To start a career in neuroscience, you’ll need a strong educational foundation. For the most part, this starts in college or before, when you’ll want to make sure you’re getting a good science background. To get a PhD, you’ll usually need to enroll in graduate school after earning an undergraduate degree. After completing your formal postgraduate education, you might want to continue your education by working as a postdoctoral fellow. As a neuroscientist, there are many different paths you can take, so as you look for jobs in places like laboratories, biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies, or medical institutions, think about the type of research that interests you.
Take your time deciding which science classes you want to take in college. These classes do not have to be in neuroscience; they could be in physics, biology, or chemistry, for example. Neuroscientists come from a variety of scientific disciplines. If you’re not interested in the well-known sciences, consider enrolling in more specialized disciplines such as psychology, physiology, or anthropology, as these can also lead to a career in neuroscience.
You may be able to gain practical neuroscience experience by working in a neuroscientist’s lab in addition to attending classes. You might even decide to volunteer to be a subject in a research project to get a better understanding of the nature and processes of neuroscience research. If you do, use the entire experiment session to ask the researcher a lot of questions about what he or she is doing and why he or she is doing it, so you can learn as much as possible about the work and the neuroscience research field in general.
Consider what interested you as an undergraduate when deciding on a PhD topic, and keep in mind that viable areas of study in neuroscience include everything from the effect of external and internal influences on the brain to sleeping patterns and neurological illnesses and conditions. You should look for a university, medical school, or other educational institution with resources and interest in your chosen field of study. If a neuroscience department at a university can’t or won’t accept your research proposal, look into their psychology, physiology, or pharmacology departments. Many neuroscience programs are designed to be interdisciplinary, with faculty from a variety of disciplines, including medicine, engineering, and business.
Following your PhD, a postdoctoral fellowship can help you discover new techniques or explore new trends in neuroscience, which can help you advance your career. As a postdoctoral fellow, you’ll have the chance to work in a lab and learn about areas of neuroscience that you might not have heard of before. A fellowship is also beneficial to include on your resume because it demonstrates your commitment to learning everything you can about the field before beginning your neuroscience career.
When looking for your first full-time job in neuroscience, keep in mind that this field is not limited to hospitals. Neuroscience jobs are available at government medical research agencies, companies that conduct biotechnology research or manufacture pharmaceutical products, and medical centers. Look for positions available in universities or health profession schools if you’ve decided to pursue a career in neuroscience research or teaching. However, funding for these positions is frequently limited, and jobs are often highly competitive.