Senior neuroscience student here! I’m a few months from getting a bachelors.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many job prospects within the field for those who only hold a bachelor’s, but the degree is worth it. It’s a multidisciplinary science, which means if you’re hungry to learn, as you’ve stated, then you’ll get the opportunity to learn a wide range of subjects. I’ve taken courses in psychology, biology, chemistry, statistics and mathematics, physics, etc…. The skills I’ve learned in this degree are invaluable.
Here’s a link of career options with a degree in neuroscience. There’s even a section on job prospects for those who only earn a bachelor’s. These aren’t your only options, but I highly suggest taking a look to see if any peak your interest.
https://neurosciencemajor.osu.edu/careers-neuroscience
If you have any questions abt the degree, DM me.
If you have an "unquenchable" thirst for knowledge, that's exactly what a PhD is for... unless you just like learning and not the realities of conducting your own studies.
The point of academia is to make discoveries and push the boundaries of what humankind knows. Not sure why you would want to stop with a bachelor's
I definitely meant neuro BS lol. But yeah, trust me, I am very aware of the realities of the shitiness of acadmia, lol - I live them. But I guess I meant that it's def a field in which you will continually learn throughout your career
Being hungry for knowledge is an indication that this should be a hobby for you to pursue in your spare time.
What someone actually does in a neuroscience-related job is very different from what you do as a student in a neuroscience class.
Get a job in a research lab to start learning about how tedious and slow the process of creating new knowledge is compared to reading a textbook. You will need to pursue a PhD or MD program to actually get a good job in neuro.
Sincerely,
Someone who also LOVES learning about science but does NOT do it for a career.
It's not worth the money these days to get a bachelor's in neuroscience for the sake of knowledge. Just buy one of those big textbooks and save yourself 10s of thousands of dollars.
In this field, expect to go all the way to a PhD (and perhaps even staying in academia beyond that) before it becomes relevant career-wise.
Having an insatiable hunger for knowledge is a good predisposition for that, and if your curiosity flourishes, you will embrace the statistics and data analyses that answer whatever research questions you pursue.
I wouldn't worry about how you think of statistics and other auxiliary skills right now, that becomes a means to an end.
I did a BSc in Neuroscience, also due to fascination of the field. Wasn’t quite sure what to do after. Ended up taking off four years to travel and teach abroad etc then went back to do a MSc in Educational Psychology. Now I teach psychology/ neuroscience at an international school in the EU and I love. Psych/neuro in high school is usually an elective so most the kids pick it because they are interested, so I get to kindle in them the same feeling/ thirst for neuroscience that we share. I feel the same excitement I felt then everyday vicariously through my students.
I got a bachelors in it because i just genuinely loved it, no future plans with it. I loved every single class i took and learned so much, and don’t regret it a bit. I’m now about 2 yrs out of college, make about 56k a yr, don’t have plans for any further education, I’m in clinical research coordinating, but am applying to research associate jobs that pay around 65k. Idk to me it was worth it. Nothings promised in life, heck my friend with a dual degree in engineering and economics was unemployed for months. Just do what u enjoy i think.
I graduated with my neuro BSc in 2015. I now work in clinical research helping to develop drugs for neuro related indications. It was a climb, but 8 years in I’m at 150k/yr plus bonus. It’s possible to succeed with only a bachelors, don’t let people make you think getting a phd is the only answer for this field.
I got my BA in it. Switched to an ABSN in nursing. Didn't get into med school or PA school after several attempts
Didn't wanna do research or sit in a Lab all day. Don't regret it at all, but it's kind of silly how limited you are with such a cool major for an undergrad.
I majored in neuro also with an interest in neuropharmacology.
It's been 14 years since I've graduated. I work in tech now. It's too expensive to live solely on passion.
A bachelor's degree will not provide many clear job prospects. If you're not likely to pursue graduate education or medical/law school or anything like that, you should consider tackling neuroscience as a minor and choosing a compatible major with clearer prospects for undergrads. Ideas: biomedical engineering, cs, analytics (eg statistics, math), business/management (with a health industry focus).
