First-Year Focus
Getting started in the major
First Year:
Request advising. Transfer students interested in Neuroscience should see major advising prior to fall course registration.
First year students entering NU should enroll in the Chemistry and Math requirements listed under Related Courses. BIOL_SCI 201-0 or BIOL_SCI 239-0 should be taken in spring.
- Chemistry choose one of the series below
- CHEM 110-0; CHEM 131-0 and CHEM 132-0; CHEM 141-0 and CHEM 142-0 or
- CHEM 151-0 and CHEM 152-0; CHEM 161-0 and CHEM 162-0 or
- CHEM 171-0 and CHEM 172-0; CHEM 181-0 and CHEM 182-0
- Mathematics choose one of the series below
- Biological Sciences choose one of the courses below
- BIOL_SCI 201-0 Molecular Biology
- BIOL_SCI 239-0 Fundamentals of Biological Mechanisms
- It may be possible for you to take NEUROSCI 202-0 in your first year if you place directly into Organic Chemistry, if you have Bio AP score of 5, or if you pass the Biology placement test. Speak with a Neuroscience adviser.
Other good choices for first year students include:
Computer Programming, Statistics, and/or a Group A elective, NEUROSCI 102-0 College and the Brain is an excellent natural sciences foundational discipline course, which does not fulfill Neuroscience major requirements.
Second year:
Typically sophomores take the two Core courses, NEUROSCI 202-0 and NEUROSCI 206-0 (see Premed below).
- NEUROSCI 202-0 - Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
- NEUROSCI 206-0 - Systems and Behavioral Neuroscience
See Allied Field web pages for courses that fulfill requirements for each Allied Field. These courses may be taken as soon as the prerequisite is fulfilled.
Advanced Placement/IB: First consult the Weinberg AP/IB webpage. The Neuroscience major will count scores that the Registrar records as equivalent to an NU course (e.g. AP score 4 on Mathematics AB test = MATH 220-1). Sometimes, AP/IB credit is instead denoted with a number containing "X" (e.g. CHEM 1X0 for AP of score 4 on Chemistry). Neuroscience allows "X" -credit to count in part or in full toward Chemistry, Computer Programming, Physics, and Statistics requirements. A score of 5 on Biology AP test will serve as a prerequisite for NEUROSCI 202-0. However, the home departments may or may not count these "X" courses as prerequisites for further courses within other departments; for instance, the biology major will not count a score of 5 on the Bio AP as prerequisite for further BIOL_SCI courses.
Placement tests
Placement tests taken at NU in Chemistry, Math or Biology may be sufficient for Neuroscience major requirements. Consult your adviser.
Premedical students
It is very common for students preparing for medical school to major in Neuroscience. A course plan that best suits the individual student is worked out in advising. Most students should take no more than two CHEM, PHYSICS, BIOL_SCI, or NEUROSCI lecture courses in a given quarter. NEUROSCI 202-0 is offered in Fall and Winter, while NEUROSCI 206-0 is offered in Winter and Spring. See a Neuroscience adviser early in your first year to discuss options for sequencing STEM courses.
ISP
It is possible to complete a double major in ISP and Neuroscience with an Allied Field of Computation and Systems Modeling and ISP by completing the following five courses in addition to NEUROSCI 311-0 (next offered in Winter 2026).
- NEUROSCI 206-0 -Systems and Behavioral Neuroscience
- Two Neuroscience electives with a primary focus on human behavior and the human brain
- Two Neuroscience electives with a primary focus on molecular, cellular, and systems level mechanisms of brain function
Request advising.