Application deadlines are coming up soon, so I decided to turn to CC to facilitate my LAC search. Any help would be great! I’m a pre-med looking towards a neuro/bio major. Things I’d love:
CO-ED
Next to a large city
Great research opportunities
No grade deflation (obviously I’m fine with academic rigor though, just not notoriously difficult grading like Harvey Mudd)
I know LACs are liberal, but please not one that’s excessively, over the top liberal
Nearby medical community/hospitals, etc
Greek life is ok, as long as it isn’t overwhelming/takes up at least 40% of student pop
Diverrrrsityyyy
Good fin aid
Things I’d like:
Good dorms
Decent parties
Public transportation
Great study abroad opportunities
Grade inflation (again, I am more than fine with, and expect, academic rigor)
Gorgeous campus!
I’ve been looking at:
Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Amherst, Davidson
Here are my stats:
1580 SAT, 35 ACT, 790 Math, 760 Bio M and Chem
VP or P in 3 clubs, founder of 1
300+ hours of clinical service, 100+ in tutoring etc.
4.0 GPA and top ten rank
Did some research, NMSF, Asian F
I can think of a slew of others that might be good additions to your list, but none are near particularly large cities. Tufts isn’t a LAC and may feel too liberal but could be worth a look. Union ( NY) has a lot of social life created by frats but has some interesting programs for pre meds. Schenectady probably isn’t the city you had in mind, though.
Wellesley. All female, which may or may not be preferable. Stunning campus in suburban Boston town. Has lots of ties to Harvard/MIT, and you can take some classes at MIT, though I’m not sure how that works. Good luck!
College of the Holy Cross. Excellent pre-med program. Beautiful campus. In Worcester MA, one of the larger cities in NE and close to Boston. Worcester is home to UMASS med school.
Tufts which has great research opportunities, is a small university with an LAC vibe, and is 15 minutes from Cambridge (Harvard, MIT) and downtown Boston.
In addition to Haverford, look at Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore. Both are outside of Philadelphia (Haverford and BMC less than a mile apart.) All are part of a consortium and you can takes courses at all three colleges.
Bryn Mawr has a post-bac program for folks who want to go to med school but didn’t have the prerequsit courses as undergrads. Program is very successful in placing program participants.
All of these criteria suggest that you want to target more urban LACs. There are lots of rural or small-town LACs, but they are (by definition) not near large cities, are typically less diverse, are typically located in less diverse communities, and are less likely to offer convenient access to hospitals or other medical facilities.
And now you have a problem, because as a general rule, the more urban LACs are more likely to have more liberal campus environments. LACs like Macalester, Vassar, Reed, Occidental, or Sarah Lawrence – all mentioned above – have great urban access, but they are definitely on the more liberal end of the LAC scale.
Unless you are prepared to compromise, you may end up with a rather short list, because the criteria you are specifying tend to be mutually incompatible as far as LACs go.
I felt that Juniata would be great premed in a non-competitive environment, as would Muhlenberg, which I believe has some interesting programs, and Connecticut College.
Thank you for the suggestion, but I just don’t think I can go to a school that’s not co-ed. Also, I heard Swarthmore wasn’t the best for pre-med students, so I’m crossing that off the list.
Also–I’m sorry if I confused everybody, but I’m actually fine with a very liberal atmosphere. I was just trying to say not one that would be too liberal even compared to liberal standards, but I’m fairly sure 99% of colleges don’t cross that threshold. Basically, please ignore the “not too liberal” thing I typed before
Sadly, many colleges next to urban cities don’t have much diversity, so it’s fine if some schools don’t have that much. With that in mind, I’d still like a school with a max of 50% (or 60%) being white.
Update: can I add two more things to the list? I forgot to add that I want to avoid a preppy school, as in a school that has a significant number of the 1% (I guess I want to avoid the WUSTL version of LACs). I’d also love a school with little/no religious affiliation. It’s fine if they’re religiously affiliated on paper, but not really emphasize that in reality.