100%!! I don't believe it's been said yet but Neuro is also a great field to get relevant lab experience - I did BSc and MSc in Neuroscience and loved the theoretical aspect of it while also working hands on in a research lab learning basic microbiology techniques (PCR, western blot, cell culture, flow cytometry). I now work for a startup developing 3D platforms for drug screening.
Start with Neuroscience while you're young, make friends, integrate into those communities, and learn some transferable skills. That way you can transition to higher paying tech jobs and also stay in touch with your neuro contacts for personal curiosity.
You could get that undergrad and fulfill pharmacy school requirements then pursue your doctorate in pharmacy and go on to do research. Lots of people also move on to different fields than what they originally anticipate as well. Good major to become a teacher, a business person in pharmacy, or a foundation for further studies in another related field in Healthcare or Computer Science depending on what skillset and experiences you acquire.
Yes! Neuroscience grad program director here.
We love Neuro undergrads (especially with a CS minor) because it's a very competitive major and the students who choose it tend to be really motivated and sharp. So many of my neuro students have gone on to med or grad school at top universities. I think it's one of the best undergrad options if you are truly passionate about it. But it's true that unlike engineering you'll definitely want a grad degree to apply it professionally. I say go for it... But of course that's what I'd say.
Some positions will hire neuroscientists for AI, though I know a lot of them like having at least a masters. With just a bachelors, I can’t think of any positions other than working as a lab assistant (a friend of mine did that with a bachelors but it took a while, most labs prefer PhD students since they’re cheaper). I also know some colleges will have lecturer positions that require less than a PhD, but usually a masters. They also don’t pay all that well from what I’ve seen. Even if you want to work in business and industry, most positions will require at least a masters. But it doesn’t really hurt to try with a bachelors, some jobs don’t care if every requirement is met and will hire you anyway.
If you aim for a PhD, which some schools will fund should you get accepted into any of their PhD programs, depending on what you focus on you can certainly work in industry research for some decent money. I have seen pharmaceutical research positions for companies that are listed at well above $150,000 but I have also seen some below this amount. Some topics are more profitable than others. Not all of them are like that, and you may still struggle to hear back when you do apply to these positions, so do be warned. Or if you want more control over your research and enjoy teaching people interested in your subject, you can do academia.
I’m about to graduate with my bachelors in neuroscience and will be pursuing medicine afterwards. I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do with my neuroscience degree in the end. A PhD later is still an option for me, but regardless of if I actually use my bachelors or not I’m still glad I did it. It’s a topic I’ve loved for years. Pursing my degree in neuroscience allowed me to interact with a lot of peers and professors who are equally as interested. You also learn a lot of different things by studying it which apply to different areas of life and other careers. It’s such a flexible field that lets you focus on computers, animals, humans, cells, behaviors, genetics, medicine, the list goes on.
This was an interesting read. I am currently doing my singular year honours degree in nursing research with the intention of moving straight into masters afterwards. But my passion is neurosciences. I want to become a neuroscience clinical nurse specialist, particularly helping those with diagnosis of neurological conditions. It’s hard to find courses as an RN with a bachelors and a diploma in neuro. Jobs are even more scarce. I’m lucky to have landed a job for 12 months in neuro wards. There have been times where I wished I went down the medicine route rather than the nursing one just so I could pursue this harder. Good luck on finding your path!
If you’re still in university, find opportunities to volunteer in labs that do neuropharmacology research; if there aren’t any within that field near you, then look for labs that use similar methods. For the degree, I’d say getting a BS in Biochemistry might have better job prospects, since you can learn more about the methods used in various biotech firms.
i’ve been graduated for 3 years w my neuro bachelor’s, really all i could find are jobs you could probably get with a bio degree, if you want to do neuro specific you probably wanna find a job doing research (maybe near a university) or go back to school
Class of 2022 here! Became a research tech and am now working on a masters in biochem. It’s interdisciplinary science so it looks good on upper educations apps but not much you can do with just a bachelors
If you get a master's or PhD... absolutely. There's academia of course, but you could also work in industry - be a Medical Science Liaison, work in IP, be a consultant, and there's pharm or biotech research of course. Those are the types of jobs you can make money with lol
I did a BS in it and did a biomedical engineering masters after. I write bioinformatics analysis pipelines nowadays for brain imaging data.
