<p>Does anyone know which schools are excellent in both? I'd like to major in chemistry and minor in geology or German. I'm finding that a lot of schools don't offer geology, though.</p>
<p>Those are two of Colgate's better departments and it is a top 10 LAC for sending its students onto PhDs in both.</p>
<p>Wisconsin would be Top 10 in all three areas.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.chem.wisc.edu/about/overview.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.chem.wisc.edu/about/overview.php</a></p>
<p><a href="http://german.lss.wisc.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://german.lss.wisc.edu/</a></p>
<p>Not to mention Franklin and Marshall</p>
<p>Chemistry</p>
<p>1 Cal Berkeley 4.96
2 Cal Tech 4.94
3 Stanford 4.87
4 Harvard 4.87
5 MIT 4.86
6 Cornell 4.55
7 Columbia 4.54
8 Illinois 4.48
9 Wisconsin 4.46
10 UCLA 4.46
11 Chicago 4.46
12 Yale 4.38
13 Texas 4.28
14 Northwestern 4.23
15 Texas A&M 4.11
16 Indiana 3.99
17 North Carolina 3.97
18 Penn State 3.95
19 Cal San Diego 3.95
20 Princeton 3.92
21 Minnesota 3.89
22 Ohio State 3.87
23 Cal San Francisco 3.86
24 Purdue 3.83
25 Penn 3.78
26 Iowa State 3.76
27 Johns Hopkins 3.74
28 Washington 3.70
29 Rice 3.70
30 Florida 3.67
31 Utah 3.63
32 Rochester 3.63
33 Cal Santa Barbara 3.57
34 Pittsburgh 3.56
35 Michigan 3.53
36 Cal Irvine 3.52
37 Colorado State 3.50
38 Emory 3.37
39 Michigan State 3.35
40 Southern Cal 3.34
41 Oregon 3.31
42 Colorado 3.30
43 Virginia 3.29
44 Duke 3.28
45 Brandeis 3.26
46 SUNY Stony Brook 3.25
47 South Carolina 3.24
48 Cal Davis 3.24
49 Georgia 3.17
50 Houston 3.16</p>
<p>Geosciences</p>
<p>1 Cal Tech 4.87
2 MIT 4.67
3 Cal Berkeley 4.45
4 Columbia 4.38
5 Stanford 4.33
6 Cal San Diego 4.23
7 Chicago 4.22
8 Harvard 4.20
9 Cornell 4.15
10 UCLA 4.11
11 Penn State 4.11
12 Brown 4.11
13 Princeton 4.01
14 Texas 3.96
15 Johns Hopkins 3.95
16 Michigan 3.94
17 Arizona 3.87
18 Cal Santa Barbara 3.70
19 Northwestern 3.63
20 Wisconsin 3.56
21 Washington 3.55
22 Cal Santa Cruz 3.54
23 Rice 3.53
24 Arizona State 3.48
25 VPI 3.47
26 Southern Cal 3.46
27 SUNY Stony Brook 3.40
28 Hawaii Manoa 3.40
29 Minnesota 3.35
30 Washington (St. Louis) 3.26
31 Cal Davis 3.25
32 Illinois 3.22
33 Oregon 3.21
34 Texas A&M 3.20
35 Colorado 3.20
36 Colorado School of Mines 3.13
37 Wyoming 3.12
38 Purdue 3.08
39 Dartmouth College 3.08
40 RPI 3.03
41 Duke 2.99
42 Utah 2.97
43 Ohio State 2.97
44 Indiana 2.97
45 Massachusetts 2.95
46 Miami 2.92
47 LSU 2.83
48 Kansas 2.82
49 Oklahoma 2.77
50 North Carolina 2.75</p>
<p>source: <a href="http://www.stat.tamu.edu/%7Ejnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html#area30%5B/url%5D">http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html#area30</a></p>
<p>Rice seems to have good programs in both. For such a small school, they have a large earth science program. Nearly all larger schools will have geology, but most LACs don't offer geology as a major.</p>
<p>For the record, Caltech doesn't give a minor in either chemistry or geology. The geochemistry concentration, however, is probably the best in the world - if you're up to it!</p>
<p>Check it out:
<a href="http://www.gps.caltech.edu/options/geochem/GeCh_research.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.gps.caltech.edu/options/geochem/GeCh_research.html</a>
<a href="http://www.gps.caltech.edu/academics/acad_ugrad_home.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.gps.caltech.edu/academics/acad_ugrad_home.html</a></p>
<p>DePauw University is an LAC that is great at both... but im not 100% that they still offer geology as a major, i think they just changed the name though</p>
<p>Definitely check out Stanford, it has pretty much top programs in almost anything you can think of.</p>
<p>Carleton College has excellent departments in both subjects.</p>
<p>What are the NRC rankings based on? Is it for undergrad or grad school? It seems somewhat misguided to be inclined to choose Indiana or UNC over Princeton because the first two rank higher in some obscure survey.</p>
