We’re taking a closer look at famous programs — departments that have a reputation separate from the one belong to their broader institution — to see if they actually measure up. Think of it this way. We’re investigating schools that, when your parents’ friends ask about your college search, get included in this kind of response: “Oh, you want to study THAT? Well then you must be applying HERE!”
How does a single department within a bigger school get added to a shortlist like that? And how do you know if it deserves to stay there? We’ll be answering just those questions about the Neuroscience program at the University of Michigan in this blog. We’ve been sending kids to Michigan for a long time, and we know the ins and outs of applying to one of their most competitive programs. Whether you want to talk about if UMich is the best value neuroscience program for you or whether you need help tailoring your application to best meet its criteria, we’re here to give you the rundown on Neuroscience at UMich.
The History of Neuroscience at UMich
The University of Michigan has been a major player in the study of the human brain since the function of the nervous system and the prevalence of mental illness became prominent concerns in the United States. In fact, UMich was quite ahead of its time, appointing W. J. Herdman as Professor of Diseases of the Mind and Nervous System before the turn of the century and further defining the discipline by being among the first universities to establish Psychiatry and Neurology departments within the medical school by 1906.
As Michigan’s Department of Psychiatry notes, this was revolutionary because the state of patient care and the attitudes toward psychiatric conditions were abysmal. “At the end of the 19th century, Americans with mental illness were not so much diagnosed and treated as managed and sheltered…little effort was made to apply scientific methodology to people with mental illness.”
Herdman was integral in making Ann Arbor ground zero for progress in the fields of psychiatry and neuroscience. He “set the wheels in motion to build, at the University, a psychopathic hospital for the care and study of mental illness,” securing funding from the state legislature for a hospital that was “among the first of its kind in the nation — one intended to provide diagnosis and research on mental diseases rather than custodial care.” True to Michigan’s legacy as a research juggernaut, “it contained state-of-the-art research equipment, including a laboratory in which psychiatrists trained in pathological examination studied brain tissue sent from hospitals all over Michigan.”
This is a great origin story, but what came out of these efforts to maintain UMich prominence in neuroscience? Well, to put it quaintly, a whole heck of a lot. In the 1950s, Michigan legislators approved a partnership with UMich to “Mental Health Research Institute (MHRI),” which, on the forefront as ever, “one of the nation’s first programs to coordinate basic research into brain function and dysfunction.” MHRI’s output in this time is nothing short of remarkable. Its bragging rights include the following:
It introduced “unprecedented” interdisciplinary collaboration, connecting “psychologists, psychiatrists, biochemists, anatomists, physiologists, pharmacologists, geneticists, social scientists, law faculty, and clinical investigators” to learn more about “the broadly defined problem of mental illness, while also educating students and advising the state legislature.”
It appointed Ralph Waldo Gerard, M.D., Ph.D. as the Director of Laboratories, and he — and therefore UMich — is responsible for first coining the term “neuroscience.”
Gerard also invented the microelectrode, meaning that the basis of electroencephalography, and most neuroscience research, is possible because of his advancement in measuring the electric signals of muscle and nerve cells.
We’ll rest our case here with naught but a humble word: “yowza!”
The State of Neuroscience at UMich Today
As you might imagine, neuroscientists in Ann Arbor are still rockin’ and rollin’. In 2019, Michigan coalesced its vast neuroscience community — spread across “seven different schools and colleges, 27 departments, and 15 institutes and centers,” including the MHRI — into one overarching command center, the Michigan Neuroscience Institute (MNI). MNI builds on a century’s worth of mental health research and 65 years of innovation undertaken by the institute under different names (what is now known as the MNI was the MHRI from 1955-2005, and after that the MBNI, or Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, from 2005-2019).
The MNI has retained its status as a chief outpost of innovations in neuroscience. Its research portfolio links 19 research groups across studies in behavioral and systems neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, molecular and cellular neuroscience, clinical neuroscience, developmental neuroscience, sensory neuroscience, and computational neuroscience.
Its affiliates consistently produce landmark findings and remain eminent in the field. Recently, for example, UM professor and MNI lab director Huda Akil received the “nation’s highest science honor” when President Joe Biden presented her with the National Award of Science in October of 2023.
Opportunities for direct experience aren’t limited to graduate students at UM, either. The excitement of a school like this is that its research center developed from the beginning with the dual goal of amassing knowledge and educating students to become the next generation’s leaders in neuroscience. There are plenty of opportunities for undergraduates to engage with prestigious research projects at UMich, such as the summer research opportunities like SIREN (The Summer Intensive Research Experience in Neuroscience) and NURO (Neuroscience Undergraduate Research Opportunity).
In conclusion? We’re here to reassure aspiring neuroscientists that the University of Michigan has more than earned its sterling reputation for a first-rate neuroscience program. Opa!
And, if you’re looking for more help now that you know what’s what at Michigan or want to shore up the rest of your college list with other programs that meet this high bar, contact us for individualized counseling, essay development, and application editing.
Looking for help differentiating yourself when applying to competitive tracks like Michigan’s Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience? Reach out to us for professional guidance.