Centre Majors: Inside the Neuroscience Major at Centre College
What is the Neuroscience major at Centre College?
Neuroscience at Centre College examines brain, behavior, and biology, from individual neurons to complex systems. It prepares you for a wide range of careers in research, medicine, mental health, and related fields. Neuroscience is offered as both a major and a minor.
What tracks can you follow within the Neuroscience major?
You can choose the Cellular Neuroscience track, which emphasizes biology and chemistry, or the Behavioral Neuroscience track, which focuses more on psychology. There's also a flexible general Neuroscience pathway if you want to keep your options open.
What does the Neuroscience curriculum look like?
You'll start with foundational courses in chemistry, statistics, and psychology, then move into neuroscience-specific classes on neurons, research methods, and brain-behavior relationships. Advanced coursework covers the effects of drugs, disease, and injuries on the brain, along with sensory systems, research technology, body-brain interactions, and clinical applications. Course options in the past have included:
- The Gut-Brain Axis: Linking Gut Microbiota and Brain Health
- Mind-Altering Molecules: Neuropharmacology
- Sexy, Tasty, and Fly: Investigating Neural Systems in Drosophila
What kind of hands-on experience will you get?
Neuroscience majors work in lab-based courses and take part in faculty-guided research. Students have presented their findings at national conferences, collaborated on publications, and participated in projects at Mount Sinai and the Louisville Zoos. Some also apply their neuroscience knowledge while studying abroad, exploring primate behavior in Barbados, mindfulness in Japan, or providing health communication in Mexico.
What careers and grad schools do Neuroscience majors go on to?
Centre Neuroscience graduates have gone on to careers at Baptist Health, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Taipei Medical University's Graduate Institute of Mind, Brain and Consciousness in Taiwan, and the University of Kentucky. They've continued their education at Emory University, George Washington University, the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, Vanderbilt University, and Wake Forest University. Many pursue advanced study in neuroscience, biomedical research, medicine, nursing, physical therapy, neuropsychology, clinical psychology, or counseling psychology.
Learn more: https://www.centre.edu/academics/majors-minors-programs/neuroscience
This post is part of a series exploring majors and programs at Centre College.
Posted Aug 8, 2026, 5:25 PM UTC