<p>Spread out all over country. But all small LACs, with solid academic reps, so one of the biggie questions becomes "which one has notable biology program?"
D plans to go into public health policy, so grad school is next step. Anybody with helpful info, please chime in. Thanks!</p>
<p>All three have very solid biology programs, but I'd lean toward Bryn Mawr. Bryn Mawr has close ties with the biology department at Haverford and looser ties with Swarthmore and Penn, providing a lot of courses and research opportunities for a biology major. Dorms are superb, and Mawrters have a tight-knit community.</p>
<p>Macalester is having a bit of a financial crisis, I believe. It may just be affecting admissions, though.</p>
<p>FYI: Macalester is not having a financial crisis! I don't know where you heard such nonsense.</p>
<p>I think that Warblers may be referring to the papers presented to the board back in around 2000, I think, wherein some faculty economists and cfo (or someone in similar capacity), addressed the issues that many, many others colleges needed to address. A timely analysis, and probably pretty much on the money. There are some colleges where endowments are not particularly large, but where a large portion of the student population are receiving grant-type of aid. Perhaps Mac turns out alums who either don't or can't give gifts back into the system, of this I am not sure...I appreciate that the subject was brought up, and that Mac recognized the challenges and has looked at what it might need to to do get on more solid budgetary footing, should the need arise. And believe me, the need will arise, if current trends continue. That said, I'm not nervous about Mac's current financial situation.</p>
<p>My source goes back to 2004. No doubt the college has completely bounced back and resumed need-blind admissions since then. In any case, I specifically said that it probably only affected admissions.</p>