Hey! This looks like a great forum, I'll be taking a good look round soon, I think.

My sole reason for joining at the moment though, was to ask the above question; what should I do, specifically with regards to further education, in order to pursue a career in neuroscience?

I live in the UK and I'm studying Maths, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, currently at AS Level, except Maths in which I'm currently doing A2. By the time I leave, I'm hoping to have A grades in Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. Don't worry if you don't live in the UK and don't know exactly what these exams are.

I'm very interested in neuroscience, specifically with regards to the logic of the neuron signals and ultimately how consciousness and advanced thought arises from the deterministic process; although of course, I'm interested in pretty much the whole range of subjects regarding the mind. I don't think I could happily do any job not related to probing this fascination.

I'm currently preparing to apply for either Oxford or Cambridge university; namely because they are generally regarded as the best learning institutions in the world and I think I'd enjoy it there. However, I am undecided as to what course I should take.

What courses are available for me to fulfil my interests? Is neuroscience generally only studied after a degree, as a master's course? Which subject would I need to study in order to have a full understanding of the basic intellectual tools, and in order to chose a career which follows my interests? Can I take maths, physics, biology, natural sciences, or what?

Basically I just need to know these basics, as the whole thing is a bit hazy at the moment.

Any input you have to give, I'd be very thankful if you'd give it.

Thanks, and sorry if I put this in the wrong forum!

I suggest you get the highest grades you can in the hardest math and science courses you can take. That will impress the admissions committee more than anything else. I served on the PhD admissions committee at the University of Southern California in computer science. Neuroscientists have a similar view on academics, I'm sure.

Wow, looks like I found the right person to talk to pretty fast!

Ok, well, if I study moderately hard I should be able to attain Oxbridge standard grades.

I'm not really too fussed about the admissions process itself at the moment really; more what subject at Oxbridge I should actually be attempting to be admitted to.

Any ideas regarding that? What subject should I be focusing on?

I appreciate that you might not be entirely familiar with the degree system in the UK, but from your general knowledge, what could I study?

You can never go wrong with mathematics, physics, and chemistry. Organic chemistry, cell biology. You could try initially for a pre-medicine admission and then change your major as you learn more from talking to professors.

Perhaps a neuroscientist here will chime in.

If you want to start learning more about neuroscience, here are some free resources that are pretty good.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?...chm.TOC&depth=2

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?...sci.TOC&depth=2

http://www.acnp.org/Default.aspx?Page=4thGenerationChapters

http://www.acnp.org/Default.aspx?Page=5thGenerationChapters

Those are some excellent resources.

Mhm but with regards to my question?

Are there many professional neuroscientists here then?

If not, how can I contact some?

There are. Be patient.

I can really only talk from an Australian perspective.

Some universities in Australia have undergraduate neuroscience courses. You can get a Bachelor degree with a major in neuroscience. At others, it wont be so explicitly just neuroscience, it will be incorporated into other courses such as human biology, pharmacology, physiology or psychology. Each of those courses/units will have aspects of neuroscience contained in them. They will each have professors who have a particular interest in some aspect of neuroscience. For example, my undergraduate degree is a general Bachelor of Science majoring in chemistry and pharmacology. The pharmacology course had aspects of neuropharmacology and psychopharmacology. Some of the lecturers in the department were doing research in neuroscience related areas and were able to take on Honours and Post Graduate students for their research projects.

As another example, if you did a Psychology course, the Psychology department would likely contain a number of lecturers/professors who have interests lying in neuropsychology, psychopharamcology, cognitive neuroscience etc and not just social psychology or clinical psychology or developmental psychology.

You can get to neuroscience in a number of ways, it depends on what particular area you are interested in and which Professor you are likely to share research interests with and also get along with.

Thank you for the information.

I'm currently contemplating reading mathematics at Cambridge, would this be advisable? Would I be able to specialise in neural net theory and such whilst reading that?

Francis Crick did his PhD at one of the colleges I'm looking at, I think (Gonville and Caius); I read a few days ago that he did his degree in mathematics, and after cracking the double helix he also went on to neuroscience. Anybody have any further info on this? I find it pretty interesting and it's pretty relevant to this...

Also, if possible could somebody tell me how to contact a neuroscientist who visits this board, who'd be willing to give me some brief advice?

Cheers.

It really is quite important with regards to pretty much the whole future course of my life that I can have a talk with a knowledgeable neuroscientist who's happy to have a short chat, quite soon.

The only problem is that there's a bit of an anomaly regarding neuroscience career information, ie. there simply isn't any.

All I need is the email of a neuroscientist perhaps on this forum, or some other website where I can contact neuroscientists or people who know a fair bit about neuroscience.

yeah) i am a neuroscientist from Russia, Moscow. We can talk about our mutual research if you want )