<p>Here is how I see it ranked:</p>
<p>Harvard
Princeton
Yale
Uchicago
Stanford
UPenn
Duke
Dartmouth
Cornell
UCLA</p>
<p>Biology is a large field with many different specialties. For example, I was primarily interested in ecology and marine biology, and Duke had the most to offer me in that area, followed by Cornell and Princeton. For someone interested in evolutionary biology and paleontology, you have Chicago as the best, followed by Harvard and Yale. Each of the universities would move up or down in a ranking depending on whether you’re wondering about genetics, biophysics, neuroscience, cell biology, etc. Cornell, Duke, and Stanford are probably the most well-rounded of those biology programs, but the others are extremely strong and stronger in certain areas. </p>
<p>You’d be fine at any of those universities for biology; they’re all great colleges with very strong biology programs. I certainly wouldn’t choose based on a “ranking” of “best” biology programs…I attended Duke for undergrad and am at UCLA for my PhD and am reminded every day of just how different the two universities are. I’m sure each of the others is distinct as well, and some of them are likely better fits for you than others.</p>
<p>Do keep in mind that, for bachelor or master degree holders in biology, relative to other STEM fields, there are very limited, low-paying job opportunities. Even for bio PhDs, the employment pressure is tremendous.</p>
<p>Who cares how they are ranked, they are all good. Like seriously why does it matter. If you get in just one if those colleges, you should feel lucky.</p>
<p>
I expected this post and was tempted to preempt it. I was expecting ucbalumnus to bring it up, though. </p>
<p>Biology majors may suffer in comparison to business or engineering majors, but they’re not really any different from other liberal arts majors. English and psychology majors are incredibly popular, and yet most of those students manage to find jobs. Biology majors do the same. Jobs taken by biology majors at Penn, for example, include education/teaching, consulting, research assistants at the NIH and hospitals, conservation work, public health, and many others. You may not get rich, but you probably won’t be starving either. As with most fields, I think the key to getting a job is a combination of experience and networking.</p>
<p>It’s definitely true that you need at least a MS or more typically a PhD for a research career in biology, and that takes a lot of time and effort.</p>
<p>All those are fine/insanely prestigious. No one will look down on you for going to any of them. I feel like (personal opinion, others feel free to disagree) Med/Grad school is more about what you did at your school than where you went to school. Someone who has founded a Biology society, and done amazing, published research at StateU/Unknown LAC is in a better position than someone who went to yale and simply locked themselves in their dorm the whole time, turning their nose up at people who went elsewhere. Unless you’re just looking for bragging rights you really can’t go wrong with any of them, in which case you should probably think hard about why all that matters is prestige. </p>
<p>Just my two cents. I’m seriously no expert though. Good luck in your search and enjoy your studies!</p>
<p>You can’t go wrong with any of those schools. All are in the top 20.</p>
<p>@futureDoc That’s how I feel about most of these people on here.</p>
<p>“Well, I only got into Princeton, MIT and Stanford, but I really wanted to go to Harvard. Is my life over? #cries #*** #thisisbull #lifenotworthliving”</p>
<p>I haven’t gotten into these schools yet, I just wanted opinions on how people think their undergrad bio programs rank.</p>
<p>@track I know I’m just teasing ha</p>
<p>Harvard and Stanford
Princeton and Yale
Cornell and Duke
Chicago and Penn
Dartmouth and UCLA</p>
<p>Haha yeah. Like I applied to some of these top schools, and I get into one, ill be screaming my lungs out. For the OP, I say you wait till you know where you get accepted, if any, then go visit and base your decision on that. No matter which one of those schools you go to, you will be in a good position</p>
<p>All of the schools on your list would be great places to study biology as an undergraduate, but, as is often the case, general institutional prestige does not always correlate with the prestige of particular programs within those institutions. </p>
<p>If you are looking for independent judgments from the academic community (rather than just our personal opinions here on the College Confidential boards), they can be found in the recently released National Research Council rankings which have long been considered the gold standard for such evaluations. Those rankings are for graduate programs but, in general, there will be a close relationship between graduate school reputation and undergraduate program reputation. The NRC rankings were reported in a non-ordinal way through the use of ranges, but the ranges can still be averaged to provide a clearer picture. The data on which the rankings were based are now about five years old but they are the most current available. The results are analyzed here:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1006939-princeton-2010-national-research-council-nrc-rankings-news-item.html?highlight=national+research+council[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1006939-princeton-2010-national-research-council-nrc-rankings-news-item.html?highlight=national+research+council</a></p>
<p>In the biological sciences, this is how the NRC saw it in terms of academic reputation as measured by an averaging of their “R” and “S” rankings.</p>
<p>BIOLOGY</p>
<p>1—Cal Tech
2—UC San Diego
3—UC San Diego (different department)
4—Princeton
5—Rockefeller U.
6—Stanford
7—UCSF
8—Yale
9—Yale (different department)
10–Columbia</p>
<p>ECOLOGY & EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY</p>
<p>1—WUSTL
2—Princeton
3—Duke
4—Harvard
5—UC Davis
6—Indiana U.
7—U. of Chicago
8—Berkeley</p>
<p>Princeton Harvard Yale Stanford
|
|
Penn Chicago
|
Dartmouth Duke
|
Cornell
|
|
|
UCLA</p>
<p>If you’re seeking to pursue graduate study, then committees are heavily swayed by undergraduate prestige.</p>
<p>Harvard
Stanford
Princeton
Yale
UPenn Duke
Chicago
Dartmouth
Cornell
UCLA</p>
<p>For biology, Cornell and Duke would be the credited response after HYPS.</p>
<p>do you guys think Cornell and Duke are really that highly ranked? (Not disagreeing, just surprised)</p>
<p>In Cal, it is pretty well known that UC San Diego is ranked higher than UCLA in biology. Not so well known elsewhere.</p>
<p>
US News – Biology
- Stanford
- Harvard
- Princeton / Yale
- Cornell
- Chicago / Duke
- Penn
- UCLA
- Dartmouth</p>
<p>As I mentioned before, however, I think it’s pointless to attempt to rank such a broad field, and most people familiar with biology would shy away from doing so. For example, US News ranks Johns Hopkins #5 for biology…and yet it only does molecular biology. Is it really the 5th best option for students interested in ecology, marine biology, systematics, plant science, or pretty much anything else larger than a cell? </p>
<p>For example, say a student is interested in zoology. Cornell may be ranked #11 for biology…but its zoology program is easily the best among privates and one of the best in the country, its vet school is the best in the US, its ag school and marine lab are also great, and it has an internationally famous ornithology lab. With resources like that, the overall biology ranking is totally irrelevant. For that matter, most of the zoology superstars aren’t extremely selective or particularly known for biology (e.g. Oklahoma, Hawaii, UF, Michigan State, Miami U, etc.).</p>
<p>Picking a different field, only a few of the places good for undergraduate marine biology are elite universities (i.e. Brown, Duke, and Stanford). Most of the best places are either slightly less selective (e.g. U Miami, UCSD, UNC) or much less so (e.g. URI, Eckerd, USF). Do well at one of those places, and you’d have at least as good a shot at a top PhD program in marine biology as you would coming out of Harvard or Yale. Again, the overall biology ranking is totally irrelevant. </p>
<p>As others have said, they’re all great programs. It’s really best to choose based on fit.</p>