Hey, there, my daughter was accepted by Colby majoring Biology, we were informed that students from Colby have a big opportunity to be accepted by IVY league for post graduate study? Anyone here can help to give more information?
We understand that not many international students are attending Colby, as a Chinese parent, it will help alot if someone can help. Thanks.
Colby is an excellent Liberal Arts College (LAC). It is very well known in the northeast of the US (where I live), and admissions at top graduate schools throughout the US will know how strong it is. For a bachelor’s degree, it is as good or better than most of the very best universities in the US. Graduates from Colby will frequently attend very highly ranked universities for graduate school or in some cases for medical school or law school.
Colby, like many universities and LACs in the US, can be expensive. As long as you can afford it, your daughter can get an excellent education there. Do plan on getting her a good winter coat (and boots, mittens, and so on) if she goes to Colby.
Many LACs are lacking in support for engineering majors. For biology as far as I know most are excellent.
LACs tend to have smaller classes compared to large universities. This can help in several ways, such as allowing professors to get to know their students which can for example help when the student wants references (eg, to apply to graduate school, or to apply to jobs after graduation).
Thanks for your comments, LACS are not widely know in China, most parents here prefer high ranking universities, but My Daughter and I are trying to avoid as Chinese students have to join an organization linked with Chinese government, LAC should be ablbe to provide excellent undergraduate program, but really not knowing much about the acceptance rate to IVY League universities. My daughter is determined to pursue her post graduate program.
Colby is a great school. Congratulations to you and your daughter!
I think the proportion of international students at Colby is around 10 to 12%. I don’t know how that compares to Colby’s peer institutions, but that is a much higher proportion than at many other US colleges… Your daughter may well encounter some other Chinese students at Colby. And yes, I believe it could be a very good launching pad to get into top graduate programs.
@ Skywalkercn What are you really wanting to know? Is it really if your kid will get into one of a specific group of 8 schools in the US for graduate school? When you say post graduate study are you referring to graduate school or professional school? Is the goal to ensure your student has research opportunities to make a difference in your daughter’s chosen field? Or are your goals for your daughter that she go to medical school. Do you have the schools picked out for her before you even know what field she’ll eventually pursue? If so, how’d you pick the 8 schools out of hundreds available without even knowing what she intends to do? What is guiding your choice of those 8 schools. Yes, I am suggesting that your post smacks of prestige-grubbing. You are not alone. And that’s what is so worrisome.
That leads me to a more general question. If it isn’t prestige-grubbing, then excuse my mistake. But there seems to be an epidemic of prestige-grubbing-clawing to the top. I guess it is better to call it prestige-grubbing by proxy. I think it is a dangerous trend that I see growing on threads nowadays. It seems worth while to ask “When is enough enough?”
Students who do well in college usually have nice opportunities when they finish college. Even those who don’t do well in college usually have nice opportunities later. When did education start being about maneuvering by parents to position their offspring where they want them on some sort of prestige ladder? Parents who don’t even know the purpose of graduate school seem to be chasing the prestige train. Is it for them or for their student?
I can’t tell if your student is an international student or a Chinese-American. If you are writing from China, you should know that there are a lot of graduate programs in the world. Having your heart set on 8 of them makes no sense. Further, what your daughter achieves in the next 4 years is more important than the name of a school. Likewise, the 8 post graduate" schools you seem to prefer are not the only and often not close to the best schools, depending upon what your daughter chooses to study.
Attending Colby (which is an excellent school) will not automatically qualify or disqualify your daughter from getting into an Ivy League school post grad. That will be determined by what she does during her four years at Colby (GPA etc …) as well as her score on whatever grad school admissions test she takes (MCAT, GRE etc …). As a Bio major, it doesn’t sound like your daughter would pursue an MBA, but if that is the plan, she would need a few years of post-college work experience before she could get admitted to a place like Wharton or HBS.
@lostaccount Thanks a lot for your reply. In fact, I Do not care that much if my daughter can go to IVY league graduate school, most important is that she be prepared for graduate study at a nice college. I asked this question because I am not sure if Chineses consultants here deliver correct information. My daughter is a native Chinese and accepted at Colby, she plans to study medicine or pharmacy later. We just hope her to enjoy her majors, and choose her favorite university helpful to her academic career,we do not care if it is IVY or not IVY.
You are right,many Chinese parents care more about rankings of Universities than what their kids will learn, not many of them know LAC or Colby, fortunately I am not one of them.
@TheBigChef Thanks a lot and I agree.
I suspect she will have a great experience. The professors are very accessible, and she will also have many opportunities to make friends and graduate as part of a community to which she will have ties for a lifetime.
Colby has an excellent reputation in the academic community, which is the one that matters for grad school.
Congratulations to her!
@Skywalkercn. Having a S accepted to Colby, our family has become very familiar with this wonderful place.By the way, kudos and thanks to @lostaccount for a very accurate perspective that is slowly being realized in the states…
Regarding Colby and your daughter…check out Colby magazine online. There is a heartwarming story about how the student body and Colby administration celebrated the Chinese Lunar New Year with a culture Day that explored shared experiences of American and Chinese culture,cuisine and traditions. There is an active Chinese Student organization, Project Pengyou,that includes “teachers” and “learners” as Bridge Builders to foster good relations friendship and understanding amongst the evolvingly diverse student body.
This is in addition to all of the many benefits in attending a most respected LAC as nurturing friendly and “warm” as Colby…A stand alone Art Museum regarded as the finest of any LAC in the US, an internationally recognized music library and the country’s newest incredibly phenomenal athletic center.These are in ddition to it’s most selective admissions and highly acclaimed academics.
If you lived in Boston or New York City, the news your daughter has been admitted to Colby would be greeted with “Wow” and “Congratulations”!
Colby is a highly selective university that focuses on nurturing the best that undergraduate students can be and can do. Of course it all depends on the student - as we say “you can take a horse to water, you can’t make him drink”; however being admitted to Colby means that she’s the kind of person who will benefit from that level of education, they wouldn’t have admitted her otherwise.
She’ll have everything at her fingertips, it’ll be up to her to seize the opportunities.
@parentgeorgia thanks a lot for your comments,seriously we also noted Colby a nice place for our daughter who hopes to get herself prepared for graduate study later. believe she will make her decision soon.
@MYOS1634 Thanks a lot.it is right that we can only give her advices but it is up to her to make decision. Colby should be a college suitable for my daughter,I believe so.
Many internationals tend to recognize U.S. universities based upon not particularly relevant factors such as size. For those with this level of familiarity, it might be helpful to note that Colby students enter with levels of academic preparation similar to that at certain large schools such as the more selective UCs. Though the below analysis is a few years old, you can see that Colby placed a bit ahead of UCLA when considered by standardized scoring profiles. Additionally, Colby has become even more selective than it had been in the few years since the analysis was performed.