Reader Question Two: The Cognitive Science Department

I'm interested in Cognitive Science at Vassar, but since it's very small it's hard to get any information/experiences about it (other than what's on the site). Do you have any friends that are cog sci majors, or have you heard anything good/bad about the department?

Unfortunately, I don't have any friends who are Cognitive Science majors. That being said, I can still talk a little bit about the program. At Vassar, Cognitive Science is an interdisciplinary major. As such, it doesn't have a department of its own. Instead, the professors that mentor the Cognitive Science program sit on a sort of board and are from a variety of different departments: Psychology, Computer Science, Economics, English, Biology, Dance, Music, and Anthropology. Which departments and professors you'll be more intimately working with depends primarily upon which area of Cognitive Science you'd like to concentrate in.

The Cognitive Science program is a mix of general, program-wide requirements and more specific, concentration requirements. All Cognitive Science majors are required to take the following eight courses, each of which is one credit:

• COGS-100. Introduction to Cognitive Science.
• COGS-211. Perception and Action.
• COGS-213. Language.
  
• COGS-215. Knowledge & Cognition.
• PSYC-200. Statistics & Experimental Design.
• COGS-219. Research Methods in Cognitive Science.
• COGS-300-301. Senior Thesis.
  
• COGS-311. Seminar in Cognitive Science.

The rest of the major is made up of four credits which focus on a specific area of study in Cognitive Science (they're called "elective courses" by the Cog Sci department). They effectively allow you to concentrate in an area of Cognitive Science that particularly interests you. The different elective options are (the parentheses indicate what departments courses for each of these concentrations are offered in):

• Cognition & Culture (Anthropology, Music, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology)
• Cognition & Language (Anthropology, Computer Science, English, Philosophy)
• Cognition & the Arts (Anthropology, Art, Dance, Drama, English, Film, Music, Philosophy)
• Cognitive Development & Education (Biology, Education, Psychology)
• Embodied Agents (Anthropology, Biology, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology)
• Evolved Minds (Anthropology, Biology, Psychology)
• Formal Analysis of the Mind (Computer Science, Mathematics, Philosophy)
• Mind & Brain (Biology, Economics, Neuroscience & Behavior, Philosophy, Psychology)
  

If you want to see the specific classes that fit with each concentration, see this page on the Cognitive Science Program website. As I looked down that list, I noticed that I've taken several classes on it, and have friends who have taken even more classes on it. If you're interested in any of the classes specifically, I can comment more on the following (just post another comment specifying which class(es) you'd like to hear about):

• Biology 138. Principles of Genetics (an option for Cognitive Development & Education, Evolved Minds)
• Education 350/351. The Teaching of Reading (Cognitive Development & Education)
• Computer Science 102. Data Structures and Algorithms (Embodied Agents, Formal Analysis of Mind)
• Mathematics 121/122. Single Variable Calculus (Embodied Agents, Formal Analysis of Mind)
• Mathematics 125. Topics in Single Variable Calculus (Embodied Agents, Formal Analysis of Mind)
• Computer Science 101. Problem-Solving and Abstraction (Formal Analysis of Mind)
  
• Anthropology 120. Human Origins (Evolved Minds).

In addition to those classes, I have also taken the PSYC-200. Statistics and Experimental Design class which is one of the eight courses all Cog Sci majors are required to take. This course has an ultimate goal of giving you the tools you need to run statistical tests for research purposes in such fields as psychology, biology, neuroscience, and cognitive science. It is highly quantitative in nature and requires you to learn how to use a computer program that runs statistical tests (this is a bit confusing at first, but something you get the hang of). Homework for the class usually consists of a chapter of reading and a weekly problem set... it usually doesn't take more than a couple of hours a week. In order to get into the course, PSYC-105. Introduction to Psychology is usually required.

The professor I had for the course (Ma), was okay; however, if you think you're going to need a lot of help in understanding statistics, I would recommend trying to get a different professor. She was perfectly nice; however, she wasn't great at explaining complicated subjects. Fortunately, the textbook that the psychology department has been using for statistics for the past couple of years is excellent, so this isn't a big deal if you can learn via a textbook. One last thing: AP Statistics does not allow you to skip this course, so you'll be taking it regardless of whether or not you've gotten a good score on the AP exam.

Sorry for the long-winded response, but I hope this helps. If you want to hear about any of the classes I've listed above, post a comment in this post and I'll get back to you about it.