College Decision-UW-Madison or Carleton College

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carleton College
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<p>I'm trying to decide whether I should attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison or Carleton College. Both schools have beautiful campuses and brilliant reputations, but they differ in a few distinct ideas/resources.</p>

<p>I was hoping someone could provide me with experiences/suggestions about the two schools if in fact they are knowledgeable of both institutions. I plan on majoring in Biology/Physics with the intention to continue to medical school. I also am very interested in undergraduate research and/or helping with studies.</p>

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<p>Carleton student here! I noticed that some other person replied to your thread in the UW forum, but since I don’t technically belong there, I figured I should address some points in this board.</p>

<p>Obviously we’re not as well-known to your average person as UW is (state flagship vs small LAC), but I think what matters most for you is that Carleton is well-known and well-respected by grad schools and medical schools as a college that offers a rigorous but stellar education. Grad schools recognize Carleton as a place that consistently churns out well-read, hard-working students who genuinely care about humanity and that’s why we have such a high rate of students who end up getting PhDs or MDs or the what-not. If you care for rankings, I think Carleton’s at the top of schools that produce PhDs and I think 100% of students who get a 3.6 GPA and a 30 on the MCAT here get into med school if they apply (again, med schools recognize Carleton’s difficult curriculum).</p>

<p>Carleton’s rather science-heavy as a LAC. Our most popular major is biology and physics and chemistry are pretty popular too. I’ll also mention that, in addition to our excellent facilities that only undergraduates use (since there are no grad students), our professors are top-notch and we’re ranked #1 for best undergraduate teaching at a liberal arts college. All classes and labs are taught by fantastic, personal professors, not by graduate students. We have some TAs and prefects who lead study sessions at night, but they’re explicitly told to review and not lecture to students.</p>

<p>If you’re interested in researching at Carleton, all you need to do is contact professors whose labs you might be interested in working at. If you’re interested in staying the summer at Carleton and doing more research, that’s totally normal.</p>

<p>The person who posted in the other thread portrayed Carleton wrongly, in my opinion, so I’ll correct some of it while I’m here --</p>

<p>As a pre-med biology major, I’d argue that while some students choose to take classes like chemistry because it’s required for pre-med, a lot of people end up really enjoying the class. One of the best things about your general Carleton student is that Carls are pretty intellectually curious so they’ll generally put in relatively the same amount of effort into an intro chem class as someone who’s considering being a chem major. Some classes also make people change their minds about what they want to major in (geology being a major culprit in the major-changing scene).</p>

<p>Anyways, that’s about all I can think of saying. Let me know if you have any questions, and I’m sure you’ll be happy at whatever college you choose!</p>

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<p>That you so much thehangingtree! This was a very informative reply, and I appreciate all the thought and experience found within. I’m also very glad you addressed some of issues in the response on the other page. This is making my decision considerably easier. I’m a bit curious: what course of study are you pursuing? Also, have you personally participated in any research or know of a few who spoke positively of it at Carleton? And finally, because I visited the cool department on the Accepted Student Day, is geology becoming a popular major for pre-med oriented students? (I have been hearing this recently through other blogs.) </p>

<p>Thank you. </p>

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<p>No problem, and I’m glad I helped!</p>

<p>I’m not quite sure what you mean by “course of study,” but I’m a biology major pursuing the pre-med track, so I’m currently taking a biochemistry class (focusing on chemistry of enzymes), a genetics class, and an educational studies class (my “wildcard” exploratory class that’s actually very fascinating – I’m considering adding an educational studies concentration [minor] to my studies). I haven’t personally participated in any research at Carleton (I work in a lab back in my hometown during school breaks) but every winter term, professors look for students to help them in their research during the summer and sometimes this research goes on during the school year too. I have some friends who do/have done research at Carleton and they speak highly of their experience here. They get to go to conferences to present their posters and the what-not.</p>

<p>I don’t know if geology is necessarily becoming “popular” as a pre-med major, but I do have a friend who’s a pre-med geology major, so I guess if you have any questions about that, I can ask her and get back to you.</p>