Chemistry at Swarthmore?

<p>From this report (<a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/careerservices/Class%20of%202009_Future%20Plans%20by%20Major.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/careerservices/Class%20of%202009_Future%20Plans%20by%20Major.pdf&lt;/a&gt;), I do not see a lot of graduate school representation within the Chemistry graduates (and that includes Biochemistry). How strong is the Chemistry department, in terms of curriculum, faculty research and grad school admission? From my observation, the course offering is fairly limited compared to other schools (may be this will be complemented by the Honors seminars?). The prof. websites seem a bit outdated with the latest paper in 2005 so I'm not quite sure what happened after that. Also, how many chemistry students are there per class year?</p>

<p>Use this file instead. It’s the five year post-grad plans. Looking at a single year of data is going to give you very misleading info at any small liberal arts college. The raw numbers are so small that you get huge year to year swings:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/careerservices/grad%20stats%20by%20major%202004-2009.pdf[/url]”>http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/careerservices/grad%20stats%20by%20major%202004-2009.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Also, be sure to scan down to the end for the predefined special majors BioChemistry and PhysicsChemistry as a lot of “chemistry” type majors at Swarthmore do these special majors as the school is really set up to accommodate that kind of thing.</p>

<p>Here is a table of majors (raw number and percentages) over time. This allows you to look at averages over the last four years. Again, look at both Chemistry and the related special majors.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/ir/DegMajors.pdf[/url]”>http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/ir/DegMajors.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>There are also a signficant number of Chemistry minors at Swarthmore, in part due to the structure of the Honors program (which requires a major and a minor) and the fact that you have Bio and Engineering students taking a large number of Chemistry courses and the intertwined nature of sciences today.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/ir/Minors.pdf[/url]”>http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/ir/Minors.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Swarhmore is one of the most science oriented liberal arts colleges in the country with large number of science/engineering majors and very strong graduate school results.</p>

<p>Here are the top 100 colleges and universities in order of percentage of graduates going on to a PhD in math, science, or engineering:</p>

<p>


Percentage of grads getting PhDs              </p>

<p>Academic field: All Engineering, Hard Science, and Math             </p>

<p>PhDs and Doctoral Degrees: ten years (1994 to 2003) from NSF database<br>
Number of Undergraduates: ten years (1989 to 1998) from IPEDS database<br>
Formula: Total PhDs divided by Total Grads              </p>

<p>Note: Does not include colleges with less than 1000 graduates over the ten year period              </p>

<p>1       34% California Institute of Technology<br>
2   ** 24% Harvey Mudd College **
3       16% Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br>
4   ** 10% Reed College    **
5       9%  Rice University 
6   ** 8%  Swarthmore College  **
7       8%  Princeton University<br>
8   ** 7%  Carleton College    **
9       7%  New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology<br>
10      7%  University of Chicago<br>
11      7%  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute<br>
12      7%  Case Western Reserve University 
13      6%  Harvard University<br>
14      6%  Carnegie Mellon University<br>
15      6%  Johns Hopkins University<br>
16  ** 6%  Haverford College   **
17  ** 6%  Grinnell College    **
18      6%  Cornell University, All Campuses<br>
19  ** 5%  Kalamazoo College   **
20      5%  Stanford University 
21      5%  Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 
22      5%  Yale University 
23      5%  Cooper Union<br>
24  ** 5%  Oberlin College **
25  ** 5%  Lawrence University **
26  ** 5%  Bryn Mawr College   **
27  ** 5%  Williams College    **
28  ** 5%  Pomona College  **
29      4%  Colorado School of Mines<br>
30  ** 4%  Bowdoin College **
31  ** 4%  Earlham College **
32      4%  Brown University<br>
33      4%  University of Rochester 
34      4%  University of California-Berkeley<br>
35  ** 4%  Wabash College  **
36      4%  Duke University 
37      4%  Worcester Polytechnic Institute 
38  ** 4%  Amherst College **
39      4%  Stevens Institute of Technology 
40  ** 4%  St Olaf College **
41  ** 4%  Hendrix College **
42  ** 4%  Beloit College  **
43      4%  University of Missouri, Rolla<br>
44      4%  University of California-San Francisco<br>
45  ** 4%  Occidental College  **
46      4%  Alfred University, Main Campus<br>
47  ** 4%  Allegheny College   **
48  ** 4%  Whitman College **
49  ** 4%  College of Wooster  **
50      4%  SUNY College of Environmental Sci & Forestry<br>
51  ** 4%  Mount Holyoke College   **
52  ** 4%  Bates College   **
53      4%  College of William and Mary 
54  ** 4%  Knox College    **
55  ** 3%  Franklin and Marshall College   **
56      3%  Georgia Institute of Technology, Main Campus<br>
57      3%  Washington University<br>
58      3%  Long Island University Southampton Campus<br>
59  ** 3%  Macalester College  **
60      3%  University of California-San Diego<br>
61      3%  Dartmouth College<br>
62  ** 3%  Wellesley College   **
63      3%  Trinity University<br>
64  ** 3%  Juniata College **
65  ** 3%  Ripon College   **
66      3%  University of California-Davis<br>
67      3%  Florida Institute of Technology 
68      3%  Polytechnic University<br>
69      3%  Michigan Technological University<br>
70      3%  Columbia University in the City of New York 
71      3%  Lehigh University<br>
72      3%  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign<br>
73  ** 3%  Centre College  **
74  ** 3%  Hampshire College   **
75      3%  University of Pennsylvania<br>
76  ** 3%  Wesleyan University **
77      3%  University of Michigan at Ann Arbor 
78  ** 3%  Colorado College    **
79      3%  Bucknell University 
80  ** 3%  Davidson College    **
81      3%  Northwestern Univ<br>
82      3%  Texas Lutheran University<br>
83  ** 3%  St John's College (both campus) **
84  ** 3%  Furman University   **
85  ** 3%  Hope College    **
86      2%  Clarkson University 
87      2%  University of Virginia, Main Campus 
88      2%  Illinois Institute of Technology<br>
89      2%  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ<br>
90  ** 2%  Union College (Schenectady, NY) **
91      2%  University of California-Santa Cruz 
92  ** 2%  Lafayette College   **
93      2%  Brandeis University 
94      2%  University of Dallas<br>
95  ** 2%  Rhodes College  **
96      2%  University of Notre Dame<br>
97  ** 2%  Middlebury College  **
98      2%  University of Wisconsin-Madison 
99  ** 2%  Colgate University  **
100 ** 2%  Hiram College   **

