmacology: Drug, Brain, Behavior
- Philosophy/Neuroscience 375: Neuroethics
- Psychology/Neuroscience 385: Comparative Psychology
- Neuroscience 387: Experimental Investigations in Neurodegeneration
- Biology/Psychology/Neuroscience 388: The Malleable Brain: Mechanisms of Neural Plasticity
- Biology/Neuroscience 389: Evolution
- Senior Studies Requirement - through completion of one of the following options:
- A Senior Seminar course (topics change each semester), or,
- Two course credits of Neuroscience 493: Research Project, or,
- Two course credits of Neuroscience 494: Senior Thesis
In order to count a specific course toward the major, a student must earn at least a C-minus in that course. Although strongly discouraged, courses taken Pass-NoPass may count towards the major or minor in Neuroscience, as long as the grade originally earned in the class is “C-” or better. In order to graduate with a major or minor, a student must earn at least a C average (2.0) in all courses selected to fulfill the major or minor requirements, whether or not these grades are listed with a P on the transcript.
Requirements for the Minor:
At least 8 credits
- Fundamental - 6 courses
- Biology 120: Organismal Biology
- Biology 221: Molecules, Genes, and Cells
- Chemistry 115: General Chemistry I
- Chemistry 116: General Chemistry II
- Psychology 110: Introduction to Psychological Science
- Psychology 221: Research Methods and Statistics I
- Core - 2 courses
- Biology 346/Neuroscience 301: Neuroscience: Neuron to Brain
- Psychology 370/Neuroscience 302: Neuroscience: Brain to Behavior
In order to count a specific course toward the minor, a student must earn at least a C-minus in that course. In order to graduate with a minor, a student must earn at least a C average (2.0) in all courses selected to fulfill the minor requirements.
Major/Minor Combination Options:
The neuroscience major may be combined with any other major/minor offered at the college and with study abroad.
Any triple combination of majors and minors within biology, psychology, and neuroscience is forbidden, even when possible under general College rules for majors and minors.
For these three disciplines specifically, the available neuroscience options are:
- Double major in psychology and neuroscience
- Minor in psychology and major in neuroscience
- Minor in neuroscience and major in psychology
- Double major in biology and neuroscience
- Minor in biology and major in neuroscience
- Minor in neuroscience and major in biology
Additional Notes:
- Neuroscience majors may apply up to 2 study abroad courses to count for the Electives Requirement. The list of preapproved courses indicates the home department for each course offering.
- If the home department is biology or psychology, then that course will count as a biology or psychology elective, respectively.
- Courses from any other department will count towards the 2 electives that are not explicitly biology or psychology.
- Students declaring a double major must complete course requirements in both major fields. It is possible for some courses to be counted toward both majors. However, the second major must consist of at least five separate courses that do not double count, and at least three of these five courses must be at the 300- or 400-level.
- The minor must consist of at least four separate courses that do not double count.
- If you intend to minor in neuroscience, you will find that some science majors (e.g., Biology, BMB) have too many requirements that overlap with the neuroscience minor (i.e., there are only three separate courses that do not double count but you need four such courses). In such cases, you can add a neuroscience elective (from the elective list for the major) and we will use that course to satisfy the double-counting rule for the minor (i.e., the elective will count as the fourth course that does not double count)
- Students intending to pursue postgraduate programs in the health professions or graduate programs in neuroscience will likely need additional courses in biology, chemistry, physics or math, specific to the graduate program they intend to pursue.