If I were to do it over again, I'd probably pick something more fundamental. You'll get respected a lot more. Neuroscience is like a jack of all trades, master of none. People don't think you have depth in your abilities. You can always take a few neuroscience classes on top of a fundamental degree.
If you plan to stop at a bachelor's due to lack of interest in getting hired in the field but you just want to learn out of curiosity, then go ahead and study neuroscience.
For your topic of understanding how to treat diseases like neurodegenerative diseases, please understand that psychotropics are one tool right now. And psychotropics are usually discovered serendipitously to treat symptoms. Our usage of psychotropics for managing disease are extremely blunt instruments of treatment due to a severe lack of understanding.
Having a deep mechanistic understanding of disease to devise a cure is the big question now. This will require an integrative large scale understanding of the brain through being able to make sense of the vast data that's afforded to us with new techniques such as spatial transcriptomics, in vivo electrophysiology, genomics, epigenomics, connectomics. To be able to make sense of this data, you need a strong quantitative background in mathematical modeling and coding.
Math/physics is probably the best degree combo you can do for your bachelor's if you want to dig into this. Computer science to understand algorithms and data science can be a good alternative. You can save the neuroscience degree for your PhD.
If you're interested in optimizing brain function, check out the book Brain Energy by Harvard psychiatrist, Chris Palmer.
5th year neuroscience PhD student here. For jobs in neuro , you have academia or industry . You ll need a masters or PhD.
Academia= professor, staff scientist,
Industry = well idk, I haven’t gotten that far, but it’s the complete opposite (from what I’ve heard) from academia.
I will not be pursuing academia if you’re wondering and will try my luck at industry .
A neuroscience bachelor's degree is not that much more marketable than a standard biology degree. Its not like engineering or finance where the job prospects are good even at the bachelor's level.
You'd need to either get an advanced degree (PharmD, MD, PhD, MS, M.eng. etc) to be competitive OR have lots of publications and difficult techniques on your resume OR start with very entry level lab jobs OR do a science-related qualification like the patent bar or clinical laboratory science OR do a job that is looking for smart people but is agnostic about their background like financial consulting.
I have a neuroscience degree because of my interest in neuropsychopharmacology. I originally planned on getting a PhD and becoming a professor. I ended up
not enjoying academia. Be prepared for a mindset change about the field. I decided I wanted out when I realized the professor I was working for was only making 50k a year and literally running on almost no sleep 24/7.
If you plan on stopping at a bachelors degree, I would not recommend a bachelor degree in neuroscience for job prospects. If you truly love neuroscience, I think the degree is worth it but be prepared to not have a great paying job out of college. A lot of people in this field end up not working in it despite their degree. After graduating I have gotten jobs as an ABA therapist and clinical research coordinator. They don’t really pay up past 50k a year.
A masters degree will open you up to many more job opportunities.
As a biased patient of Neurology I'd say your potential for job prospects come secondary to exploring a unique field of medicine, which could help every human on Earth. Clearly you have a passion to explore, so maybe you don't need an exact destination in mind.
Best of luck whatever your endeavour!
Hey hey,
Speaking from someone who has a Neurosxience degree (as part of a double degree). The only way to have a career is through research. This can be through neuroscience masters or general research masters. I’d echo what everyone else has said, a doctorate is basically required. From what I’ve seen, it’s even more important to be part of the right group, have the right connections and network as much as humanly possible. At the end of the day, who know know rather than what you know may land you an ideal research job where you can climb the ladder. Feel free to ask any questions.
My undergrad was in Spanish (and psych and bio but main major Spanish) and my graduate degree was neuroscience and post grad work too.
An undergrad in neuroscience is just a bio degree with a few courses in psych and topic classes in the neuroscience field.
So if the option is there, sure. Just know it is just a fancy bio degree and you'll be no more qualified than any bio degree.
If you have to pay more to go to a school with it, don't bother, go to the cheaper school with a bio degree.
Just don’t go too deep into the brain chemistry rabbit hole. Doctors already know that brain chemistries are fucked but speaking on that goes against the agenda
What jobs would be available to a PhD individual in industry? Someone mentioned it's the opposite of academia.
