Neurosciences is of the hottest degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #81 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 9 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Neurosciences Schools in California ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 800 degrees in neurosciences to qualified students.
The neurosciences program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Neurosciences rankings. For our Best Overall Neurosciences School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
The neurosciences school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Neurosciences Schools in California.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the neurosciences degrees they offer, see the list below.
University of California - Los Angeles is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in neurosciences. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #28 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UCLA is a great university overall.
There were about 204 neurosciences students who graduated with this degree at UCLA in the most recent data year.
Stanford University is a wonderful option for students pursuing a degree in neurosciences. Stanford is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Stanford. A Best Colleges rank of #10 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Stanford is a great university overall.
There were roughly 15 neurosciences students who graduated with this degree at Stanford in the most recent year we have data available.
Every student pursuing a degree in neurosciences needs to take a look at University of Southern California. USC is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #13 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 114 neurosciences students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent data year.
Every student pursuing a degree in neurosciences needs to look into University of California - San Diego. UCSD is a very large public university located in the large city of La Jolla. This university ranks 8th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 19 neurosciences students who graduated with this degree at UCSD in the most recent data year.
UC Berkeley is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Berkeley. A Best Colleges rank of #14 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UC Berkeley is a great university overall.
There were about 13 neurosciences students who graduated with this degree at UC Berkeley in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the midsize city of Santa Clara, SCU is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. This university ranks 9th out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 39 neurosciences students who graduated with this degree at SCU in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the city of Riverside, UCR is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 28th out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 142 neurosciences students who graduated with this degree at UCR in the most recent year we have data available.
UC Santa Cruz is a large public university located in the small city of Santa Cruz. This university ranks 13th out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were about 62 neurosciences students who graduated with this degree at UC Santa Cruz in the most recent data year.
USD is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of San Diego. This university ranks 35th out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were approximately 100 neurosciences students who graduated with this degree at USD in the most recent data year.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
The neurosciences program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Neurosciences rankings. For our Best Overall Neurosciences School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
