Biology at Brown vs. schools like Duke, UChicago, Cornell

Hi guys,

I want to study biology in college (not pre-med). I’ve been interested in all kinds of biology, from cellular/molecular type stuff to ecological/evolutionary/behavioral type biology.

I visited Brown this past spring and really liked it, but other people have told me it’s mainly a humanities (or pre-med) school and that I should take it off my list and replace it with a school with stronger biology like Duke/UChicago/Cornell etc. Is Brown really that weak in bio? And if so, does it really even matter for undergrad?

I’m not sure how accurate this article is, but I found it when I googled Brown’s bio department. I would think that a school like Brown would be strong in most areas. Good luck!

http://college.usatoday.com/2014/09/13/top-%C2%AD%C2%AD%C2%AD10-colleges-for-a-major-in-biology/

Where’d you hear that? Brown isn’t top ten, but like greenteen17, it’s strong in most of it’s areas and especially bio.

@ripinpeace no the relative difference is not too important given that Brown is still pretty good. Another thing to consider when it comes to bio and other life sciences in general is whether the university has quality research opportunities available for undergrads, which depends on whether the university has a strong medical school and hospital and whether these are right on campus so undergrads have access to them. For example cornell has a great hospital and medical school but it is located in NYC and thus is practically inaccessible for undergrads.