Top 10 Global Universities for Neuroscience
Schools in the U.S. and the U.K. rank highly in this subject area.
Best Schools for Brain and Behavior Research
A degree in neuroscience can lead to careers in such fields as pharmacy, medicine or research.
Learn more about the top 10 Best Global Universities for Neuroscience and Behavior, as ranked by U.S. News based on academic research performance in this subject area.
10. Johns Hopkins University
Location: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Best Global Universities overall rank: 12
Fact: Researchers who are members of the Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute at Johns Hopkins University aim to combine knowledge in neuroscience, engineering and data science to better understand the brain.
Best Schools for Brain and Behavior Research
A degree in neuroscience can lead to careers in such fields as pharmacy, medicine or research.
Learn more about the top 10 Best Global Universities for Neuroscience and Behavior, as ranked by U.S. News based on academic research performance in this subject area.
10. Johns Hopkins University
Location: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Best Global Universities overall rank: 12
Fact: Researchers who are members of the Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute at Johns Hopkins University aim to combine knowledge in neuroscience, engineering and data science to better understand the brain.
9. Washington University in St. Louis
Location: St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Best Global Universities overall rank: 32 (tie)
Fact: Washington University in St. Louis is home to a wide array of research centers related to neuroscience, including the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, the Charles F. and Joanne Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, the Neurofibromatosis (NF) Center and the McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience. Neuroscience Ph.D. students at the university receive an annual stipend, tuition remission and health insurance.
8. University of Pennsylvania
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Best Global Universities overall rank: 16
Fact: University of Pennsylvania's Biological Basis of Behavior Program is an interdisciplinary undergraduate college major that allows students to learn about the neurological factors that influence human thoughts, feelings and actions.
7. University of Oxford
Location: Oxford, England, U.K.
Best Global Universities overall rank: 5
Fact: Some 65 percent of the University of Oxford's master's in neuroscience students go on to pursue doctoral research, according to the university's website.
6. Columbia University
Location: New York, New York, U.S.
Best Global Universities overall rank: 8
Fact: Two faculty members in Columbia University's neuroscience department are recipients of the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, according to the university's website.
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Best Global Universities overall rank: 2
Fact: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers a postbaccalaureate Research Scholars Program in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences designed to increase the number of underrepresented minorities, first-generation students, disabled individuals and veterans in STEM, according to the school's website. Students in the program receive financial support.
3 (tie). University of California—San Francisco
Location: San Francisco, California, U.S.
Best Global Universities overall rank: 15
Fact: First-year doctoral students in the University of California—San Francisco's neuroscience program participate in at least three quarter-long research rotations in various laboratories to become familiar with potential labs where they might like to work on their thesis, according to the school's website.
3 (tie). University College London
Location: London, England, U.K.
Best Global Universities overall rank: 21
Fact: Undergraduate neuroscience students at University College London can choose between three- and four-year degree tracks, according to the school's website. Students who complete the three-year program receive a bachelor's degree, while students who study for an additional year earn a master's. During the fourth year of the longer program, students focus on research.
2. Stanford University
Location: Stanford, California, U.S.
Best Global Universities overall rank: 3
Fact: Among Stanford University's institutes and programs focused on neuroscience is the Stanford Program in Neuroscience and Society, which, according to the school's website, is a multidisciplinary initiative based in the university's law school. The mission of this program is to examine the ways that neuroscience is influencing society and recommend government policies.
1. Harvard University
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Best Global Universities overall rank: 1
Fact: According to the school's website, Harvard University undergraduates can pursue a neuroscience concentration with tracks in neurobiology as well as computational neuro, where students learn to use math and computer science to evaluate brain signals. There is also an interdisciplinary track in mind, brain and behavior that allows students to learn about how scholars outside the field of neuroscience understand the mind; this track requires an honor's thesis.
Best Universities for Neuroscience and Behavior
- 1. Harvard University
- 2. Stanford University
- 3 (tie). University College London
- 3 (tie). University of California—San Francisco
- 5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 6. Columbia University
- 7. University of Oxford
- 8. University of Pennsylvania
- 9. Washington University in St. Louis
- 10. Johns Hopkins University
Learn more about earning a degree abroad.
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