Anonymous
Post 05/07/2026 21:16     Subject: Why is Neuroscience Such a Popular Major?
Anonymous wrote:I am shocked by how popular neuroscience is too. It is an incredibly specialized field for an undergrad, but it is insanely popular. Neuroscience is now more popular than biology at some colleges despite biology being a much more general and widely applicable major. Neuroscience varies from school to school, but in some schools it does seem to be a "STEMMED -UP psychology. Girls especially seem to love it.


I think the attraction is actually it is not very specialized. It is quite broad (as my previous post suggested) as it needs knowledge from many different fields including psychology, biology, computer science, and physics. You can also choose lab bench science (molecular neuroscience), working with animal models, or study human cognition and even clinical psychology. It is an ideal undergrad major because you can learn a variety of things and go to many directions.
Anonymous
Post 05/07/2026 21:14     Subject: Why is Neuroscience Such a Popular Major?
Anonymous wrote:Spin-off of a different thread - I’m curious why neuroscience is so popular now. We’ve seen it as the declared major on a supervising number of the 2023 and now 2024 admits posts for our HS.

Is this just the new “pre-med”? What are kids doing or planning to do with this major after graduation?


neuroscientist here. It is a rapidly growing scientific field combining psychology, education, biology, computer science/AI, physics and electrical engineering. You can go to so many different directions in graduate school and many big pharma is developing neurological disease treatments. Just super interdisciplinary and interesting.
Anonymous
Post 03/26/2024 22:30     Subject: Why is Neuroscience Such a Popular Major?
I am shocked by how popular neuroscience is too. It is an incredibly specialized field for an undergrad, but it is insanely popular. Neuroscience is now more popular than biology at some colleges despite biology being a much more general and widely applicable major. Neuroscience varies from school to school, but in some schools it does seem to be a "STEMMED -UP psychology. Girls especially seem to love it.
Anonymous
Post 03/26/2024 14:09     Subject: Re:Why is Neuroscience Such a Popular Major?
remarkable science for those unable or unmotivated to do physics
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2024 22:58     Subject: Why is Neuroscience Such a Popular Major?
There has been an explosion in our understanding of the brain.

It is an exciting time to enter the field.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2024 22:47     Subject: Why is Neuroscience Such a Popular Major?
Huberman made it cool.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2024 22:10     Subject: Re:Why is Neuroscience Such a Popular Major?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have only heard of a very few of my kids friends majoring in Neuroscience. They end up doing either pharmaceutical sales or going back to school. You can't do anything with the degree without a friend of the family helping you out.


For knowing so very few graduates, you make a strong claim about what you can do with the degree!
Most people don't do something that tied to their major right out of college, the value is the degree itself and then you build up experience. Neuroscience is pretty similar to all other majors that are not specifically pre-professional. People seem to do all sorts of things with them.[/quote
]


Reading is fundamental - I know a very few MAJORING in NEUROSCIENCE .... NOT a few grads doofus.


That's what I was referring to-- you said "You can't do anything with the degree without a friend of the family helping you out." referring to the neuroscience degree, which I think is a pretty broad claim for knowing so few graduates of a neuroscience program.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2024 20:17     Subject: Why is Neuroscience Such a Popular Major?
I don’t know the answer but I find the development science of neurology to be incredibly interesting. All the stuff about adhd, asd, anxiety etc — I think we have only just scratched the surface of what causes these divergences, and we are on the cusp of discoveries that will be equivalent to the discovery of anribiotics. In a hundred years people will look back and be amazed at how basic our understanding was.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2024 20:03     Subject: Re:Why is Neuroscience Such a Popular Major?
It's not
Not at all
It's an entry major.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2024 19:59     Subject: Re:Why is Neuroscience Such a Popular Major?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have only heard of a very few of my kids friends majoring in Neuroscience. They end up doing either pharmaceutical sales or going back to school. You can't do anything with the degree without a friend of the family helping you out.


For knowing so very few graduates, you make a strong claim about what you can do with the degree!
Most people don't do something that tied to their major right out of college, the value is the degree itself and then you build up experience. Neuroscience is pretty similar to all other majors that are not specifically pre-professional. People seem to do all sorts of things with them.[/quote
]


Reading is fundamental - I know a very few MAJORING in NEUROSCIENCE .... NOT a few grads doofus.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2024 13:04     Subject: Why is Neuroscience Such a Popular Major?
The tech used to study the brain has really taken off in the last 2 decades. This tech barely existed when we were in college.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2024 12:32     Subject: Re:Why is Neuroscience Such a Popular Major?
+ Andrew Huberman, a Stanford neuroscientist, has one of the most popular podcasts in the country.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2024 12:29     Subject: Why is Neuroscience Such a Popular Major?
Anonymous wrote:I went to NYU in the early 2000s and most of my friends gunning for med school were neuropsyche majors. Seems to be a popular degree, if you are not going to do the chemistry or bio routes.


Neuroscience or psychology? Please clarify.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2024 09:32     Subject: Why is Neuroscience Such a Popular Major?
I went to NYU in the early 2000s and most of my friends gunning for med school were neuropsyche majors. Seems to be a popular degree, if you are not going to do the chemistry or bio routes.
Anonymous
Post 03/25/2024 09:30     Subject: Re:Why is Neuroscience Such a Popular Major?
Anonymous wrote:I have only heard of a very few of my kids friends majoring in Neuroscience. They end up doing either pharmaceutical sales or going back to school. You can't do anything with the degree without a friend of the family helping you out.


For knowing so very few graduates, you make a strong claim about what you can do with the degree!
Most people don't do something that tied to their major right out of college, the value is the degree itself and then you build up experience. Neuroscience is pretty similar to all other majors that are not specifically pre-professional. People seem to do all sorts of things with them.