Good Science Undergrad Schools

<p>hmm...i was searching the forum and i didn't find any threads on schools with good science programs (maybe i wasn't looking hard enough? >_<). I'm planning to major in science, and i definetely want to go to a school with a top science program. A lot of the upper-ranked schools i know stress the liberal arts curriculum, especially with core courses on writing, philosophy, etc. Are there any schools that stress SCIENCE (any science). I know there are a lot of engineering schools, but those are focused more on the engineering aspect. It's not that i want NO liberal arts/classic studies at all, but i just want to know which schools are good to apply to if i want to major in science.</p>

<p>The only one i know that is like...all math, all engineering/science is Harvey Mudd, in CA. I guess i'm not THAT educated in colleges, so i would love your input! also, are tech schools good for science? If any of you need me to clarify, please post! </p>

<p>Thanks :D</p>

<p>I'm looking for a good science program too. :) </p>

<p>Right now I'm definitely considering Vanderbilt. :O</p>

<p>MIT
Caltech
Cornell
Stanford
Johns Hopkins
U of Michigan
UNC-CH
UIUC
The whole UC system
Harvey Mudd
...and many, many more. Give more specific criteria.</p>

<p>Grinnell
Bowdoin
Reed
UWisconsin
Case Western
Carnagie Mellon
URochester
Swat
Bryn Mawr</p>

<p>wow thanks guys</p>

<p>i just wanted to know which ones are good--i did hear case western has a good internship/research program</p>

<p>carnegie mellon's more comp. science oriented, no? hmm...maybe i should say i'm looking for schools more along the lines of biology, chemistry, and physics.</p>

<p>Bowdoin, Reed -->never heard of those</p>

<p>somewhere i've heard Duke's program isn't bad either</p>

<p>You need to narrow it down from location / size / feel perspectives - otherwise you will end up with the list of 30-40 schools.</p>

<p>Cornell
CalTech
MIT
JHU
Duke
U Chicago
Wustl<br>
U Michigan
Northwestern
Emory (biology)
U Rochester</p>

<p>Wisconsin is better than UM, Northwestern, and Chicago for sciences.</p>

<p>Reed produces one of the highest number of Chemistry graduates that go on to get Ph.D's. Ditto for Grinnell....Bowdoin is better at Biology and enviornmental science, but the other departments are very good as well.</p>

<p>BTW, Bowdoin is generally considered a top 10 LAC...</p>

<p>If you're sticking with large universities, then UWisconsin is one of the better schools, like barrons said.</p>

<p>to just say "science" is far too broad. There are certainly schools that excel in one science but not another. School A could be phenomenal at physics, but exceptionally poor at geology. </p>

<p>The other thing is that a lot schools with "weak" overall programs may still possess some of the world's leading researchers in very specific areas. I know of one school which had a fairly bland chemistry program - adequate but not special - but one of the top 3 Carbon-14 NMR spectrometry experts in the world. Granted that's of far greater importance for graduate students looking for programs, but illustrative that the quality of some programs is dynamic or hard to measure.</p>

<p>At Caltech we have to take calculus, multivariable calculus, linear algebra, diff. eq, probability, statistics, classical mechanics, E&M, waves, quantum physics, statistical mechanics, two terms of general chemistry, a term of lab techniques in chemistry, a term of a specific topic in biology (not general biology), a scientific writing class in your field of choice, an additional lab class of your choice, and a science "menu" course in astronomy, energy sciences, environmental engineering, geology, or information science. So even if you're just a literature major (which only happens very rarely, the humanities majors are designed so people can conveniently double major in a technical field and a humanity or social science,) you're still going to have a strong background in science and math. Harvey Mudd is fairly similar to this as well. You should check out their website and view their core in detail if you are seriously considering applying there.</p>

<p>And Caltech certainly isn't engineering only. About half of the people who graduate here major in engineering and the other half major in pure science. There are probably more pure science majors here than at most "Tech" schools, but just about every one is going to have a good amount of science majors, with an exception of schools that are explicitly for engineering, like Olin. </p>

<p>What type of science are you interested in? Even if you don't know exactly what field, are you more interested in biological science or physical science? (Of course, this is coming from someone who wants to study the physics of biochemistry.) If you're still undecided, but just know that you like science, there are plenty of schools that have good programs in almost all scientific fields (most major universities and plenty of smaller tech schools.) Just make sure you find one that lets you switch majors fairly easily.</p>

<p>for me, personally, i'm really interested in a combination of bio + chemistry, or bio + medicine (like pharmocology) </p>

<p>the stuff at CalTech and Reed sounds incredible :D</p>

<p>I would argue that Harvard is a pretty decent school in which to study science.</p>

<p>Here is a list of top national universities sorted by the proportion of bachelors graduates in biological and biomedical sciences. IPEDS 2004 data.</p>

<p>university, SAT 75th percentile, total number of bachelors graduates, number of bachelors graduates in biology, proportion of bachelors graduates in biology</p>

<p>UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-DAVIS 1280 5608 960 0.17
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-SAN DIEGO 1360 4131 661 0.16
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE 1310 4633 594 0.13
YESHIVA UNIVERSITY 1350 575 74 0.13
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 1570 208 24 0.12
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-LOS ANGELES 1410 7026 822 0.12
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-RIVERSIDE 1200 2893 335 0.12
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER 1410 1174 136 0.12
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY 1440 816 90 0.11
CORNELL UNIVERSITY-ENDOWED COLLEGES 1490 3577 393 0.11
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY 1450 6650 710 0.11
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 1530 1014 115 0.11
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON 1390 6336 681 0.11
CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY 1420 790 77 0.1
RICE UNIVERSITY 1540 716 74 0.1
WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE 1390 605 62 0.1
YALE UNIVERSITY 1560 1339 133 0.1
CLARK UNIVERSITY 1305 449 40 0.09
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 1580 1797 165 0.09
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 1560 1194 103 0.09</p>