<p>If you think the NRC ranking is some obscure survey you know nothing about college rankings. It is THE most important ranking of department faculty in the US. The results of the last one was published in the NYT over several full pages. That means it is important. It is done every 10 years or so with the new one due soon. It is used extensively in awarding federal research funding and for students selecting PhD programs. It ranks the faculty in most departments that grant a doctorate so it does not cover LAC's.</p>
<p>The latest US News ranked Northwestern at #9. The department is improving with vibrant research activities, esp when it coleads the nanotech research with the material science department (top-3 program). Undergrads have plenty of opportunities for research and two seniors just received Gates Scholarships. <a href="http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2006/02/gates.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2006/02/gates.html</a></p>
<p>Department ranking to me isn't as important as overall school ranking, especially when many schools aren't included and the tendency to change majors is considered, but I guess this type of thinking is more an LAC concept. I still think that it would be very misguided and career-stifling for someone from Kansas interested in majoring in geology to choose Cal Santa Cruz over Dartmouth because the former ranks higher in the NRC rankings.</p>
<p>^^I quite agree</p>
<p>Shazilla's list comes from a 1997 report with respect to Doctorate programs - not necessarily a good ranking of undergraduate programs.</p>
<p>Wyoming and Colorado School of Mines are both good. At least that is what my dad tells me, and he has a degree in geology from Wyoming.</p>
<p>schmivy, you have plenty of options. Find criteria of what you want in a college (size, public/private, urban/rural, LAC/university, etc.) and then analyze department quality. Geology will likely be a limiting factor, so the following list of geology departments should help.
<a href="http://www.usd.edu/esci/geodepts.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.usd.edu/esci/geodepts.html</a></p>
<p>I'm an Earth & Ocean Sciences major (=geology) at Duke, and I can tell you that we have an awesome program. The ratio of professors and resources to majors is huge, so you get very small EOS classes and a lot of interaction with the professors. The EOS program places a lot of emphasis on fieldwork and research, and you're required to take at least one field course (paleontology in Yellowstone, marine geology in Florida, volcanology in Hawaii, etc.). Our chemistry program is also top-notch, and the new French Science Center will be superb for chem majors. I'm taking German as my foreign language, and the German program here is excellent. Relatively few students take German (9 in my intermediate class next semester), so professors are able to closely work with students. The German department hosts a lot of activities outside of class (coffee hours, film showings, festivals, etc.), which are a lot of fun. </p>
<p>UNC Chapel Hill also has an excellent program. Ophiolite is working on a graduate degree in geology at UNC, so you might want to PM her for info about their program. UNC is quite strong in chem, especially analytical chem.</p>
<p>Berkeley is quite good in both areas.</p>
<p>schmivy, You haven't told us what type of environment you're looking for, but if LACs are of interest then you should take a look at Williams. Very strong Chemistry and Geoscience departments. You could double or even triple major as this is commonly done. Excellent academics overall. It's right in the mountains so there's plenty of opportunity for firsthand study of geology and related fields, like environmental science. </p>
<p>Hamilton would be another good option.</p>