<p>Hi Everyone,</p>
<p>I am currently a sophomore, and Carleton is high on my college list. However, I have not visited the campus, nor researched much on the program I wish to take.</p>
<p>How is Carleton's Biological Sciences dept.?</p>
<p>If you are a Carleton student, what did you receive on your standardized tests?</p>
<p>Thanks!
Chris</p>
<p>Hi Chris,</p>
<p>I’m an alum who was a biology and geology major, so I can offer a little information (and if anything is out of date, I’m sure current students can correct me!)</p>
<p>Biology at Carleton is among the most popular majors on campus. The lower division classes are some of the largest on campus. Granted, this is still Carleton, so the largest Intro sequence classes that tons of non-major students take might break 100 students, but be broken up into lots of smaller lab sections. Lower division classes come in at the 30-50 range, and above that you’re in small classes and intense seminars. </p>
<p>The biology department also leans a bit towards the pre-med side. In practical terms, it makes for one of the more grade-conscious majors (meaning, you will run into students who are at least aware of the grades they get, rather than completely indifferent to grades, which is more common through the rest of the school). Also, since it’s a small department to begin with, there are somewhat fewer profs on the ecology side. As someone whose interests ran more towards ecology, I found that geology classes provided a nice supplement - hence the double major.</p>
<p>Carleton is particularly well-known among the liberal arts schools for its strength in both natural and physical sciences. We send a ton of people to med school, and a ton to graduate school. This is great, because to continue in scientific careers, most people will need some sort of advanced degree, so it means the majority of people stick with science when they graduate. (On the bright side, grad school in the sciences is almost always paid for.) I don’t happen to have stats for med schools, but here’s a list Reed puts up for Ph.D. productivity - as you’ll see, Carleton does great pretty much across the board in sciences: [REED</a> COLLEGE PHD PRODUCTIVITY](<a href=“http://www.reed.edu/ir/phd.html]REED”>Doctoral Degree Productivity - Institutional Research - Reed College)</p>
<p>That’s a pretty general overview - do you have any more specific questions, or areas that you find interesting?</p>
<p>As for the standardized tests, you’d do better with a little googling - this site tends to be somewhat unrepresentative on the standardized testing front. Here’s a nice example: [Carleton</a> College Admissions Information - CollegeData College Profile](<a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=316]Carleton”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=316)</p>
<p>Thanks! Looking to go Pre-Med or Genetics. Carleton sounds like a great place, and my dad and I plan on visiting Carleton along with St. Olaf’s.</p>
<p>One of my very first biology labs in intro freshman year was a genetics study: [Goldenrod</a> Gall Flies: Writing a Lab Report in the Form of a Scientific Paper](<a href=“http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/carl_ltc/quantitative_writing/examples/labguide.html]Goldenrod”>Goldenrod Gall Flies: Writing a Lab Report in the Form of a Scientific Paper)</p>
<p>If you end up a Carl, you should come in expecting to get your hands dirty in the lab and in the field from day 1.</p>
<p>Good luck on your college search!</p>