<p>Hello! This is my first thread here. Hope it is done properly.</p>
<p>I'm an international student applying to undergraduate colleges. I'm pretty sure I'll study neuroscience in gradduate schools after college, then are LACs or reserch universities better for me?
LACs provide better education, while universities have top-notch labs and facilities; and I'm not sure which provide me with more research opportunities (volunteers, internships, or independent researches). I don't know which factors may make me better quailfied for top grad schools, so I get a little confused.</p>
<p>What are your opinions? Thank you really much!</p>
<p>(this is the list of colleges I'm the most interested in, if that information will help:
LACs: Pomona College
Bowdoin College
Claremont McKenna College
Oberlin College
Macalester College
(All of them offer neuroscience major!)</p>
<p>Universities: Stanford U
Brown U
Rice U
U of North Carolina
U of Virginia
U of Miami
U of Pittsburgh)</p>
<p>Amherst was the first undergraduate institution in the United States to offer a major in neuroscience.</p>
<p>You don’t have to rule out one category of schools for the other. Apply to a generous helping of both, and make your choice after you’ve received your decisions.</p>
<p>Thank you kwu. I’ll apply to both, but the problem is that I prevously decided to apply to Pomona C through ED. But recently a teacher who had been doing neuroscience researches in America suggested me to apply to universities instead of LACs. Though I really love Pomona C, I now wonder whether I should apply to a LAC through a binding program.</p>
<p>Cy, I’m not a neuroscience expert so this is just general advice. Neither small liberal arts colleges nor large universities (or for that matter medium sized privates) provides a better education. You can do well and get into top rated graduate and professional programs no matter which undergraduate path you choose. </p>
<p>The key point is to choose the path that’s right for YOU. Go with the teaching style and social environment that appeals to you, personally. You will succeed where you are most comfortable; conversely you may not succeed if you are unhappy and mis-matched. </p>
<p>I attended a huge state university and my son is a graduate of a small LAC. We both received excellent educations, but I can tell you that the learning environment was wildly different. Not better or worse, just different. </p>
<p>We live overseas and the conventional wisdom among the college counselors at our international highschool is that kids who haven’t lived in the U.S. – either foreign nationals or American expats – often do better in the supportive environment of an LAC. So if that appeals, then by all means, pursue the LACs on your list.</p>
<p>I can also caution you, however, that outside of the U.S. even top rated LACs like Pomona, Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, are not widely recognized. Although prestige shouldn’t be a driving force in college selection, the fact is that it often is, even moreso in non-American communities. So that’s a factor that you may not be able to ignore.</p>
<p>It’s entirely a function of size. LACs offer more “personalized” relationships. Classes are taught by full professors, seldom TA’s, who can get to know their students and interact with them on a one to one basis. This can be invaluable in securing internships and research projects as well as asking for recommendations for graduate school and jobs. Of course, you can certainly develop similar relationships with your instructors at large universities and many students do successfully. The difference, to me, is that at an LAC the relationship is a given; at a large university the squeaky wheel gets attention so depending on your personality one may be better for YOU than the other.</p>
<p>Obviously, large universities have more breadth in classes offerings and as I said earlier arguably more brand name recognition. As far as availability of research opportunities, I’d not draw any conclusion before talking to folks at some of your targeted departments. My son wasn’t in science, but opportunities that were offered to him in internships, on campus involvement, job placement and graduate school advice were stupendous.</p>
<p>If you look at where graduates of Williams, Amherst, Pomona, Swarthmore end up you’ll see what I mean.</p>
<p>Major factors for admission to PhD programs in neuroscience (or any of the sciences) include undergraduate research experience, letters of recommendation, a statement of purpose (an essay explaining why you would like to attend graduate school), and GPA/GRE scores. </p>
<p>So it is important to attend an undergraduate institution that will allow you to participate in research (high-impact research is helpful, as are publications), and also one that will allow you to become close enough with three professors in your field that they will write you stellar recommendations. It’s also important to attend a school where you will be academically successful, although for top science PhD programs, your GPA wouldn’t need to be as high if you attended Stanford as it would if you attended a less-competitive school.</p>
<p>Finally, remember that you don’t need to major in neuroscience as an undergraduate to attend graduate school in neuroscience – a major in biology or chemistry would be fine, especially if you were able to do research in neuroscience or take upper-level electives in neuroscience topics.</p>
<p>Which aspects of neuroscience interest you? Cognition? Neurochemistry? Neurophysiology? Knowing that can help you focus your undergraduate major. Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Psychology, Linguistics, and Computer Science can all be good undergraduate preparation for one or more aspect of neuroscience research. </p>
<p>Happydad has an undergrad. degree in Biology, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Biochemistry. His first job after grad school was in a lab that was doing research with glia which led to his current career in neurochemistry.</p>
<p>If you look at the list of NSF graduate fellowships (a prestigious fellowship awarded for either graduating seniors or first year grad students in PhD programs) and the students’ undergraduate institutions, you’ll see that both LACs and research universities are represented. In fact, if I remember correctly, Reed College, a small LAC, had more NSF fellowships last year than any other institution. </p>
<p>As Molliebatmit suggested, you have to make your opportunities wherever you go. Get to know the profs, and get into a lab as soon as possible. My D is a senior at an LAC, applying to neuroscience PhD programs, but she spent her summers doing research at two different institutions in addition to joining a lab at her LAC. Even at a research university, she would have had to do something similar.</p>
<p>The major difference between an LAC and a top research university is the caliber of the facilities and research. An LAC is not going to have high tech labs populated with grad students and post-docs working on several related problems at once. Most likely, it will be one prof (who will be more visible/involved than a research uni prof) with a few undergraduates, possibly working in collaboration with a prof at another university. Some students thrive in the LAC lab while others want the more intense research university experience.</p>
<p>I’ve been told that graduate programs care less about the undergraduate environment than they do about the fact that you’ve experienced research first-hand, out of the classroom. They don’t expect students from LACs to be involved in world-class research projects, but they do expect them to make the most out of their opportunities. </p>
<p>I suggest that you choose the undergraduate institution where you think you’ll thrive. Remember that many students change their minds about their majors, so you’ll want an institution where you’ll be happy, no matter what you major in.</p>