<p>Come April, a young relative of a good friend will likely have acceptances from five mideastern LACs: Kenyon, Allegheny, College of Wooster, Hiram and Wittenberg. She will also have acceptances from University of Dayton and Xavier (OH). </p>
<p>She is a 3.8 student at an okay, suburban all-girls parochial high school, with all the Bs in english, history etc. She is an excellent science and math student. ACT score around 29 I believe, with 99th percentile on science reading, strong math and not so hot on the rest. At this point she is interested in genetic biology and medicine.</p>
<p>I know a fair amount about these schools and have visited several, but for a variety of reasons never focused on science and math departments. Would anyone make a case for one of these schools being a "best choice" for this student, or identify a school that wouldn't be such a great spot for her?</p>
<p>U of Dayton and Xavier are different from the rest of your list in that they are definitely urban schools. Over the years, UD has had a fairly good pre-med reputation, along with a party reputation.It's also substantially larger than any of the other schools. Xavier isn't as large, not a party school particularly, and maybe the least demanding academically of the list. A few of my daughter's friends who are interested in med school applied to Allegheny, though none ended up attending. All these schools would be decent for pre-med, I think the "best choice" of them would be decided on the basis of small school/small town, larger(still not large though)/urban setting.</p>
<p>I am definitely not an expert on these schools, but my daughter will be attending Kenyon next year. Kenyon has recently built a new science facility and seems to be actively encouraging students interested in sciences to attend. I know that a chemistry major there recently won a Fulbright scholarship.</p>
<p>I am only slightly familiar with Wittenberg because I've been on the campus to visit a friend of mine who is a professor of Biology there. The campus is beautiful and there are some good opportunities there if you want to get involved. I know that with him there are opportunities for undergrads to get involved with some of the field research. The daughter of another friend of mine went for a biology degree at Wittenberg and had this professor as an advisor. She had no trouble getting accepted into grad school.</p>
<p>Wittenberg has always struck me as a good school...but I'm turned off by the fact that they kick everyone out of on-campus housing after sophomore year. Their published literature claims this is a good thing because it forces students to learn to live on their own, but I'd still prefer a school where living off campus is an option, not a requirement.</p>
<p>Hubby and I are grads of Allegheny. They are very strong in the sciences and have good med school admission rates, about twice the national average I believe. They have an excellent science facility for bio and chem that is about 10 years old. It was specifically designed to encourage collaberative work. Students can get an excellent science education there.</p>
<p>What you say is true, but a lot of the "off-campus housing" is actually owned by Wittenberg. But I doubt that there is enough school-owned housing for all the juniors and seniors that need it, since their web site mentioned a lottery for that housing.</p>
<p>The science facility at Allegheny is indeed beautiful. Dorms are nice, interest houses offer offer living options. Seems to attract thoughtful students rather than the party crowd. Your friend's D might be interested in the Neuroscience department. CS is very good, too. My son has been accepted under their 'leadership application' already. Although he is aiming for more competitive schools, he would be happy to attend Allegheny - he selected this school very carefully.</p>
<p>Our input will help my friend advise his niece. He has two Ds recently accepted at top schools in the far west and midwest, but is not as familiar with schools in Ohio and Pa.</p>
<p>I am not a College of Wooster parent, but I know several parents whose kids have gone to there. Stellar comments all around. If the young lady is stongly premed, there are Ohio schools with an agreement with UCincinnati Medical school that is worth investigating. Those colleges, Xavier, U Cinci, John Carroll, and a few others have a sweet deal if the student can get into the premed program. As to the other schools, research really needs to be done on how many fulltime profs are teaching the maths/sciences and how many majors there are in the field. I do know that Allegheny has a very strong regional rep as the best of the small western PA schools, and Kenyon has a national rep at this time as a great school.</p>