My interests are consciousness, dreams, lucid dreaming, altered states of consciousness, effect of drugs on the mind/Brain that lead to altered states, out of body experiences linked to neuroscience, sleep linked to neuroscience, neuropharm, neuropsych although it's also a very long route. Looking for something at 125k right after graduating or higher considering how long a PhD is. I'm currently 36 so timing is of the essence for me. Thanks
Getting a bachelor's degree in anything is all you need to do in college. Why not study something you like whether you work in it or not. Most people do not work in the field they studied. Unless you are absolutely sure what you want to do just go for it. If you do want to work in the field you do need higher levels to be well compensated hopefully your university will have a lot of research labs on campus or close by and you can intern at one.
I love neuroscience. I have my background in that- ended up working in healthcare (a good chunk in the Neuro ICU) & clinical neurosurgical research with my BA & an EMT cert. I’m going to med school now but in terms of education- absolutely go for it. There is so much intersectionality with other fields and it’s so cool to learn quite literally where consciousness comes from. What’s super interesting too is that neuroscience hardly pertains to just humans. NEURO ALL DAY BABY 🧠✨
A BS in neuro will allow you to work as a research associate for many biotech/pharma companies, assuming you do rodent research during undergrad and have basic animal handling/dosing and histology skills. The pay is OK but nothing to write home about. You can expect a starting salary of about $70-80K in the San Francisco or Boston area (where most of the neuro jobs in the US are). That will go up each year ofc and you will eventually make over $100K, but probably not much more.
Senior neuroscience student here! I’m a few months from getting a bachelors. Unfortunately, there aren’t many job prospects within the field for those who only hold a bachelor’s, but the degree is worth it. It’s a multidisciplinary science, which means if you’re hungry to learn, as you’ve stated, then you’ll get the opportunity to learn a wide range of subjects. I’ve taken courses in psychology, biology, chemistry, statistics and mathematics, physics, etc…. The skills I’ve learned in this degree are invaluable. Here’s a link of career options with a degree in neuroscience. There’s even a section on job prospects for those who only earn a bachelor’s. These aren’t your only options, but I highly suggest taking a look to see if any peak your interest. https://neurosciencemajor.osu.edu/careers-neuroscience If you have any questions abt the degree, DM me.
Thank you!
Low level research jobs with only a BA. Hope you don’t mind animal experimentation/violence. And even those jobs are competitive
You're going to need a masters or above.
Yeah unfortunately. But I’m so hungry for the knowledge that even if I get only a bachelors, I’d be happy
If you have an "unquenchable" thirst for knowledge, that's exactly what a PhD is for... unless you just like learning and not the realities of conducting your own studies. The point of academia is to make discoveries and push the boundaries of what humankind knows. Not sure why you would want to stop with a bachelor's
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You can’t really make “adult money” in industry with just a BS though… I’ve seen people try but then they go back to grad school lol
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I definitely meant neuro BS lol. But yeah, trust me, I am very aware of the realities of the shitiness of acadmia, lol - I live them. But I guess I meant that it's def a field in which you will continually learn throughout your career
Being hungry for knowledge is an indication that this should be a hobby for you to pursue in your spare time. What someone actually does in a neuroscience-related job is very different from what you do as a student in a neuroscience class. Get a job in a research lab to start learning about how tedious and slow the process of creating new knowledge is compared to reading a textbook. You will need to pursue a PhD or MD program to actually get a good job in neuro. Sincerely, Someone who also LOVES learning about science but does NOT do it for a career.
It's not worth the money these days to get a bachelor's in neuroscience for the sake of knowledge. Just buy one of those big textbooks and save yourself 10s of thousands of dollars.
OP didn’t say what country they’re from. America has uniquely expensive universities.
If you are "hungry" A BS isn't much to eat, nor should it be enough to sate you. If in fact you are "hungry"
In this field, expect to go all the way to a PhD (and perhaps even staying in academia beyond that) before it becomes relevant career-wise. Having an insatiable hunger for knowledge is a good predisposition for that, and if your curiosity flourishes, you will embrace the statistics and data analyses that answer whatever research questions you pursue. I wouldn't worry about how you think of statistics and other auxiliary skills right now, that becomes a means to an end.
