Undergraduate: Description of Major

A major in Neuroscience allows a student to pursue an interdepartmental curriculum that focuses on the role of the nervous system in regulating physiological processes. Neuroscience combines many traditional fields of study including Psychology, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Anatomy, and Physiology. The field of Neuroscience encompasses a broad domain that ranges from the cellular and molecular control of brain cells to the regulation of responses in whole organisms.

Any full-time Newcomb-Tulane Undergraduate College student is eligible to declare Neuroscience as a major, preferably before the beginning of the junior year. Upon declaration of the major, the student will be assigned to a faculty advisor who is a member of the Program Faculty (see below). The advisor will meet regularly with the student to plan and monitor the course curriculum, approve changes in the curriculum, assist in development of research activities, plan post-graduate studies, and certify completion of major requirements for graduation.

The student majoring in Neuroscience fulfills the standard requirements of a premedical curriculum, which is recommended or required for admission to graduate study in Neuroscience or related graduate programs, as well as medical school. A Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience requires 9 credits of core courses; 12 credits of elective courses; and 38 credits of co-requisite courses in Biology, Psychology, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics (see "Requirements" below). At least 6 of the elective credits must be taken from the list of Neuroscience electives and at least 3 laboratory courses must be completed. Students majoring in Neuroscience are strongly encouraged to participate in university research as independent studies and/or an honors thesis. An independent study or honors thesis may count as one of the three required laboratory courses.

We currently have over 180 Neuroscience majors. The first students to complete the Tulane Neuroscience major graduated Spring, 2001, and over 200 Neuroscience majors have graduated so far.

Click here to get a Course Audit Form (pdf file) for neuroscience majors.