<p>Here is a list of top national liberal arts colleges sorted by the proportion of bachelors graduates in biological and biomedical sciences. IPEDS data 2004.</p>

<p>college, SAT 75th percentile, total bachelors graduates, number of bachelors graduates in biological sciences, proportion of bachelors graduates in biological sciences</p>

<p>WOFFORD COLLEGE 1350 247 48 0.19
AUGUSTANA COLLEGE 1300 540 93 0.17
COLORADO COLLEGE 1380 523 83 0.16
EARLHAM COLLEGE 1340 249 41 0.16
JUNIATA COLLEGE 1260 332 50 0.15
HENDRIX COLLEGE 1340 230 32 0.14
WHITMAN COLLEGE 1440 337 48 0.14
AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE 1300 204 27 0.13
ALLEGHENY COLLEGE 1300 455 61 0.13
PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE 1240 268 36 0.13
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE 1530 364 46 0.13
GRINNELL COLLEGE 1490 367 45 0.12
KALAMAZOO COLLEGE 1380 285 34 0.12
BOWDOIN COLLEGE 1460 414 45 0.11
BRYN MAWR COLLEGE 1410 299 32 0.11
CARLETON COLLEGE 1480 455 48 0.11
DENISON UNIVERSITY 1330 514 56 0.11
KNOX COLLEGE 1340 265 30 0.11
LAFAYETTE COLLEGE 1350 541 58 0.11
OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY 1320 377 41 0.11
REED COLLEGE 1460 310 34 0.11
RHODES COLLEGE 1370 334 37 0.11
URSINUS COLLEGE 1320 361 40 0.11
WELLS COLLEGE 1230 91 10 0.11
AUSTIN COLLEGE 1340 310 32 0.1
CENTRE COLLEGE 1340 258 25 0.1
COLBY COLLEGE 1430 486 48 0.1
COLLEGE OF WOOSTER 1330 391 39 0.1
CONNECTICUT COLLEGE 1400 452 45 0.1
DAVIDSON COLLEGE 1440 426 44 0.1
HAVERFORD COLLEGE 1460 323 32 0.1
ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY 1380 462 48 0.1
LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY 1340 314 32 0.1
POMONA COLLEGE 1530 394 40 0.1
SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 1360 311 31 0.1
SPELMAN COLLEGE 1140 533 54 0.1
ST MARY'S COLLEGE OF MARYLAND 1350 396 38 0.1</p>

<p>Gourman Report undergraduate biology ranking </p>

<p>Biology rankings from Gourman Report
Caltech
MIT
Yale
Harvard
Wisconsin
UC San Diego
UC Berkeley
U Colorado
Columbia
Stanford
U Washington
U Chicago
Duke
Wash U St Louis
UCLA
U Michigan
Cornell
U Penn
Purdue
Indiana U
UNC Chapel Hill
U Utah
Johns Hopkins
Northwestern
Princeton
UC Irvine
Notre Dame
UC Santa Barbara
UVA
Brown
U Illinois Urbana Champaign
U Pittsburgh
Vanderbilt
U Oregon
SUNY Stony Brook
U Rochester
Tufts
U Minnesota
SUNY Buffalo
U Texas Austin
Florida State
Michigan State
USC
U Connecticut
UC Riverside
Rice
Iowa State
SUNY Albany
Case Western
Boston U
Ohio State
NYU
U Iowa
Penn State
Emory
Brandeis
U Kansas
Rutgers New Brunswick
Tulane
US Air Force Academy
U Missouri Columbia</p>

<p>Gourman Report ranking for undergraduate molecular biology</p>

<p>molecular biology
MIT
Caltech
U Wisconsin Madison
UC Berkeley
U Colorado Boulder
Northwestern
UC San Diego
U Michigan Ann Arbor
Harvard
Princeton
Carnegie Mellon
Cornell
U Penn
Purdue
RPI
SUNY Buffalo
U Arizona
U Texas Austin
U Washington
Penn State UP
Vanderbilt
UC Santa Cruz</p>

<p>Gourman Report ranking for undergraduate biochemistry</p>

<p>Biochem from Gourman
Harvard
MIT
UC Berkeley
Wisconsin
Yale
UCLA
Cornell
UC San Diego
U Chicago
U Illinois
Columbia
U Michigan
U Penn
UC Davis
Brandeis
Northwestern
Princeton
U Iowa
Michigan State
Rice
Case Western
Purdue West Lafayette
Oregon State
NYU
U Oregon
Rutgers New Brunswick
SUNY Stony Brook
U Texas Austin
Iowa State
UC Riverside
Penn State University park
USC</p>

<p>Harvey Mudd and Caltech have a very similar core curriculum. However, Harvey Mudd has a huge humanities requirement that's spread out over 3 areas in addition to that. If you wanted to double major in a humanity with science, it would be easier to go to Caltech to do it.</p>

<p>For Engineering I'd say the top schools you could go to are:
MIT
Caltech
Harvey Mudd/Olin/Cooper Union
Berkeley
Stanford</p>

<p>Of the three, Wesleyan undergrads probably have the best chance of sharing in the research: </p>

<p><a href="http://www.dph.state.ct.us/StemCell/About.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dph.state.ct.us/StemCell/About.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>