Which university has a stronger undergraduate neuroscience program: University of Miami or WashU?

[ultrainstinctjjoy]

I am aware that Washington University in St. Louis is ranked higher than the University of Miami overall, but I was wondering which university has a better/stronger undergraduate program in Neuroscience? I've been told the University of Miami by my college counselor, but would like to get some more thoughts from you all.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ObjectiveBoba]

I would not choose an undergraduate institution based upon perceived strength of specific undergraduate programs except at select institutions where they offer a unique learning experience at that specific discipline that you cannot obtain elsewhere (e.g. Econ at UChicago, various engineering disciplines at MIT/Caltech, so on and so forth).

1. You might not pursue neuroscience (or even science at all) in a year.
2. No one truly cares about program rankings, save for perhaps "undergraduate business school rankings." Even then the prestige of the institution usually far outweighs any perceived difference in undergraduate programs.
3. If your purpose is getting into medical school, WashU is far better than Miami.

In the end, there is very little difference in curriculum for undergraduates in any field. Differences in any program is generally related to faculty, so to see relative strength of programs you could probably Google Scholar neuroscience faculty from each school and see which school's faculty generally have a stronger CV (# pubs, H-index). WashU is most likely the stronger program due to its biomedical research pedigree.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Moving to hSDN

 

[efle]

WashU by far, especially if you're interested in biomed side of neuroscience / neuro disease research. Heads up though, it's the only major at WashU that you have to apply for, which requires you have a 3.6+ GPA after sophomore year and interview with the neuro professors to make sure you know what you're signing up for. It's intentionally kept a very small group of a couple dozen people per year because they want everyone to take Neurophysiology Lab (intense but awesome class) and want plenty of seats open in the neurosci-related electives. You'll end up getting to know the profs very well this way (almost everyone gets a letter from one of them) and WashU in general is one of the strongest premedical undergrads along with places like Duke and Hopkins (400 people apply to MD school every year out of a class of only ~1800)