Carleton isn’t in your specified geographic region but it sounds perfect for you. Please consider it!
@Sured17 , check this thread. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1850716-sciences-at-clark-vs-wooster-vs-muhlenberg.html
Clark and its sciences are discussed a lot in this thread. Clark gives good merit, and you can also apply for their full-ride scholarship, for all four years. Case Western also has a good rep, not sure about its sciences, but they also give merit.
Are you at all intereted in your fellow students? There is a lot of variation in the vibe of many of these colleges. Clark, whihc my D has been accepted to, is very liberal. Union is very preppy. Lafayette and Davidson are super sporty, and as a male science major, maybe it will be hard for yiu to get in, unless you are a serious athlete (division 1 sports.) obviously. Oberlin and Grinnell have the atmosphere you want, and I know Oberlin is strong on science. Probably Grinnell too, but I know less about it.
OP, there are lots of good suggestions here, and you can possibly find all the things that you are looking for at any of the 6 colleges that you list. and those suggested. But- and it’s a very big but- you need to be realistic. For a start, what is possible is not the same as what will happen.
Looking at your list of requirements one by one it seems as if they are things that a motivated student who is serious about learning would look for.
So, I can say that you will have the opportunity to do research at pretty much every academically competitive college-
And, collaborative learning and student’s not competing over grades are not exactly the same thing- I know schools where the students don’t engage in grade competition, but mostly work individually- but at the schools the other posters have noted, and most of the ones you have listed, the majority of students play nicely.
But when you add in:
->Professors want to help students learn and are very accessible to students
->Where I will have a teacher mentor/guide
I start to wonder if you possibly have unrealistic expectations as to what college is about. Your professors are a resource - but there are limits. What do you consider “very accessible”? What are you imagining a teacher mentor/guide to be? Mentors are pretty rare in real life, and there is always a bit of alchemy involved. You will have an advisor, of course, but if you are looking for somebody who will take you under their wing, you should know that there is no college where that is a sure thing.
Thank you Lindagaf. I would probably fit in better in a Liberal and diverse student body.
Thank you Collegemom3717. I agree with you about the alchemy wrt mentors. It is unrealistic to expect any college to guarantee that. I would be looking for a faculty advisor from the department of my major(s). Is that an unrealistic expectation in the colleges suggested in this post?
Carleton is outside your geographic parameters, but fits the rest of your criteria to a T, if you will consider Minnesota.
Denison should be under consideration. Small classes, accessibly faculty, and you would get Merit aid as well. They have connections to Oak Ridge National Lab for research opportunities, too.
Davidson is a great school, but I agree that sports dominates things a bit there. It that is not your bag–participant or spectating–you should at least visit there before considering it.
Rhodes, in Memphis, also fits your profile, and again you would receive substantial Merit. They are affiliated with St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, 5 minutes from campus, with many research opportunities.
Take a look at Colleges that Change Lives. That may give you some other options.
Good luck!
I wouldn’t give up on the idea of finding a “mentor” entirely. Once you join a professor’s research team, they sort of, by definition, are mentors. We can argue where that’s more likely to happen, at a LAC or a Category I research university, but the roadmap exists.
Regarding having a faculty advisor from the department of one of your concentrations (#23), that’s entirely realistic.
probably the perfect college for you (from your list of desirable traits)which I assume is not on your radar and not in your geographic zone is Hendrix College. I would suggest you at least look into it. it is a true hidden gem and fits what you want like a glove!
https://www.hendrix.edu/
If you want academic rigor combined with very personalized attention, PLEASE check out the Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University. It’s based on a tutorial approach (one-to-one classes with professors in your major), MANY perks, no general education requirements, huge merit scholarship, and a friendly, collaborative environment. PLEASE take just a few minutes to peek at their website: https://www.ohio.edu/honors/future-students/index.cfm
It’s very difficult to get admitted (80 acceptances over 35 majors, an average of about TWO students per major because of the faculty involvement), but you have the stats for it. Beyond stats, they are looking for passion in the subject area.
Being in the HTC is like being in a small family of great students, but with the advantages of the larger university.
digmedia
I am fan of Ohio U.and the program looks interesting minus the scholars housing! having AC they get points,
mostly doubles and some triples ( a few singles) big point loss! (hopefully they update to mostly singles with a few doubles and zero triples.IMO)
“Read-Johnson is a co-ed complex. Read Hall can accommodate 125 scholars; Johnson can accommodate 108 scholarship recipients. Upperclassmen and freshmen are not separated on designated floors. Most rooms are doubles; however, Read Hall has several triples. Both Read and Johnson have limited single rooms available.”
Earlham is outside your geography (Indiana) but does a great job in the sciences, and the profs are not simply accessible, but committed to being involved with students. Based on the stats, this would be an easy one to get into, but I wouldn’t discount it. (Everyone I know who went there who did a science ended up with an MD or PhD.)
Denison is huge on mentorship, it’s probably what they pride themselves on the most. It’s a safety school for you, but you’d have a great shot for a full scholarship and the academics are excellent.
Grinnell and Carleton are also great and strong in the sciences. I’ve heard that Kenyon is, as well, even though they’re most well known for their English department
Whitman and Reed are both great choices. You’d be firmly in the upper quartile at both these institutions, but they offer lots of one-on-one research opportunities with professors (almost all of which have PhDs from top schools).
Edit: I guess I missed your geographic preferences. Well, hopefully this will be of help to someone else.
How have you done on APs. Some colleges will give distribution credit for high scores. It might be worth checking out. My older son (who attended Carnegie Mellon) ended up having to take two semesters of writing and one of history - every thing else was math, physics or comp sci. Wesleyan always seems to be full of happy students. I think it’s difficult to be a bio major these days and not run into crazy pre-meds. You just have to not let them bother you too much!
I agree with several earlier posters–GRINNELL. Other than being in Iowa, sounds perfect for you.
Another school to consider for you would be Brown. I remember them having the most wide-open curriculum of all.
You also might want to look at some Canadian schools, especially McGill or Toronto.
@zobroward - My son lived in Hoover (another Honors option) in a single. It was a “mod” structure - three halls off a common area. He was in with 6 males and 12 females.
I second the recommendation of Ohio University in Athens.
Also…
U of Rochester
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Marist College
U of New Hampshire
Ohio Wesleyan University
Case Western Reserve University
SUNY Plattsburgh
George Washington University (lately GWU is putting money into upgrading its STEM facilities. It is also trying to shed its image as a school for rich kids).
Distribution requirements are not as restrictive as you might think. For example they may require taking 3 courses in each of 3 broad categories: arts & humanities, language & social sciences, science and math. So roughly six non-science classes out of approximately 32 over the course of 4 years.
Even schools that have no distribution requirements may have other non-major requirements such requirements in foreign languages, culture & diversity, writing intensive and qualitative thinking. The school may also limit the number of courses you can take in one department in any given semester.
I would suggest that you look at Williams for excellent sciences in a supportive and nurturing environment.
RPI - if you like nerdy; my D’s a freshman there and she says the atmosphere is not competitive; with your stats you’d likely get plenty of merit aid. It has good research options especially in biochem, and few required courses outside your major
Reed - very non-GPA focused
@ insanedreamer – I appreciate your feedback on RPI - we are going to look at it for our son — he is smart but is not super competitive or a 24/7 worker, a bit anxious and not so outgoing - though in a group of “nerds” who are collaborative, and if he could have good access to professors, he could be very happy.