Ok, I know that’s a lot of schools lol. Daugter is definitely studying Biology and Psychology, perhaps a major in Neuroscience. We have toured all 4. Most impressed with Oberlin’s Neuroscience program but least impressed with their campus and student life. Still waiting on admission from Oberlin but other 3 have all offered top merit aid. Does anyone here have a student studying neuroscience at any of these schools? Loved Kalamzoo’s really small departments for Psych and Bio, seemed to have very unique neuroscience teacher from Europe but not a true major in Neuro. How do you learn more about their departments?
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If you haven’t already done so, you can go on each college’s websites and see what classes are required for the various majors of interest to get a feel for how they stack up against each other.
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I’m sorry I don’t have an answer for you, but I do have a question: has Denison sent out some RD decisions already? I thought they only had ED decisions out now.
I don’t know specifics about these schools/departments - but would advise your child check the rate my professor sites and see what her peers are saying about professors in these departments. Is the professor at Kalamazoo a visiting professor - what about at the other schools? A small department can have many benefits, but if you do not click with the professor (s) and other students in your major it could be an issue. My daughter is an English major at another school and decided against her favorite school (on paper) as the head of the department was very focused on Poetry and that was not my daughter’s main area of interest.
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Biased here. My grandfather went to Kalamazoo. He went on to MIT (Sloan Fellow) and University of Chicago for graduate degrees. Always maintained Kalamazoo was his best education. Of course, times have changed but I visited a few years ago and like most schools, you get out what you put into it. But with effort and focus, it can produce great outcomes. My classmate from college sends her kid there. She can’t say enough about the school. Again, anecdotal - but the school has its pluses. Western Michigan’s presence helps - makes Kalamazoo a bit more of a college town and there are great athletics facilities there too.
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No personal experience but the ability to do research early at College of Wooster sounded like a huge plus. Has your daughter talked to students at each college?
We are in the same decision process for Fall 2023. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology being the major of interest. Would you mind sharing what you did?
Why least impressed with Oberlin campus and student life? My oldest is a sophomore there and very happy with no complaints about either. If you’ve got any specific questions let me know and I’ll get a response.
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I know a number of Kalamazoo grads, all of whom went on to have excellent careers. However, it’s a small school … which is fine, as long as the student finds it to be a good fit. My D went to a small school freshman year, but it was twice the size of Kalamazoo. She found it to be too small, even though she had visited and thought it would be fine. The issue for her was lack of curriculum breadth (in her areas of interest). I would suggest that she reach out to the professors in her department of interest at Kalamazoo to ask questions.
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