<p>Any LAC has strong astronomy major?</p>
<p>Carleton, Swarthmore, Union, Whitman, Oberlin to name a few, but there are others as well.</p>
<p>I am pretty sure Colgate University, Wesleyan University and Williams College are very strong in Astronomy/Astrophysics. </p>
<p>I also think a couple of LACs in Vermont (Bennington College and Malboro College I think) also have good programs.</p>
<p>For LACs that have strong astro & physics in the northeast, look at schools that are part of NECUSE (New England Consortium of Undergraduate Science Education):</p>
<p>Amherst College, Bates College,Brown University, Colby College, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, College of the Holy Cross, Middlebury College, Mount Holyoke, College, Smith College, Trinity College, Wellesley College, Wesleyan College, Williams College and Yale University.</p>
<p>(Obviously, Brown, Harvard, & Yale are not LACs, but the rest are.)</p>
<p>In the mid-Atlantic, look at: Union, Swarthmore, Colgate, Vassar, Bucknell, Haverford.</p>
<p>In the midwest: Carleton, Macalester, Grinnel, Oberlin</p>
<p>Out west, look at Reed, Pomona, Occidental, Harvey Mudd.</p>
<p>following on a couple of the comments in this thread so far, the idea of Bennington sounds very good:
-at Bennington you devise yr own course plan (called "The Plan")
-Bennington has a fine Physics program
-as a Bennington student you can register to take courses at Williams (about 20 minutes away Bennington)
-Bennington even has its own (smallish) observatory as well...
-Bennington has an extremely high percentage of graduates who go on for PhDs
-Bennington has a compulsory Field Work Term where you are required to do internships, for each of yr 4 undergaduate years</p>
<p>Wesleyan was mentioned above, but I want to add that they have a very small grad program in Astro, wh ich provides a lot of opportunities for the undergrads as well.</p>
<p>When we were looking for this, we also looked into Colgate, Carleton, and Swarthmore.</p>
<p>For somewhat less selective, try Franklin and Marshall, very solid in all sciences.</p>
<p>Maybe I'm missing something, but Bennington has exactly ONE class in astronomy listed in their course catalog. Perhaps Bennington has a fine physics department, and perhaps you can take additional classes at Williams, perhaps or do independent study in astronomy/astophysics and perhaps Bennington , but ONE class? Again, perhaps I am missing something, as I know Bennington has an extremely unusual curriculum. Still, with so many other excellent LACs with more fully developed course offerings in astronomy, seems like there are better choices.</p>
<p>The Williams program in astronomy and astrophysics - with Pasaschoff and Kwitter - is one of the strongest in the country, with working astronomers in the field all over the country. The 5-College program is also very strong, especially in radioastronomy.</p>