Liberal Arts Colleges for Computer science or neuroscience

I’m a high school senior but I’m still not really sure what I want to study in college which is why I would like to attend a smaller school where it will be easier to switch majors. I’m interested in studying neuroscience/biology on the pre-med track or computer science as a backup major if I choose not to become a doctor or work in healthcare. I’m also interested in bioinformatics or a similar field. I’m looking at schools around the country, but does anyone know small schools where students can easily switch majors but also have a strong computer science program as well as pre-med science? Whenever I look at schools with strong computer science programs, it is difficult to switch into the major or into the college of the university. I’m not sure if I want to declare my intended major in more of the sciences (biology/neuroscience) or engineering (computer science) so flexibility in a school is key.

Does anyone have any college recommendations?
Stats: 1490 SAT, 720 reading and 770 math
GPA: 4.0 unweighted 4.4 weighted

It sounds like you may want to take a look at Liberal Arts Colleges offering an Open Curriculum. Some of those offering Computer Science fall in the top tier of LAC’s. Amherst College for example, would have Computer Science and is part of the Five College Consortium making it possible to take classes at other nearby schools as well. Another option might Pomona College which is part of the Claremont Colleges.

Thank you. Do you or anyone have any other suggestions? I’m from CA and not many students from my school have gone to LAC on the East Coast so I do not know much about them. I was looking at schools like Wellesley, Tufts, and Brandeis, but I would like to apply to more since LAC are very competitive in admission.

I think it would be better to finalized your decision what are you interested in before checking out of schools you want to attend.

I’m a neuroscience major/premed at Colgate and your stats are competitive for admission. We don’t have engineering majors but we do have computer science. There are some core classes that are required but after that, it is very easy to take the classes that you want.

Here is a broad list for you to dig around in
http://collegelists.pbworks.com/w/page/16119530/Open%20Curriculum%20-%20schools%20with%20more%20flexible%20curricula

For computer science, Hamilton offers a very strong program and has performed well in programming competitions that included other highly selective liberal arts colleges such as Middlebury and Wellesley:

https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/comp-sci-department-hosts-college-computing-conference

https://cs.hamilton.edu/ccscne/

You might also be interested in their well-established bioinformatics programs:

http://academics.hamilton.edu/biology/home/bioinformatics.html

https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/bioinformatics-at-hamilton

Hamilton’s curriculum in general is among the most flexible in the nation, with nearly all courses open to all students.

@zbthsjunior The Colgate admissions rep. just visited my school, and I really liked Colgate. However, I am concerned about it being in kind of the middle of nowhere. Are there pre-med opportunities around campus such as hospital volunteering etc? Also, do you know how strong or popular the computer science program is?

Colgate is an excellent college for science, by both program strength and facilities. However, if you wouldn’t appreciate an authentically rural collegiate atmosphere, then the school may indeed not be for you. Nonetheless, this Forbes article, in which Colgate’s charming village has been included as one of “America’s Friendliest Towns,” might make interesting reading:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2012/12/19/americas-friendliest-towns/

Relative to your comment about “being in the middle of nowhere” and hospital volunteering, I would like to make a point: attending Colgate, and taking advantage of its campus life, will be a very different experience from what you might expect. High school will be a distant memory and you will be surrounded by eager and smart students, faculty and staff whose priority is enriching the academic and social lives of the community. That’s the beauty and value of a Colgate experience.

I hope you have the opportunity to visit Colgate and nearby Hamilton College (30 minutes away) to assess how they might suit you. Both are excellent, rural, residential LACs, but they have quite different characteristics in terms of size and emphasis on athletics, as starters.

Best of luck with your college search!

Go ‘gate!

You might look at University of Rochester. Not LAC small but small for a uni, strong in both your potential majors, and offers an open curriculum.

@Meddy is correct. “Open curriculum” is what you need. CS is hard to get into and can be even harder to switch or transfer into at a lot of schools. It’s good advice in terms of keeping your options open.

Check out Case Western Reserve University…strong in STEM and pre-med. They have a single door admissions policy so if you are admitted, you can take classes in any of the schools (Engineering, Arts and Sciences, Business).

You can look at the freshman year curriculums for both majors and take classes that would overlap until you decide. At Case it would seem bioinformatics is a graduate program, but you could talk to the professors to see what courses would prepare you for that area.

Take a look at Wesleyan, a large-ish LAC (~3000 students) with aspects of a research university (doctoral programs, million dollar NIH grants.) Crazy amount of undergraduate research:
http://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2017/05/05/students-present-academic-research-at-several-poster-sessions/

Since you are not sure about east coast schools… My daughter is at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX (a LAC). She started out pre-med and I know they have Neuroscience. She has close friends in CS, and they are involved in a program called “Students & Start-ups” pairing CS students with tech start-ups. Also, they have had amazing CS summer internship experiences on both coasts.

My daughter changed her mind about going the pre-med route after freshman year and is still on tract to graduate in 4. They don’t declare majors until the end of Sophomore year. Good luck in your search!