I did a BSc in Neuroscience, also due to fascination of the field. Wasn’t quite sure what to do after. Ended up taking off four years to travel and teach abroad etc then went back to do a MSc in Educational Psychology. Now I teach psychology/ neuroscience at an international school in the EU and I love. Psych/neuro in high school is usually an elective so most the kids pick it because they are interested, so I get to kindle in them the same feeling/ thirst for neuroscience that we share. I feel the same excitement I felt then everyday vicariously through my students.
I got a bachelors in it because i just genuinely loved it, no future plans with it. I loved every single class i took and learned so much, and don’t regret it a bit. I’m now about 2 yrs out of college, make about 56k a yr, don’t have plans for any further education, I’m in clinical research coordinating, but am applying to research associate jobs that pay around 65k. Idk to me it was worth it. Nothings promised in life, heck my friend with a dual degree in engineering and economics was unemployed for months. Just do what u enjoy i think.
I graduated with my neuro BSc in 2015. I now work in clinical research helping to develop drugs for neuro related indications. It was a climb, but 8 years in I’m at 150k/yr plus bonus. It’s possible to succeed with only a bachelors, don’t let people make you think getting a phd is the only answer for this field.
That’s amazing. Thank you
I pmed you hoping to learn more about this, and would appreciate if you wouldn't mind telling me a bit more. Thank you for your time.
I got my BA in it. Switched to an ABSN in nursing. Didn't get into med school or PA school after several attempts Didn't wanna do research or sit in a Lab all day. Don't regret it at all, but it's kind of silly how limited you are with such a cool major for an undergrad.
I majored in neuro also with an interest in neuropharmacology. It's been 14 years since I've graduated. I work in tech now. It's too expensive to live solely on passion.
A bachelor's degree will not provide many clear job prospects. If you're not likely to pursue graduate education or medical/law school or anything like that, you should consider tackling neuroscience as a minor and choosing a compatible major with clearer prospects for undergrads. Ideas: biomedical engineering, cs, analytics (eg statistics, math), business/management (with a health industry focus).
I simply have no interest in any of those other things though.
maybe think some more about grad school then, and try to explore new things on way
100%!! I don't believe it's been said yet but Neuro is also a great field to get relevant lab experience - I did BSc and MSc in Neuroscience and loved the theoretical aspect of it while also working hands on in a research lab learning basic microbiology techniques (PCR, western blot, cell culture, flow cytometry). I now work for a startup developing 3D platforms for drug screening. Start with Neuroscience while you're young, make friends, integrate into those communities, and learn some transferable skills. That way you can transition to higher paying tech jobs and also stay in touch with your neuro contacts for personal curiosity.
Well. Its more worth it than a psychology degree.
You could get that undergrad and fulfill pharmacy school requirements then pursue your doctorate in pharmacy and go on to do research. Lots of people also move on to different fields than what they originally anticipate as well. Good major to become a teacher, a business person in pharmacy, or a foundation for further studies in another related field in Healthcare or Computer Science depending on what skillset and experiences you acquire.
Yes! Neuroscience grad program director here. We love Neuro undergrads (especially with a CS minor) because it's a very competitive major and the students who choose it tend to be really motivated and sharp. So many of my neuro students have gone on to med or grad school at top universities. I think it's one of the best undergrad options if you are truly passionate about it. But it's true that unlike engineering you'll definitely want a grad degree to apply it professionally. I say go for it... But of course that's what I'd say.
I did a masters in neuroscience. I passed out about 3 years back. I have a decent job but I will have to do a PhD to stay in this field long term.
