How strong is Yale in the hard sciences?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
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<p>Well, somebody's gotta do it :)</p>

<p>I'm a senior MB&B major at Yale right now, destined for medical school next year. And I can say that, without a doubt, Yale Science is unbelievable. A number of reasons:</p>

<p>1) The faculty here are actually very enthusiastic about undergraduate participation in science. The upper level science classes (especially MB&B) are often pretty small classes that allow for a lot of professor-student face time. All the profs that I know can be easily and readily found outside of class. In short, professors, with the exception of a few, really care about their undergrads here. </p>

<p>2) The science students here are also fantastic. While it's true that we represent a minority of the students here at Yale, we are a very passionate and active group of people and definitely not below the caliber of students found at other institutions. If it means anything, my PChem prof taught for several years at CalTech prior to coming to Yale. He says that the Yale students perform just as well (or badly... hehe) on his exams as CalTech students. </p>

<p>3) Undergraduate research opportunities here are abundant and easy to get. We have a number of funded programs here that are aimed at getting people involved in research as early as possible, including freshman summer, such as Perspectives on Science and STARS. As an undergraduate researcher here, you will constitue an important portion of the lab and play an important role in the projects, unlike some other schools where the emphasis is on grad students and postdocs. </p>

<p>4) In addition to those programs, we are putting in place programs that are meant to further improve research opportunities at Yale. There's the YUSBS, the Yale Undergraduate Society for Biological Science, which meets regularly for journal clubs, symposias, and seminars. Currently, they have over 200 members and have had nobel laureates come as guest speakers. The Dean's Office at Yale is also in the process of establishing an Office of Undergraduate Research which is meant to further streamline the process. Basically, we've already got a lot going for us and its only getting better every day. </p>

<p>5) For those interested in medical school, Yale has an excellent pre-med office that is very successful at getting their students into medical school. Personally, I'm an MD/PhD applicant, one of about a dozen or so from Yale this year, and we have all been REALLY successful this year, as in multiple admits to top 10 medical schools, all of us. But that's getting off-topic. </p>

<p>In summary, Yale science rocks out and I would be willing to pit it against any other science program in the nation. And lets not forget that you have the advantage of still having friends that are as a geeky/nerdy as you are :)</p>

<p>So there.</p>

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<p>thanks for the incredibly informative post chyln. Would u mind posting the names of some of the medical schools you and your friends were accepted to? Thanks.</p>

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<p>gregj: MIT's English program is excellent and highly respected. There's a lot more to MIT than the sciences.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
There's a lot more to MIT than the sciences.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Exactly, just as there's a lot more to Yale than the humanities. Stop splitting hairs, people. Once you get to universities of this caliber, whether it be MIT/Yale/Harvard/Princeton/Stanford/etc., any "differences" are really quite negligible.</p>

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<p>excalibur: think top 10-15 medical schools by USNews. Each of them have accepted multiple Yalies that I know of. Trust me when I say we do VERY well when it comes to applying to medical school. It definitely helps to be coming from Yale when it comes to applying. </p>

<p>PS. Personally, I got into the top 3, and 6 of the top 10.</p>

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<p>So chyln, would you say that Yale is better than Princeton for pre-meds? This isn't a trick question or anything... I just want to know which would be a better option for being an econ major with premed. Thanks.</p>

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<p>Well, vpat, you gotta realize who you're asking :)</p>

<p>Honestly though, I'm not too familiar with the ins and outs of applying as a premed out of princeton. I can say that I have seen relatively few princeton people while on the interview trail, but there are many reasons why that may be. All I can vouch for is that Yale is a good place for being pre-med :)</p>

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<p>Thanks for the information.
My problem is that I am a current junior. Next year I am pretty sure that I can get into Princeton ED but I am not too sure about Yale SCEA. So the problem is that I am not too sure about where to apply early since I am pretty sure that I will get rejected in the RD round. So I was wondering if Yale has a clear cut edge over Princeton and if my decision would be made for me. When I went to visit Yale, I absolutely loved it but I have not seen Princeton yet (I am a NJ resident too). I guess I will probably have to visit Princeton to determine where I want to apply early... Thanks again chyln, that long post helped me a lot.</p>

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<p>vpat, i'd say princeton has a slight edge on yale in economics, but yale has a slight edge on princeton in the life sciences. both offer more than adequate preparation for medical school, though. here, FYI, are princeton's 2005 med school admissions numbers:</p>

<p><a href="http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/2005Statistics.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/2005Statistics.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>also, more generally:</p>

<p><a href="http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.princeton.edu/sites/hpa/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Intersting to see that Mount Sinai was the #1 med school on those charts for Princetonites. I would think it would have been something higher. Also odd to see that only 5 people got into harvard (I think I am reading that right, but correct me if i am wrong - 8% of 61). There were more my year. </p>

<p>And scottie, when mentioning the national academy of science and the numbers, why don't you include all of the national academies (i.e. National Academy of Engineering and Institute of Medicine). I would think those numbers, would also be of interest, particularly the IOM stats, to those young budding pre-meds who are always on the prowl for some resume buttressing research! Or how about, the even more prestigious howard hughes? You will see that Yale does quite well in these categories, in fact, some would better than Princeton (due to Yale's Medical School, no doubt). Now this is in no way a support of Posterx's dribble and nonsense , but I think Yale is vastly underated in terms of its science departments.</p>

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<p>agreed with crimsonbulldog. Posting random statistics of how many people are in such and such miscellaneous Science society is really just a bunch of handwaving. Come visit. Ask the students (science students!) that are going there what they think of the departments, the research, the faculty, and how they feel they do post-graduation. </p>

<p>Speaking personally, Yale has done no wrong in training undergrads in science, especially the biological science, even in comparison to some of the historic scientific powerhouses.</p>

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<p>PS. If any of you guys are coming for bulldog days and want to see Yale's admissions statistics to medical schools over the past several years, you guys can visit UCS and see the huge red folders that are compiled every year of GPA/MCAT/ acceptances/rejections for each and every medical school that Yalie's apply to.</p>

<p>They won't disappoint.</p>

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<p>ahh crimsonbulldog</p>

<p>what's UCS??!!?</p>

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<p>"Posting random statistics of how many people are in such and such miscellaneous Science society is really just a bunch of handwaving."</p>

<p>1) I'm not sure that's what crimsonbulldog was saying. The number of society members is an extremely significant measure of overall faculty accomplishment.</p>

<p>2) Yale is an excellent premedical school, but the anecdotal comments of undergraduates on this board do nothing to show that it's any better than premedical education anywhere else. Conversely, the fact that other schools have much higher "rated" science departments has little correlation with the actual education that you'll receive there -- although it does relate to potential "opportunities" available.</p>

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<p>


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<p>UCS = Undergraduate Career Services, which is located at 55 Whitney Avenue, on the third floor. Most students should be able to direct you there without much difficulty.</p>

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<p>not to be a bubble buster but I think that the UCS info in kept only for currrent students, not for pre-frosh. But try anyway.</p>