<p>Can any current students/ alumni enlighten me on the strength of the science programs at Vassar? How are they compared to other top LACs? What resources/internships are available? Typically, how many science students continue on to top graduate schools after graduation? Any other information would be useful as well. Thanks!</p>
<p>I would also be interested in finding out how many science majors (in particular, physics) there are at Vassar. I can’t seem to find that information on the college web site.</p>
<p>The best guide to objective information about any school in the United States is on this website, can you handle it? To find the specific information that you are searching for:
- Search Vassar in the top left hand corner, click on the link for Vassar College.
- Click expand all and prepare to be intimidated by the huge expanses of knowledge available to you.
- Scroll to Programs/Majors and you can see how many people graduated with each specific degree from the college last year.
- Explore the other parts of the website, the deeper you look the better info you find.</p>
<p><a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/[/url]”>http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/</a></p>
<p>I initially responded to a post that has disappeared. Idk what to say…</p>
<p>Bump.
As a biology major (with a potential STS minor), I’d love to know more about the science programs at Vassar. What graduate schools/medical schools do Vassar kids get accepted to? Is Vassar a strong school in the sciences, especially biological sciences, and pre-med?</p>
<p>Also interested. I’m interested in going into lab research, and I’m conflicted between going to Tufts and Vassar, so info on Vassar’s strength in Biology would be excellent!</p>
<p>I’m also extremely interested in this topic. My interest lies in psychology but my strength lies in the field of mathematics and physics, biology, and those types of sciences. </p>
<p>Seconding Alex21793’s question on what graduate/med schools Vassar kids often go to.</p>
<p>Vassar has a really high acceptance rate to medical school, I know that, and I know that biology is one of Vassar’s most popular majors. I’ll see if I can procure some more information from some of my friends.</p>
<p>I’m a Vassar student with many friends at Tufts (I’ve sat in on classes there) and I can confidently say our programs in general are significantly more academically rigorous than theirs. Our biology major is one of our strongest majors and is extremely popular; people regularly get into top grad schools such as MIT and Cornell and places like Harvard and Yale medical schools. Chemistry and environmental studies are also very strong. Physics, less so; it’s currently having some restructuring issues.
I’m actually an econ major, but feel free to message me anyway or contact on fb or anything</p>
<p>Current medical student here. Science classes are great - what makes them particularly unusual is that the class sizes are capped. Instead of a 100 person intro bio class (you see this even at LACs), you get 15 people (they do this by simply having multiple sections of the same course taught by different professors). Your professors are your lab instructors. There are no TAs. I cannot express how important that part is. Not to mention that it is very easy to get in on research you just contact a professor who is doing something you are interested in and ask if they have a place for you in their lab. I cannot compare to other LACs, I didn’t go to them, but my experience in the sciences was great. Take a look at the URSI website for info on summer research opportunities: [Home</a> :: URSI](<a href=“http://ursi.vassar.edu/]Home”>http://ursi.vassar.edu/)</p>
<p>In terms of medical school - everyone i know currently in med school is somewhere great. I wouldn’t worry about what sort of med school you can get into from any particular college. Honestly, it doesn’t matter where you go - if you would rather go to your no name satellite state school and save money, go for it. And there is nothing to the idea that going to a big research university gets you anything extra in the med school admissions process. Med school admission is all about GPA, MCAT, and your extracurriculars. There is nothing magical about what college you go to that will get you into someplace better.</p>
<p>How is the chemistry program at Vassar? and how would it compare to Berkeley’s College of Chemistry? How are grad school acceptances like? Are there any infamous weeder classes and grade deflation like Berkeley’s college?</p>
<p>Also, I’ve heard that Berkeley has great access to internships and jobs in labs, how is it at Vassar? It is easy for a student in their second semester to get a research position or a research assistant position? Or is it closed off since there are no large corporations around?</p>
<p>No weeder classes (doesn’t mean you might not find a class hard, though).</p>
<p>Grades are pretty constant across the college itself.</p>
<p>It’s a smaller major, but a lot of students take classes (folks from the other sciences, pre-med, just for fun). I think it’s the most fun of the science faculties. </p>
<p>Extremely easy to get involved with research because the only folks professors can rely on for help are the Vassar students, but it’s not typically not corporate sponsored, so labs are smaller, no grad students, etc. Look at the chemistry projects on the ursi website for more info on the kind of research being done by students (in faculty labs): [URSI</a> Project Browser](<a href=“http://ursi.vassar.edu/projects/index.html?dept=Chemistry]URSI”>http://ursi.vassar.edu/projects/index.html?dept=Chemistry)</p>
<p>Also, they like to play with liquid nitrogen a lot: [YouTube</a> - Chemistry Magic Show](<a href=“Chemistry Magic Show - YouTube”>Chemistry Magic Show - YouTube)</p>
<p>When I was a student, every friday afternoon the chem department would make liquid nitrogen ice cream, open to anyone.</p>
<p>there are an average of 12 physics majors a year with some variance - for example we have 21 in the class of 2012 and less in the current class of 2011.</p>
<p>I teach in the department - have for over 25 years and would be happy to answer any questions - feel free to contact me</p>
<p>I was a bit concerned by this statement made </p>
<p>“Physics, less so; it’s currently having some restructuring issues”</p>
<p>as I teach in the department and am the upcoming chair starting in July. I have no idea what restructuring means?, we are quite stable and in fact will be requesting an additional tenure track position to potentially start in 2012. We also have an amazing visiting faculty member coming next year and one of our current assistant professors just got a very prestigious NSF grant which will allow for even more student opportunities to do cutting edge research than there currently are. So if we are “restructuring” its a good thing…</p>
<p>Hope to see some of you at Vassar in physics classes (we have many for people who are not majors as well)</p>
<p>My son is now looking at colleges, will graduate HS in 2012. He is likely Nat’l Merit, 35 ACT, Valedictorian, lots of outside activities and accomplishments. He is trying to decide if he prefers the LACs (Williams, Carleton, Middlebury, Vassar, etc) or an Ivy (if they actually do admit people), or a smallish tech school (Harvey Mudd, Rose Hulman). He plans a major in physics and math, or one or both of those. </p>
<p>My personal preference is for LACs but I am trying to be unbiased and help him narrow the list of 25 -30 schools down some… </p>
<p>Can you give me some thoughts on being a geeky young man super interested in physics and math, and studying at Vassar? Versus other options? (he will be taking AP Phys C tests this yr, and took both BC Calc and Stats yrs ago). Thanks!</p>
<p>My son is a freshman at Vassar now and will be double majoring in Physics/Math. He gets along fine with everyone and seems to be happy. Vassar’s kids seem to be a different breed from what i can see as a parent. They don’t judge and just accept you for what you are. I can’t speak to the coursework but from speaking with him he is being challenged like he never has been before. I think Vassar would be a fine choice as would any of the other LAC’s mentioned.</p>