<p>I'm a second/third year student gearing up to apply for transfer admission.
This is probably a shot in the dark, but I'm looking for schools with a strong Chemistry department, a fair number of graduate students, and opportunities for undergraduate research.</p>
<p>Bonus points for schools with professors interested in natural product chemistry or organic synthesis. Many of the schools I've been looking at focus only on analytical chemistry/polymer chemistry which I'm not too interested in.</p>
<p>I'd prefer my school to be located in a suburban or urban setting, but if you know any schools that fit the criteria above which are in a rural setting, please list them too.</p>
<p>I don't think you'll really find anything that specific, but Brown, Dartmouth, Amherst, Williams, and Swarthmore all have excellent science programs. These schools are all located in urban or suburban settings.</p>
<p>Rank/School Average assessment
score (5.0 = highest)
1. California Institute of Technology 4.9
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 4.9
Stanford University (CA) 4.9
University of California--Berkeley 4.9 </p>
<p>However the analytical rankings are very different:
Chemistry Specialties: Analytical
Ranked in 2007* </p>
<ol>
<li> University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill<br></li>
<li> Purdue University–West Lafayette (IN) </li>
<li> University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign</li>
</ol>
<p>Wisconsin - Madison would probably be a solid match. My chemistry teacher did grad school there. I believe he mentioned they have many top notch chem departments (fluid dynamics or something? thermochemistry?, etc)</p>
<p>For top privates that open a few doors to transfers I'd strongly suggest Northwestern, Chicago, Columbia and Cornell (don't know if Ithaca location too much of a problem). Also consider strong, (though probaby not quite as strong) programs with transfer potential at Rochester and Hopkins.</p>
<p>Lots of strong chem publics - just check PhD origins of faculty at most colleges - esp. Berkeley, Wisconsin, UNC-CH, UCLA, Minnesota, Illinois. All open to transfers to varying degrees.</p>
<p>UCLA definitely has an excellent science program.... The Washington Monthly ranks it second nationally for scientific research... not to mention it has the #1 hospital on the west coast, fifth nationally.</p>
<p>I'm currently a biochemistry major there with an emphasis on analytical chemistry... research opportunities are endless, and there are many analytical research labs looking for undergrads... but for grad school, the department is very competitive. One the bright side, there are numerous chemistry majors among which you can choose, and interdepartmental collaborations strengthen research even more.</p>
<p>for a top notch program with plenty of grad students and undergrad research opportunities, I'd agree with Wisconsin-Madison and Northwestern. UT-Austin is another one, but I don't know what the transfer policies are for OOS, if they're looser than matriculating right out of high school, or the same.</p>
<p>Hehe...Berkeley's College of Chemistry is tops!</p>
<p>"First established in 1872, the college awarded its first Ph.D. in 1885 to John Stillman, who later founded the Chemistry Department at Stanford University."</p>
<p>I can't believe someone dug this back up!
Thank you all for the advice.</p>
<p>teriwitt: I was waiting for someone to mention UT Austin. I ended up applying to UT Austin (first choice) and A&M (backup). As an older transfer student, I felt that the extra time required to complete a degree at a private university and the much higher cost of tuition were not worth it. I am in state so I stand a good chance of acceptance to UT.</p>