<p>My son is a junior at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Northern Virginia. He has an SAT score of 2250 on his first try but plans to retake it. He got a 2350 on his PSAT so has a good shot at being a national merit scholar. He has gotten all A's in math and science, has taken plenty of AP courses, with B's in German and English, both of which he dislikes. He should have a weighted 4.25 or 4.30 at the end of his junior year, a little north of 3.8 unweighted. He got 800's on his chemistry and math SAT II's. He will be working as an intern in a chemistry lab at Georgetown this summer for the second year in a row. The professor loves him. He currently wants to be a research scientist in physics or chemistry. </p>
<p>He (and we) feel he would be most comfortable at an LAC or mid-sized university. He has narrowed his field of schools he is interested enough to visit to the following.</p>
<p>MIT
Caltech
WUSTL
Carnegie Mellon
Chicago
Duke
Haverford (legacy)
Swarthmore (legacy)
Bowdoin (legacy)
Wesleyan
Williams
Amherst
Reed</p>
<p>Obviously, MIT, Caltech and Chicago have national reputations in the hard sciences and math. But how would you rank the rest. Are they all strong for someone who wants to go on to a top graduate school?</p>
<p>Also, any suggestions about good safety schools for him?</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd needs to be on your list (as another reach, since there are no matches for him).</p>
<p>Safeties with his stats - Case Western, Rose Hulman</p>
<p>Could UVa and VT be safeties for both admissions and finances?</p>
<p>Note that job and career prospects are significantly better for physics and chemical engineering than for chemistry.</p>
<p>VT might be but probably not UVA. They try not to take a disproportionate share from Northern VA so in some ways that is a penalty on those students.</p>
<p>MIT
Caltech
WUSTL
Carnegie Mellon
Chicago
Duke</p>
<p>I am only advising on National Universities because I don’t know LACs at all.
If he wants that community feel, I think he should closely look at Duke. I have 8 friends who are there and they love it. They have a large school spirit and sense of tradition. </p>
<p>He really should visit MIT because it’s very hit or miss. Caltech has the hardest coursework out of all the universities in the US. Its a great school and its in sunny Pasadena, CA. But, you should know that it is a very very hard university and professors expect you to spend all your weekend in the library studying. </p>
<p>I don’t know much about Uchicago or CMU. </p>
<p>I know that WUSTL is amazingly strong in sciences. But, you really need to like the school. It has a great campus, but I hated the social scene at WUSTL when I did my stay.</p>
<p>Out of all those National Universities, I would recommend Duke (1st) and WUSTL (2nd) based on what your son wants.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon is a truly excellent school for math and science. You often hear about our engineering and CS programs (which are indeed top notch), but CMU is also great for pure science and math. There is a plethora of research opportunities - especially with previous research experience, my guess is that your S would easily be able to continue doing research at CMU. Many students from CMU go on to grad school, as well as work in industry.</p>
<p>Check out NORTHWESTERN for Chemistry and/or Integrated Science Program.</p>
<p>Chemistry there is ranked #7 at the grad level and the quality trickles down to undergrads. In the past decade, the chemistry department (along with ISP, see below) has been the major source of external scholarship winners (esp Goldwater and Cambridge Gates) <a href=“http://www.chemistry.northwestern.edu/[/url]”>http://www.chemistry.northwestern.edu/</a></p>
<p>ISP is definitely among the best science programs in the country. The number of prestigious awards, fellowships, and scholarships is astonishing for a small group:
[Integrated</a> Science Program Current Students](<a href=“http://www.isp.northwestern.edu/currentstudents/index.html]Integrated”>http://www.isp.northwestern.edu/currentstudents/index.html)</p>
<p>Last year, ISP produced three Goldwater winners! As a point of reference, some top schools manage to have just one winner for the entire school.</p>
<p>Following the first tier, Duke, Carnegie Mellon, and WUSTL would be the strongest for science from among those you listed.</p>
<p>Middlebury is very strong in science. Possibly more so than Wesleyan. LAC advocates often suggest spending the undergraduate years at a top LAC and going to a larger university for graduate school to get the best of both worlds. Certainly Harvey Mudd is a good idea and, for a slightly less selective school, Grinnell is often mentioned for science. (There are a number of threads on Williams vs. Amherst for science, Williams vs. Midd etc. you might want to check out).</p>