PhD production - Chemistry

Colleges and Universities A-Z Swarthmore College
1

<p>Here are the top-50 undergrad schools in per capita PhD and Doctoral production from 1994-2003. Rank, followed by name, followed by number of PhDs per 1000 undergrads. This covers all PhDs and doctoral degrees included in the NSF data base. </p>

<p>Per Capita Undergrad Production of PhDs and Doctoral Degrees </p>

<p>Academic field: Chemistry </p>

<p>PhDs and Doctoral Degrees: 1994 to 2003 from NSF database </p>

<p>Enrollment from 2004 USNews </p>

<p>Formula: PhDs divided by undergrad enrollment times 1000 </p>

<p>1 Harvey Mudd College 100
2 California Institute of Technology 42
3 Wabash College 38
4 Reed College 30
5 Carleton College 30
6 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 27
7 Bowdoin College 26
8 Grinnell College 24
9 Haverford College 24
10 Franklin and Marshall College 22
11 College of Wooster 22
12 Bryn Mawr College 19
13 Allegheny College 18
14 College of William and Mary 18
15 Texas Lutheran University 18
16 Furman University 17
17 University of Minnesota - Morris 17
18 Knox College 17
19 Occidental College 17
20 University of Chicago 16
21 Bates College 15
22 Rice University 15
23 Juniata College 15
24 Kalamazoo College 15
25 Williams College 15
26 Swarthmore College 15
27 Oberlin College 15
28 College of the Holy Cross 14
29 St Olaf College 14
30 Hendrix College 14
31 Andrews University 14
32 Hope College 14
33 Trinity University 13
34 Lawrence University 13
35 Harvard University 12
36 Davidson College 12
37 Ursinus College 12
38 Kenyon College 12
39 Macalester College 12
40 Centre College 11
41 Wellesley College 11
42 Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL) 11
43 University of Richmond 11
44 Colgate University 10
45 St John's University (Collegeville, MN) 10
46 Ripon College 10
47 Drew University 10
48 Willamette University 10
49 Beloit College 10
50 Augustana College (Rock Island, IL) 9
51 Hiram College 9
52 Lake Forest College 9
53 Gustavus Adolphus College 9
54 Dartmouth College 9
55 Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 9
56 Albion College 9
57 Amherst College 9
58 Worcester Polytechnic Institute 9
59 Hamline University 9
60 Bethel College (North Newton, KS) 9</p>

<p>Note 1: Some have complained that these lists don't provide useful data. Proposed Solution: ignore the lists. </p>

<p>Note 2: Some have complained that these lists don't include Law, MBA, MD, or Masters degrees. Proposed Solution: find the data and make your own list. </p>

<p>Note 3: Some have complained that I should go school by school and selectively remove engineering from one school or music from another, but leave them for still others. Proposed Solution: Be my guest.</p>

2

<p>This list is interesting in that several of the schools high on the other sciences drop down here, including Swat. I suspect this has to do more with so many career paths headed into areas like BioChem that are accounted for on the Biological Sciences list. </p>

<p>It also reflects much smaller numbers of Chem majors, 8 last year compared to 50 Bio majors.</p>

<p>I don't see it as a reflection of department quality. Of the 8 Chem majors graduating from Swarthmore last spring, at least 3 went directly into PhD Chemistry programs -- one at Yale, one at Berkeley, one at Columbia. Not a bad departmental track record.</p>

3

<p>On the other hand, there are some schools that have a reputation (and PhD production record) in both of these fields, which may be fortified, I suspect, by having a certain size of faculty as well as other factors.</p>

<p>It's interesting to me to see in the anthropology field, for example, that Beloit shows up high there, because that's one of the LAC's that also has a strong rep in that field. So students interested in that subject, and an LAC, can choose a place like that, or Bryn Mawr and a few others, and probably get excellent preparation.</p>