<p>I think the NESCAC as a whole is a somewhat buried treasure among American elite colleges, but Wesleyan in particular deserves special notice for the degree to which the entire school seems devoted to research at a very fine level. As Science Fact #7 in the cite below reveals, Wesleyan is awarded more federal grants than any other LAC, nominally or per capita, including Amherst and Williams:
[Why</a> Science at Wes?, Sciences at Wesleyan - Wesleyan University](<a href=“http://www.wesleyan.edu/sciences/why-science-at-wes.html]Why”>http://www.wesleyan.edu/sciences/why-science-at-wes.html)</p>
<p>One bit of trivia reveals why: Wesleyan is one of only two LACs in the entire country that awards graduate degrees at the doctorate level (the other, Bryn Mawr, doesn’t appear to award enough of them in the same scientific fields to compete with Wesleyan for federal funds.)</p>