Postgraduate Courses in Neuroscience
Why study neuroscience? Because we know so little about the brain! What is Neuroscience? Neuroscience is the study of how the brain or other parts of the nervous system work at any level, ‘from Molecule to Mind’. The reason why there is such limited success, so far, in treating neurological and psychiatric illness is because there is still so much to learn about how the brain works. Neuroscience can include the study of single molecules, or single cells or small networks right through to whole organisms and their behaviour. It includes the brain but also the neurological control of the rest of the body. Some scientists measure the electrical signals which travel within and between nerve cells, others look at their shapes and structures, yet others work on the chemical reactions which occur within the cells while still others work with whole animals, including humans or patients with neurological diseases. Thus neuroscience is a vast field and a postgraduate course can give you the opportunity to specialise. If you are interested in applying for a postgraduate course in neuroscience then read on to find out more.
How do students get into the field?
Some students know right from the start that they want to study neuroscience and enrol at undergraduate level in neuroscience degrees but this is not by any means the only way. Most start with more general courses such as Physiology, Pharmacology, Biochemistry, Biomedical Sciences, Medicine or Psychology. These students often touch on neuroscience during their first degrees and realise the fascination of the field. Sometimes even students from Physics or Engineering or other non biological sciences end up moving to postgraduate courses in Neuroscience.
In the UK (except in Scotland) most undergraduate degrees are 3 years and then, if your degree is good enough, it is possible to go straight into a PhD. Some students thus choose to go straight into a PhD project on a neuroscience subject. In this case they generally apply for advertised studentships for very specific fields of study. This is however gradually changing and, over the coming years, the British system will be upgraded to meet the European standard that now comprises a 3 year undergraduate degree followed by a 2 year Masters, which is required to be admitted into a 3 year PhD. Even now, without a Masters degree, students are not eligible to take PhD places in many European countries.
In the UK, it is not yet a requirement to have an MSc to enrol in a PhD. However many students are recognizing for themselves that, after 3 years of study with little lab experience, they are poorly equipped to go straight into the 3 year commitment of a PhD. Moreover it is very difficult to make an informed decision on which defined research field to choose within the vast array of possibilities. Consequently more and more students are either enrolling in MSc degrees in Neuroscience (mostly one year full time or 2 years part time in UK, at the moment) or applying for one of the few 4 year PhD programmes. In these programs, usually the first year allows time for some course work in Neuroscience and the chance to undertake 3 short research projects in different labs, before deciding on the final direction for the PhD project. In general admission to the 4 year programmes is highly competitive and so taking an MSc can be a good alternative.
Choosing postgraduate course in Neuroscience
In recognition of this demand, new MSc Neuroscience degrees seem to start every year. These degrees specialize in different fields, have different entry requirements and different aims so that a student should look widely and talk to the different tutors of the degrees of potential interest before deciding on which is the right degree to take. Choosing the correct degree largely depends on your final aims. Some MScs (eg Kings College London) have no prerequisite except a first degree in a loosely appropriate subject. These MScs cater to relatively large groups of students with a variety of aims. Some students are trying to upgrade weak first degrees, while others are transferring into Neuroscience from other fields. Others, such as the MSc Neuroscience at UCL or Oxford, are more intellectually demanding and a 2(i) degree or better is an essential requirement. In general these courses restrict their numbers to around 20, are specifically designed around research and nearly all the students go on to funded PhD places afterwards. In addition to MScs in cellular and molecular neuroscience there are MScs which specialize in more clinical research such as the MSc in Clinical Neuroscience at the Institute of Neurology, UCL. A wide range of cognitive or psychology MScs are also available. This year for the first time a two year MSc in Brain Mind Science has begun which allows the students to take sections of a wide range of Neuroscience related MScs with one year based in London and one in Paris.
Funding
In general MSc are self-funded, with the exception of one or a few students per year in some programs. Many MSc degrees are eligible for career development loans. If funding is a problem, another good approach is to take the postgraduate course in neuroscience on a part-time basis and aim to gain a research assistant position in a lab at the university. In addition to funding the postgraduate course in neuroscience, this has other advantages. You gain experience for your future career, spread the work load and in the case of UCL you have a chance to hear the research seminars from principle investigators across the whole range of Neuroscience before you have to choose your research project.
In contrast, students are generally only accepted to undertake PhDs if they have gained a studentship or if other funding is available.
For more information on MSc's in Neuroscience at UCL, please visit:
http://www.anat.ucl.ac.uk/msc_neuroscience/
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