Hello everyone!
I am currently facing a little dilemma. I’m from Brazil and I am having some trouble deciding which university I should attend to and the situation has its complexities.
First of all, my application to Dartmouth and Columbia revolved around Comparative Literature, something I was sure I wanted when I was writing the essays, after all I have always loved Literature. I read like a machine in Portuguese, Spanish and English, trace multiple cultural comparisons and love it so much! However, I also love Biology deeply! Ever since I can remember I loved to be in contact with nature and learn about its complexity. For instance, when I was five years old I looked at my mother and said I wanted to be an ornithologist. Also, last year I even had the opportunity to participate on a research conducted in South Africa and I had never ever been happier! So my heart is divided between those two fields which although different share many similarities.
If I go to Columbia or Dartmouth, will I be able to change majors if I feel like I discovered the field I prefer? As os right now I think that Literature may be more of a hobby and becoming a biologist is what I intend. Or perhaps I could declare two majors, in that case, would that be too expensive?
Second of all, I applied to Michigan specifically to Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) due to their focus on research. I love doing research and loved how the curriculum is focused on preparing students to become researchers. Also, I am fascinated by Sustainability and I’d be in direct contact with it in the University of Michigan Biological Station.
Idk I feel like Michigan has more opportunities for Biology and research, am I wrong? They even had a class focused on ornithology and a ornithological lab (Winger Lab of Avian Evolution).
What do you guys think? I really do like Umich and all the opportunities but Columbia and Dartmouth are such great schools! If anyone is taking biology in any of them, could you tell me about the research opportunities and about how the classes are?
Also, many of my friends were named John Jay Scholars at Columbia and I didnt, which made me a little sad. Does that mean I will have less opportunities?
Thank you so much for your attention!
Great interests! I studied environmental science in college with a focus on birds, as my username indicates.
For ecology, I would lean toward Dartmouth and Michigan and then choose based on size and setting. Do you prefer a smaller, more rural college or a large school with lots of athletic/school spirit in a college town? Michigan has a lot to offer with its zoology museum (awesome bird collections!), arboretum and botanical gardens, etc. On the other hand, your courses outside ecology will generally be smaller at Dartmouth, and you obviously have great access to birdwatching there.
You’ll need a PhD for ornithology, and all of these schools can get you into great PhD programs. Consider doing an internship or summer research program at Cornell’s ornithology lab, if you can – there’s arguably no better place for ornithology.
You may switch majors easily.
You have three awesome options.
Location/environment:
- Michigan is in the Midwest (duh) and the setting is small-to-medium city/suburban.
- Dartmouth is pretty rural, offering opportunities for outdoor adventure but not much in the way of city conveniences and opportunities.
- Columbia’s environment is about the opposite of Dartmouth’s.
Academics:
- You will have smaller class sizes at Dartmouth and Columbia overall and especially in survey courses (100- and 200-level).
- Aside from class sizes, though, Michigan holds its own in terms of academic quality. You’ll get a great education at any of these. Michigan does have an advantage in research, with the second-highest research budget among schools in the US. (JHU is #1 and UW-Madison is #3…)
- Columbia features their Core, while the other two schools give a bit more leeway in choosing which courses to fill distribution requirements.
- Dartmouth features the D Plan, an academic calendar that is different from those at Columbia and Michigan.
Social life:
- Columbia is all about NYC, but there is a large number of clubs from which to choose as well. Columbia might be the most rigorous of the three, but there are opportunities for fun.
- Michigan has the biggest sports scene and a healthy party scene as well. There are things to do off-campus too – not like NYC, of course.
- Dartmouth’s social scene is pretty robust and there is a heavy Greek presence. They have plenty of school spirit too.
These are some aspects of each school that, hopefully, will help you make a decision.