<p>Hi! If anyone knows of any colleges that meet this criteria I would be very grateful! My mom says I need to expand my list.</p>
<p>I would like a college that is/has....
Liberal, but not counter-cultural
Between 2000-8000 students
Fairly selective (top 50 US News Ranking for its category)
In the northern 1/2 of the country
Strong biology program
Not too many core-requirements
In a city or a suburb (but I wouldn't mind a beautiful rural area either)
Minimal greek life and drugs/alcohol
Happy and healthy student body! </p>
<p>I know that's a long list so possible schools don't have to fit my criteria exactly. Currently I'm looking at Middlebury, Brown and St.Olaf. </p>
<p>Not in the northern half, but what about Scripps? It is part of the Claremont Consortium, so you get a pool of 5,000 students all right together. The consortium colleges are right next to each other (fit together like lego blocks on one larger campus). And you can take classes at the other colleges, too. </p>
<p>Or how about Mount Holyoke? Don’t count them out because they are all female until you have visited campus – the campus is beautiful, academics are strong, partying is not as intense as you find at co-ed schools with Greek life, and there is a pretty cool vibe to the place. Both my daughters weren’t so sure until they visited, but they loved it and both applied. They also give good merit aid if you have high stats. And also are part of a consortium so you get expanded social and academic opportunities, although you do have to shuttle between colleges.</p>
<p>How about Macalester? I suppose they might be a little on the counter-culture side, but worth checking out (I can think of more counter-culture colleges for sure).</p>
<p>I’d suggest looking at Smith. It meets pretty much all of your criteria. It’s in a nice rural area but is a 5 minute walk from downtown Northampton, one of the nicest college towns in the country. Academics are very important to students, but it’s a friendly, collaborative, non-competitive atmosphere. It only has one required course beyond the major requirements. There’s no greek life; a large portion of the student body aren’t into drugs or drinking, but still manage to have a great time. It has a wonderful, intimate housing system with 40 houses and 10 dining halls for 2600 students.</p>
<p>The biology program is strong with excellent facilities, opportunities for research during the school year and summer (my daughter has been doing biology or biochemistry research since the start of her first year), and a very supportive and easy-to-interact-with faculty. If you’re interested in study-abroad, they have a new Science in Paris program to make it easier for science and engineering students to study abroad.</p>
<p>Seconding woogzmama’s vote for Vassar, which is just about to open a sparkling new science building, ticks every single item on your list, is fully need-blind and guarantees to meet 100% of need, and has a fantastic program for (paid) research internships in your field (URSI).</p>
<p>Holy Cross has great science programs including biology and has no greek life on campus. Great school that also meets 100% demonstrated financial need.</p>
<p>Seconding intparent’s suggestion of Mount Holyoke. My D is a biology major there and absolutely loves it for so many reasons, not least of which is that the professors genuinely care about teaching and make themselves available to students. Here is an anecdote from my daughter’s experience: She had been reading about the professors and was really excited about one particular Bio professor who seemed to have a very similar passion for bio -from a naturalist/evolutionary/field observation viewpoint- as herself (not that the bio department in general is like that - it is also very strong for pre-med). She hoped to one day be able to take a class with him. She was thrilled when she got into his Bio 101 class. Then she found out he was also her freshman academic advisor. The first day of class, they hung out for a while after class discussing the evolution of Trilliums and her passion and theories about specific insects. They have already been talking about internships for the summer in her field. He gave her the keys to the locked biology lab rooms where the upperclassmen do their entomology research. She spends a lot of her free time in there, looking at slides of insects prepared by students in the 1800’s. She has a whole research area of her own in there now, just a few weeks into freshman year, and frequently meets outside of class with the professor. Looking back on my own college experience, this just seems so wonderful and lucky. She has immediately connected with a professor who shares her passion, is more than willing to spend time with her, and is already helping her pursue her career path. WOW.</p>
<p>I don’t feel like Vassar is particularly strong in Biology… we went through this analysis a few years ago when D2 thought she might want to be a biology researcher… and Vassar dropped from our list because not a particularly strong reputation in Bio. Sorry, don’t recall more details… very good school in a lot of areas, of course.</p>
<p>Okay, @staceyneil, now I am feeling a twinge about my D2 not ending up at Mt. Holyoke. She would have LOVED access to the entomology research lab rooms! She is, of course, very happy where she is. But I think I will tell her about this…</p>
<p>Brown is on the edge of being a “counter-cultural” school- EXTREMELY liberal, pretty different from St Olaf in this respect. As long as you are looking at Northfield, MN schools, what about Carleton? It is certainly not a “party school” but might be more than you are looking for.</p>
<p>Edit to say that there is a fair amount of partying at Tufts, but lots of other activities as well. Lots to do in the area. </p>
<p>If you are looking for minimal core requirements then Amherst, Hamilton and Vassar should be on your list. Vassar is building a new science building in which the biology department will reside so the sciences are being supported at Vassar. Also we were impressed with Hamilton’s science building when we visited a few years ago.</p>
<p>Core requirements aside I strongly agree with the Williams, Holy Cross, Mount Holyoke and Tufts suggestions in previous posts.</p>
<p>University of Rochester hits most of your criteria dead-on (maybe more middle of the road and apolitical than liberal), but I don’t know how the bio program is. Probably pretty good. It is generally ranked in the 40s-50s overall and has a generally good reputation.</p>
<p>Yes, definitely check out university of rochester!! It may not be classified as “liberal” however it meets all of your requirements. Undergrad is less than 6000 students, it’s selective and I believe it was ranked #32 in this years USNWR (don’t quote me) and they are one of the only schools having an opening curriculum! Meaning there are no required classes except a writing. There biology program is TOP NOTCH. The labs and profs are amazing. Not to mention the beautiful campus! If you have any questions please ask me!</p>
<p>I will third the University of Rochester and add Brandeis University. Not so sure of the class size but you might want to look at Franklin & Marshall. I would add Colgate but I know that it somewhat of a work hard, play very hard atmosphere</p>
<p>How important is the “liberal” part? I attended Colgate and it’s definitely not that… in fact I transferred out partially for that reason. Good biology department, though.</p>
She would have LOVED access to the entomology research lab rooms! She is, of course, very happy where she is. But I think I will tell her about this…</p>