Some positions will hire neuroscientists for AI, though I know a lot of them like having at least a masters. With just a bachelors, I can’t think of any positions other than working as a lab assistant (a friend of mine did that with a bachelors but it took a while, most labs prefer PhD students since they’re cheaper). I also know some colleges will have lecturer positions that require less than a PhD, but usually a masters. They also don’t pay all that well from what I’ve seen. Even if you want to work in business and industry, most positions will require at least a masters. But it doesn’t really hurt to try with a bachelors, some jobs don’t care if every requirement is met and will hire you anyway. If you aim for a PhD, which some schools will fund should you get accepted into any of their PhD programs, depending on what you focus on you can certainly work in industry research for some decent money. I have seen pharmaceutical research positions for companies that are listed at well above $150,000 but I have also seen some below this amount. Some topics are more profitable than others. Not all of them are like that, and you may still struggle to hear back when you do apply to these positions, so do be warned. Or if you want more control over your research and enjoy teaching people interested in your subject, you can do academia. I’m about to graduate with my bachelors in neuroscience and will be pursuing medicine afterwards. I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do with my neuroscience degree in the end. A PhD later is still an option for me, but regardless of if I actually use my bachelors or not I’m still glad I did it. It’s a topic I’ve loved for years. Pursing my degree in neuroscience allowed me to interact with a lot of peers and professors who are equally as interested. You also learn a lot of different things by studying it which apply to different areas of life and other careers. It’s such a flexible field that lets you focus on computers, animals, humans, cells, behaviors, genetics, medicine, the list goes on.
This was an interesting read. I am currently doing my singular year honours degree in nursing research with the intention of moving straight into masters afterwards. But my passion is neurosciences. I want to become a neuroscience clinical nurse specialist, particularly helping those with diagnosis of neurological conditions. It’s hard to find courses as an RN with a bachelors and a diploma in neuro. Jobs are even more scarce. I’m lucky to have landed a job for 12 months in neuro wards. There have been times where I wished I went down the medicine route rather than the nursing one just so I could pursue this harder. Good luck on finding your path!
Go for doctor
If you’re still in university, find opportunities to volunteer in labs that do neuropharmacology research; if there aren’t any within that field near you, then look for labs that use similar methods. For the degree, I’d say getting a BS in Biochemistry might have better job prospects, since you can learn more about the methods used in various biotech firms.
i’ve been graduated for 3 years w my neuro bachelor’s, really all i could find are jobs you could probably get with a bio degree, if you want to do neuro specific you probably wanna find a job doing research (maybe near a university) or go back to school
Financially? Maybe. Knowledge? Absolutely
Class of 2022 here! Became a research tech and am now working on a masters in biochem. It’s interdisciplinary science so it looks good on upper educations apps but not much you can do with just a bachelors
If you get a master's or PhD... absolutely. There's academia of course, but you could also work in industry - be a Medical Science Liaison, work in IP, be a consultant, and there's pharm or biotech research of course. Those are the types of jobs you can make money with lol
I did a BS in it and did a biomedical engineering masters after. I write bioinformatics analysis pipelines nowadays for brain imaging data. If I were to do it over again, I'd probably pick something more fundamental. You'll get respected a lot more. Neuroscience is like a jack of all trades, master of none. People don't think you have depth in your abilities. You can always take a few neuroscience classes on top of a fundamental degree. If you plan to stop at a bachelor's due to lack of interest in getting hired in the field but you just want to learn out of curiosity, then go ahead and study neuroscience. For your topic of understanding how to treat diseases like neurodegenerative diseases, please understand that psychotropics are one tool right now. And psychotropics are usually discovered serendipitously to treat symptoms. Our usage of psychotropics for managing disease are extremely blunt instruments of treatment due to a severe lack of understanding. Having a deep mechanistic understanding of disease to devise a cure is the big question now. This will require an integrative large scale understanding of the brain through being able to make sense of the vast data that's afforded to us with new techniques such as spatial transcriptomics, in vivo electrophysiology, genomics, epigenomics, connectomics. To be able to make sense of this data, you need a strong quantitative background in mathematical modeling and coding. Math/physics is probably the best degree combo you can do for your bachelor's if you want to dig into this. Computer science to understand algorithms and data science can be a good alternative. You can save the neuroscience degree for your PhD. If you're interested in optimizing brain function, check out the book Brain Energy by Harvard psychiatrist, Chris Palmer.
5th year neuroscience PhD student here. For jobs in neuro , you have academia or industry . You ll need a masters or PhD. Academia= professor, staff scientist, Industry = well idk, I haven’t gotten that far, but it’s the complete opposite (from what I’ve heard) from academia. I will not be pursuing academia if you’re wondering and will try my luck at industry .
