Hi! I’m a junior and have started looking into some colleges. There are several research universities that I’d like to look into, but I think I’m leaning towards liberal arts colleges. They seem to offer more financial aid, give students more attention, and have more room for their students to explore different areas. Still, it’s SUPER important to me that I’m in a good science program with plenty of research opportunities available. I’m really interested in neuroscience, but at the moment it’s not a really big deal breaker.
Any recommendations you have for me would be fantastic. If you have any personal experience with a school, feel free to include a bit of a testimony!
(just on a side note, I am considering women’s colleges, too)
Wesleyan has an amazing string of having two winners and two finalists for the prestigious Apker prize in physics in recent years.
Like physics, Wesleyan is the only top LAC that produces a significant number of doctoral students year in and year out in the sciences, about 5% of the student body. That translates into more upper level courses (very important for math majors) and a higher level of research available to undergraduates who want it.
The colleges mentioned above are excellent but very selective.
Keep in mind, too, that “science” covers a lot of ground. No college can cover all of it equally well.
Other LACs that seem to have good science programs/facilities include:
Oberlin
Colorado College (geology)
Grinnell
Connecticut College (botany)
St. Olaf (mathematics)
Lawrence University (physics)
Allegheny
Earlham (life sciences)
College of the Atlantic (environmental science)
I’ve listed these roughly in order of selectivity and noted a few areas of apparent strength in parentheses.
It would be hard to rank LACs in order of “science” strength. One metric you might want to consider is the percentage of alumni who go on to earn doctorates in areas that interest you. Here are NSF numbers showing the baccalaureate origins of U.S.-trained science & engineering PhD recipients: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf13323/
See especially table 4 (which adjusts for school size).
Other LACs that have produced Apker Award recipients (for undergraduate research in physics):
Bucknell
Colgate
Franklin & Marshall
Hamilton
Haverford
Harvey Mudd
Middlebury
Mt. Holyoke
Oberlin
Swarthmore
Williams
Of these, the following have graduates who have won a Nobel Prize in a science field:
Hamilton
Haverford
Oberlin
Swarthmore
Ideally, a LAC science program should have both breadth and depth. Strong programs in geosciences, computer science, astronomy and math, in addition to providing opportunities for a major or minor themselves, will support and complement programs in physics, chemistry and biology, especially for students whose interest in science is wide ranging.
I will add a couple of thoughts to my post above. Table 4 in the NSF link in post #4 gives some nice objective data. If you are interested in a biology subspecialty (like neuro), don’t exclude a LAC because it doesn’t have this subspecialty as a major. Second, the good way to choose a LAC for science is to visit the school and spend some quality time in the facilities poking your head into the labs and talking to students/faculty about research opportunities.
Among all the top LAC’s Wesleyan’s science program is the only one that allows you to go on and get a Masters degree in your 5th year. Moreover, if you are accepted to the 5th year Masters program in the eligible science majors it is FREE. No other LAC can offer you that. So if you are serious about a career in science, then obtaining a Masters degree in your 5th year for free, means less time working toward your PhD or conversely going out into the job world with a Masters in your pocket without having to pay for it.
It may mean that, if your MS work supports the research you wind up doing for your doctorate.
It’s also quite possible that doing an MS degree program at one school, then switching to a PhD program at another, will only add to the total PhD completion time (compared to entering the PhD program directly.) If all you want is a terminal MS, then it’s hard to argue with “free”. However, most high-quality PhD programs will offer free tuition for all the courses anyway (along with a stipend).
(I’m not denying Wesleyan is a good science LAC, though, or that its graduate programs may bring advantages to undergrads.)
Getting an opportunity for undergraduate research often requires hustle on the part of the student. You need to be assertive. Motivated undergrads can find research opportunities even at small schools with little or no research budgets if they approach a professor and inquire about that professor’s projects.
As for specific colleges that have solid reputations in the life sciences:
St. Olaf College
Ohio Wesleyan University
Case Western Reserve University
Allegheny College
College of Wooster
Creighton University
Saint Louis University
Wofford College
Belmont Abbey College
U of Rochester
Rice University
An “under the radar” public unniversity to consider is U of Alabama-Birmingham
Below are the annual research expenditures (according to the 2015 WM rankings) of LACs included in the NSF top 50 for per capita S&E doctorate production (table 4 of the paper I cited above), showing dollar amounts in millions:
BrynMawr-Haverford-Swarthmore, Amherst-Mt. Holyoke, and Mudd-Pomona have consortium relationships with each other (and with other neighboring schools). Such a relationship can be a force-multiplier for learning opportunities at the individual colleges. Barnard is part of the Columbia University system. Wellesley has cross-registration privileges with MIT and Olin.
Ultimately the question is what it is you want to do with a degree in science. If your goal is to go an earn a PhD and have an academic career in science, then that would suggest some schools over others. If you want to go into industry or some job after college, again this would probably suggest a different crop of schools. Finally, if you just wanted an opportunity to do research and have a great all around science experience in a specific department or field, well again this would probably suggest another set of schools. Science may seem like a broad or all encompassing field, but it is not. Some schools will have much stronger departments and research potential in some fields over others. If its Neuroscience you are after then look at facilities, and research opportunities for that major across the LACs that you are interested in.