</p>

<p>interesteddad. that was VERY helpful! I do see a range of grad schools for chemistry graduates in the 5-year span, which is reassuring. The number of chem. graduates per year seems a bit small (3?!), which is a good thing or not depending on how you look at it. (Maybe the small sample size does put the percentage of Swat going to Chem grad schools* higher). And holy smokes Biology and Economics! (I’ve heard Swat is a target school for I-Banking so that may be why).</p>

<p>*2005-06 HEDS Weighted Baccalaureate Origins Study</p>

<p>Edit: Also, could someone briefly explain to me the major and minor Honors? I’ve read the Swat website but I’m still confused.</p>

<p>If you’d like a LAC feel similar to Swarthmore, you may want to look at HMC.</p>

<p>More than 80% of HMC chemistry graduates go on to get a PhD, by far the highest in the country. Of course, there are only ~10 or so each year. </p>

<p>see bottom of page for source
[Introduction</a> to the Department of Chemistry](<a href=“http://www.hmc.edu/academicsclinicresearch/academicdepartments/chemistry/quickfacts1/intro.html#graduates]Introduction”>http://www.hmc.edu/academicsclinicresearch/academicdepartments/chemistry/quickfacts1/intro.html#graduates)</p>

<p>I’ve considered HMC, but I don’t want to be surrounded by math & science people all the time (my high school is one), plus I want some snow. Still, I’m gravitated towards schools with rigorous academics rep (e.g. Swat, Carleton, Grinnell, Reed) and I’m trying to gauge the strength of the chem department at each.</p>

<p>OK, explaining Honors. Here goes.</p>

<p>Basically, any student can choose to have normal Course majors and minors, which consist of a bunch of classes in the department (usually with some more specific requirements) and a senior capstone thing (senior seminar, thesis, “comprehensive project”, etc.–it varies by department) in the case of a major. Students get grades from their professors on their classes, and they graduate. Straightforward.</p>

<p>But if a student decides to do Honors, he or she will complete three two-credit Honors preparations in the major (which can be a thesis, a seminar or a course combination; each department works differently) and one in the minor. Participation in the Honors program requires an Honors major and an Honors minor. Honors exams happen at the end of senior year, and external examiners (professors from other universities) come in to give the oral and written exams and assign grades of Highest Honors, High Honors, Honors or Pass. </p>

<p>Chemistry at Swat is what one might consider a small-but-mighty department. While they have relatively few majors, the total number of students taking Chemistry courses is larger than their major numbers would indicate. And a small department means that the majors get more personal attention from professors, etc. </p>

<p>Hope that helps!</p>

<p>Since interesteddad never says it, I will say it:</p>

<p>The percentage of people going to graduate school does not indicate the strength of the colleges’ departments. For example, Swarthmore’s percentage is higher than Princeton’s and the University of Chicago’s, but if you ask most Swarthmore professors which is better for math grad school, I think most would say the latter schools. I’m not saying that Swarthmore is a bad choice for those considering math grad school, but it’s very hard to get research experience in math at Swarthmore, and very few Swarthmore math majors who go to graduate school end up going to the top ones. For graduate school placement, the economics, political science, physics, and biology departments are all very strong, and stronger than the math department. Though the level of instruction in math here is overall good.</p>