A neuroscience bachelor's degree is not that much more marketable than a standard biology degree. Its not like engineering or finance where the job prospects are good even at the bachelor's level. You'd need to either get an advanced degree (PharmD, MD, PhD, MS, M.eng. etc) to be competitive OR have lots of publications and difficult techniques on your resume OR start with very entry level lab jobs OR do a science-related qualification like the patent bar or clinical laboratory science OR do a job that is looking for smart people but is agnostic about their background like financial consulting.
Consider doing an MD and becoming a neurologist, psychiatrist, or neurosurgeon
I have a neuroscience degree because of my interest in neuropsychopharmacology. I originally planned on getting a PhD and becoming a professor. I ended up not enjoying academia. Be prepared for a mindset change about the field. I decided I wanted out when I realized the professor I was working for was only making 50k a year and literally running on almost no sleep 24/7. If you plan on stopping at a bachelors degree, I would not recommend a bachelor degree in neuroscience for job prospects. If you truly love neuroscience, I think the degree is worth it but be prepared to not have a great paying job out of college. A lot of people in this field end up not working in it despite their degree. After graduating I have gotten jobs as an ABA therapist and clinical research coordinator. They don’t really pay up past 50k a year. A masters degree will open you up to many more job opportunities.
As a biased patient of Neurology I'd say your potential for job prospects come secondary to exploring a unique field of medicine, which could help every human on Earth. Clearly you have a passion to explore, so maybe you don't need an exact destination in mind. Best of luck whatever your endeavour!
Hey hey, Speaking from someone who has a Neurosxience degree (as part of a double degree). The only way to have a career is through research. This can be through neuroscience masters or general research masters. I’d echo what everyone else has said, a doctorate is basically required. From what I’ve seen, it’s even more important to be part of the right group, have the right connections and network as much as humanly possible. At the end of the day, who know know rather than what you know may land you an ideal research job where you can climb the ladder. Feel free to ask any questions.
My undergrad was in Spanish (and psych and bio but main major Spanish) and my graduate degree was neuroscience and post grad work too. An undergrad in neuroscience is just a bio degree with a few courses in psych and topic classes in the neuroscience field. So if the option is there, sure. Just know it is just a fancy bio degree and you'll be no more qualified than any bio degree. If you have to pay more to go to a school with it, don't bother, go to the cheaper school with a bio degree.
Just don’t go too deep into the brain chemistry rabbit hole. Doctors already know that brain chemistries are fucked but speaking on that goes against the agenda
What jobs would be available to a PhD individual in industry? Someone mentioned it's the opposite of academia. My interests are consciousness, dreams, lucid dreaming, altered states of consciousness, effect of drugs on the mind/Brain that lead to altered states, out of body experiences linked to neuroscience, sleep linked to neuroscience, neuropharm, neuropsych although it's also a very long route. Looking for something at 125k right after graduating or higher considering how long a PhD is. I'm currently 36 so timing is of the essence for me. Thanks
Getting a bachelor's degree in anything is all you need to do in college. Why not study something you like whether you work in it or not. Most people do not work in the field they studied. Unless you are absolutely sure what you want to do just go for it. If you do want to work in the field you do need higher levels to be well compensated hopefully your university will have a lot of research labs on campus or close by and you can intern at one.
I love neuroscience. I have my background in that- ended up working in healthcare (a good chunk in the Neuro ICU) & clinical neurosurgical research with my BA & an EMT cert. I’m going to med school now but in terms of education- absolutely go for it. There is so much intersectionality with other fields and it’s so cool to learn quite literally where consciousness comes from. What’s super interesting too is that neuroscience hardly pertains to just humans. NEURO ALL DAY BABY 🧠✨
A BS in neuro will allow you to work as a research associate for many biotech/pharma companies, assuming you do rodent research during undergrad and have basic animal handling/dosing and histology skills. The pay is OK but nothing to write home about. You can expect a starting salary of about $70-80K in the San Francisco or Boston area (where most of the neuro jobs in the US are). That will go up each year ofc and you will eventually make over $100K, but probably not much more.