@merc81 the article you linked me to actually has a lot of schools I’ve been considering! Good to know I’m on the right track
Again, thank you everybody for these responses! I’ll be heading on over to niche rightaway.
Ooh I forgot to mention this! I’m already applying to several Ivies so I’d prefer not to apply to the LAC equivalent of those. However, I’m more than fine with other top-tier schools. I’m fortunate in that I can consider Emory, Vandy, and Rice matches, so any LAC with selectivity like those are fine by me
Haverford is amazing for pre med. The head of the department has great relationships with top medical school deans at Hopkins and Columbia just to name a couple since there are relatively close (about an hour away) from campus. Since it is a small liberal arts school the professors and the head of the science department can get to know you and can lobby for you to get into a top medical school. All in all it seemed like kids just funnel into top medical schools from Haverford. All those schools you are looking at are great options and whatever choice you make will be a great one.
In addition Haverford is 10 minutes from Philadelphia and you can take classes at UPenn, Swarthmore, and Bryn Mawr as part of the Quaker consortium. This also allows you to meet more people than a typical liberal arts college and also have a mix of a small liberal ars college and a large university at UPenn.
In general, LACs aren’t noted for high diversity. The most notable exceptions are women’s colleges, which can be quite diverse and international. For example, Wellesley (36% white) or Bryn Mawr (36%) would easily meet your criteria for both diversity and near-urban location. But – you want a coed school, so it would appear that women’s colleges are out.
There are few highly-ranked coed LACs that are less than 50% white. Checking College Navigator, the only ones I spotted were Pomona (37% white), Swarthmore (42%), Claremont McKenna (42%), Amherst (43%), and Occidental (49%). But you’ve already crossed off Swarthmore. And Amherst isn’t really “next to a large city”, unless Springfield qualifies.
If you go up to 60% white, then other near-urban LAC possibilities could include Wesleyan (55%), Vassar (58%), Haverford (59%), or Reed (59%) . Your original post mentioned Davidson as a LAC of interest, but they are at 67%.
Many LACs are great for pre-med and offer good financial aid. However, there just may not be many LACs that meet the other criteria you are looking for.
Here are a couple of still excellent and prestigious colleges with amazing reputations for pre-med that are just a tad easier to get into:
Franklin and Marshall (a good match school)
and
Muhlenberg (a good safety school for you)
@Corbett, have to take exception with the comment “In general, LACs aren’t noted for high diversity” as that is simply not the case. The attached diversity index results show that the highly selective liberal arts are as diverse as most of the best universities, private or public - the alarming fact for me was the lack of diversity at many state flagships, as well as at regional public and private colleges. https://premium.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/campus-ethnic-diversity
Another great resource is the NYT’s Economic Diversity and Student Outcome Study - when comparing the Elite Colleges that have the greatest share of students from the bottom fifth (families who made about 20k per year), the top LAC’s and Universities are equally represented - UCLA is #1 at 8.3% https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/college-mobility/university-of-california-los-angeles
Seconding Franklin and Marshall and Macalester for good matches, Muhlenberg for a safety. Express interest.
However, I don’t think you mean “urban” as in Hartford or Worcester… if you mean “within easy/drivable access to concerts, museums, comedy clubs, restaurants, and is within/bordering a walkable downtown”, that opens up more colleges.
Look at St Olaf College, very good for science, excellent study abroad program, a low match (express interest, apply for merit aid), nice downtown area, 45mn to the Twin Cities by shuttle/bus/car (less to the Mall of America). Shares the town with Carleton, which is a high match/reach due to their selectivity, all-around excellent.
St Lawrence is rural but 1hour away from Montreal. Beloit is one hour/1H30 from Chicago.
Dickinson is right in the middle of a nice town, Carlisle - though it’s further away from major cities.
Rhodes is in the middle of a city, excellent for the sciences.
Emory is not a LAC (although you could look into Emory Oxford) but urban.
Denison is 1/2 hour away from Columbus.
Vassar is one hour from NYC.
(again, I am more than fine with, and expect, academic rigor)