Neuroscience Minor
Haverford’s minor in Neuroscience, offered in partnership with Bryn Mawr, is designed for undergraduates interested in exploring the workings of the nervous system and its impact on behavior. Open to students in any major and taught by faculty from a range of departments, the Neuroscience minor approaches this highly interdisciplinary field from a variety of academic perspectives. Our curriculum, while based in Biology and Psychology, also draws from Computer Science, Linguistics, and Philosophy.
We are a tight-knit program with expansive reach, offering our students close mentorship as well as a broad range of academic and research opportunities. Our core faculty possess expertise in a variety of approaches to neuroscience—from molecular neurobiology, to behavioral neuroscience, to cognitive neuroscience. Active researchers, they are exceptionally committed to engaging students in cutting-edge projects and to helping them discover and hone their interests in this fast-moving field.
Curriculum & Courses
Our curriculum aims to ground students in the field of neuroscience while allowing them to explore the range of interconnected disciplines. All minors must complete our gateway course, Biological Psychology, which provides a basic understanding of the nervous system and its relation to behavior. Students must pursue a core of neuroscience courses (typically Biology and Psychology classes) but we also require them to take courses from affiliated disciplines (typically Computer Science, Linguistics, or Philosophy classes). Though not required, minors can choose to enroll in neuroscience-based lab courses. We also offer a supervised research option for course credit and each year we work with a number of seniors who choose to write their senior theses on a neuroscience topic.
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Minor Requirements
- HC PSYC H217 (Behavioral Neuroscience) or BMC PSYC B218 (Behavioral Neuroscience) or BIOL B202 (Introduction to Neuroscience).
- Five credits from the list of approved courses, with these constraints:
- The five credits must sample from three different disciplines.
- At least three of the five credits must come from List A: Primary Neuroscience courses
- At least one of the credits must be at the 300-level or higher.
- One of the five credits may come from supervised senior research in neuroscience.
- No more than two of the six minor credits may come from institutions outside of the Bi-Co.
A current list of approved courses, divided into List A: Primary Neuroscience and List B: Allied Disciplines, is linked from the Neuroscience Minor website.
Associated Programs and Concentrations
Research & Outreach
For her thesis, the psychology major and neuroscience minor explored the effects of a particular hormone on pregnancy by studying mice.
The psychology major and neuroscience minor is splitting her time between her two respective passions at a Harvard Lab and a Cambridge ballet studio.
Supported by the Gertrude Albert Heller Memorial Grant and the CCPA, the linguistics major with minors in neuroscience and child and family studies is helping children find their voice.
After Graduation
The psychology major and economics and neuroscience minor is bound for the most magical place on earth.
Szi is researching the genetic basis of Autism Spectrum Disorder at the Yale Child Study Center.
Levine is applying her academic passions to professional work at the Depression & Clinical Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Fernandez interned with Grassroot Soccer, a public health nonprofit promoting education about and prevention against HIV and AIDS.
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You can find detailed instructions and information on the Application Instructions page. If you need to contact us directly, please send an email to admission@haverford.edu.
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