Neuroscience at a RG uni

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DD would like to study Neuroscience at a top RG university. What are the required/ preferred A levels for this and which uni would you recommend as best for this subject? Many thanks in advance.

Lost a long post !

Ds studying neuroscience at Nottingham. Loving it. Just got a 1st in 2nd year and looking at post grad studies.

He got in with very high grades in biology chemistry and music with maths at AS.

It was his fall back as one of the many applicants for medicine that got no offers. He is absolutely happy he's not taking that path now.

However I agree with all the above posters totally. A 1st degree these days is just that - the key to a 2nd or 3rd degree before entering in workplace in a specialism, so anything science would probably be fine psychology less so.

And don't push 4 A levels unless we are talking multiple maths subjects. My kids are / were at similar supersede rice grammars and are academically able and ds would not have done as well if he had continued maths ( and hating it !). Dd2 is doing A2 next year and the course changed make the workload so hard.

Don't telly your dd but 1st year uni will be a breeze compared to her a2 year!

OP I don't know if this info will be any use to you. My DD studies psychology at a RG uni but with the emphasis that it is more on the experimental psychology side with neuroscience/ biological behaviour integrated within the course . She has just done 1st year and loved it.

The problem I see is that there are alot of misconception with psychology degrees. Some are more rigourous than others. But somehow it gets tarred as being all the same and is a soft degree subject. Its not a soft degree depending where you are studying it. Nor is it a pseudo science. The better uni's involve alot empirical/research studies within the course and will be looking at psychology with a view that is a science discipline (so no pseudo psychology either eg Freud ) DD course covered areas such as biological psychology looking at brain (neuro) plus nervous system and immune system. Research methods, lab reports, lots of data handling. This is where the maths comes in especially statistics. Most people in DD year found the maths hard, in fact in their first stats lecture they were told, that if they had misconceived idea that there weren't much maths or think they would not be able to cope with the statistical side of things, then the course would not be right for them as the maths in year 2 will only get harder. If your DD could at least get a A/A* in GCSE maths I think she will be alright if she decides she wants to go and do psychology that has a more neuroscience slant to it DD uni definately is like that the neuroscience will be more towards applying it to psychological behaviour and cognition. Whearas neuroscience on its own, is more concerned about brains internal structure etc and how it works. Psychology and neuroscience definatley overlap so I would say a Psychology A level will be beneficial for either psychology or a neuroscience degree. But not a necessity.

coffee thank you so much! Very valuable thoughts and advice!
if she decides she wants to go and do psychology that has a more neuroscience slant to it DD uni definately is like that the neuroscience will be more towards applying it to psychological behaviour and cognition
This is exactly what my DD is aiming towards, I believe! Please if you don't mind pm me the course and uni your DD is studying!
Thanks so much again!

For some reason Psychology A level is perceived as a "soft" Alevel in her school, so no girl will touch it! No idea why, but there you are! I am not pushing for four, this is how many all the girls are doing at her school. I can't imagine she would want to be different unless she finds one really hard and decides to drop it.

My DD goes to Bristol University I don't mind disclosing it. Ive mentioned her loads on MN over the last year. Her course is the C801 psychology. She says there's a fair few that haven't done psychology A level. DD did do it. However, she feels the A level version only really helped her at uni when it came to the case studies as she was familiar with them so she didn't have to do too much research or from scratch but everything else was not very representative or builds on a degree level psychology.

My DD has always been more interested in the neuro side of Psychology . So when she went to do research on psych degree she wanted to do. The way she did it was to look at the university psychology research side of the dept. That gives you a flavour of the expertise and the areas of interest the lecturers and professors hold their specialism in and also gives a clue to the slant /direction the dept will likely be teaching the students. In Bristol case their experimental psychology dept has specialism organised into three themes 1. The Cognitive process 2. Brain Behaviour and Health 3. Decision making and Rationality. She also looked at the modules offered more closely for year 2 and 3 as this is where you will see the distinction and specialism between other uni. Bristol has slant more towards the Cognitive side basically the study of mental processes such as memory, perception, language, problem solving and thinking. This is what she is telling me . I'm no expert. But hope this helps.

coffee that is most helpful, thank you so much! It gives me a really good idea what to look out for. Bristol is a very good uni and I heard the city is lovely too! All the best to your DD and much success in the future!

Not sure if this is still the case but Manchester used to do neuroscience and psychology combined honours. I did neuroscience there when it was in its infancy. Most of the neuroscience/psyc have gone on to become clinical psychologists. Many of the neuroscientists did PhDs (myself included).

Ime there is no need for maths a level. Better to get an A in physics than a C in maths (and much easier if maths isn't your strongest subject). The maths needed will be taught and is easier than a level maths.

As others have alluded to, your dd will come across lots of interesting things over the next few years that she has never even heard of now. Encourage her to keep an open mind.

Sorry didn't mean to contradict coffee re maths.
I agree about the stats in psychology. I think it it quite challenging. I forget that at school stats is part of maths. Very different skills, IMO. I was thinking of pure maths A level.

Thank you Tychos that is reassuring about the maths. I guess we'll see how she feels around Christmas when she would have had extra help with it. The truth is my DD was very unlucky with maths teachers up until year 10, when a good teacher was offered and she started feeling better about it. Currently she is at level 6-7 in the new marking scheme which is probably not disastrous but she should ideally be at 8-9. I am still hopeful as it is early days. I will definitely encourage keeping an open mind about everything at the moment.
Thank you all, you have been most helpful!

Isn't the level 9 maths supposed to be more like Gcse FM A* or A^ ?

Hopefully the new teacher will help - my DDs yr9 one somehow managed to fail to teach her trig - it took me all of 15 mins at the kitchen table with a pencil and calculator to sort out her confusion!

Don't dismiss languages as a key to a good career. State schools are in general not good at encouraging pupils to study languages so there are fewer qualified to study MFL at university and so in general those applying can trade up on the courses they can access at the best universities. Add to that that many employers with global businesses are looking for graduates with language skills, several banks for instance require at least one for access to their graduate entry scheme, it is part of the template of required skills for the big accountancy / management consultancy companies. I recently did a Masters in area studies and the graduates with knowledge of other languages and cultures are sought after by all sorts of businesses.

Add to that that your DD will do best studying the subject she enjoys and is good at and above all employers want at least a 2.1.

social thanks. I did give DD a zillion questions last night when she got home . She said if your DD did ever become really interested and wanted to specialise and go into neuro science/psychology she could do a MSc in Applied Neuropsychology after a psychology degree Good courses will have contact with the NHS and involve you with patients with head injuries, strokes etc. The MSc in this area can also be platform to go on to be a clinical psychologist after a PhD if so wish.

My DD wants to go into research/experimental psychology. So in a way she had to do A level maths she only choose the S1&S2 optional statistics module rather than mechanic modules which will be more apt for those doing physics A level. So that might be a consideration. But she says there's a fair few that haven't done maths A level but they did manage to cope eventually. Just takes a little longer for them but it can be done.

Her other A level was history. To be honest she could have done all science but she just wanted to do a variety. She says that has helped at uni with essay writing. Handling qualitative data and critical thinking/analysis skill. Which is a really important to have at uni since alot of the time you are having to evaluate other people research and studies. A levels don't really equip them or teach them well with those types of skills. But rely too much on rote/memory and recall or formulaic type thinking skills. Me rambling. A mix bag of different A levels also have some advantages. Although it might limit certain degrees.
I hope your DD finds her path. She sounds like a very clever girl. Bet your proud of her.