science-centered college strong in LAs

College Search & Selection
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<p>I don't really care so much for this thread, but I'm surprised no one has inverted the 'famous question' (which LACs are strong in the sciences?), so I'm going to ask.</p>

<p>Which science-centered colleges are strong in (non-science) liberal arts?</p>

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<p>Harvey Mudd. It’s technically a liberal arts college, but all of its majors are math/science/engineering. It’s also pretty strong in the humanities (english, history, etc.)- all students have to take a humanities “concentration” outside of their major.</p>

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<p>My aunt works at Haverford, she claims that they have an excellent science program (and even identifies LACs as being great for sciences, although I’m a tad bit skeptical of this).</p>

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<p>Grinnell-outstanding facilities for science students, lots of money for research, very small intro classes (no more than 25 for intro chem, bio, etc…), lots of faculty mentoring. This is a result of their outstanding endowment (thanks to Robert Noyce and Warren Buffett). Also, no distribution requirements and personalized advising-so you have more flexibility in designing your program with a prof who knows you. No wonder such a significant percent of the class goes on to earn PhDs.</p>

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<p>The question is a non-starter. As far as I am aware, there are NO science-centered LACs other than Harvey Mudd.</p>

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<p>Note that the OP asked which science-centered colleges were strong in the liberal arts, not which science-centered liberal arts colleges were strong in the liberal arts.</p>

<p>A couple of the other commenters seem to have inverted the question to the the more traditional one, and named LACs with good sciences.</p>

<p>Many sci/eng-centered schools have some especially strong humanities, arts, or social sciences departments. MIT, for instance, has tremendous programs in econ, political science, and media studies, and one of their creative writing profs recently won the Pulitzer.</p>

<p>Caltech has an excellent econ program.</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon and RIT have top-notch fine arts. RPI is near the top in certain areas of fine arts like multimedia.</p>

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<p>

That’s probably because the original question referred to colleges and not schools (colleges AND universities).</p>

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<p>Skidmore has some good science programs</p>

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<p>MIT has excellent humanities. John Harbison, Pulitzer Prize winning composer, teaches freshman music, and lots of Harvard students come over to MIT to take it. The entire music program is excellent. MIT is also world renowned for its programs in linguistics. Some world famous writers have also taught in the English Department. </p>

<p>Not a LAC of course. I’m withholding judgment as to what the OP’s question implied.</p>

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<p>William & Mary is equally strong in Arts and Sciences. Arts/Humanities are more popular but sciences, (esp Bio/Chem) are very strong.</p>

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<p>Reed college</p>

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<p>CMU is an excellent engineering/science school, but also has top-notch creative writing, music, and theater programs.</p>

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<p>Cornell is science-centered but strong in liberal arts.</p>

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<p>I would say that Carleton is know for having really strong sciences</p>

<p>than all the other top LACs, Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Pomona, Haverford, Swathmore, etc are all very strong schools. You truly can’t go wrong with any of them.
they are all great schools</p>

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<p>The reason that liberal arts colleges don’t tend to have strong science programs is three fold

  1. No PhD programs. Graduate students are the engine for scientific advancement.
  2. Philosophical choices. Teaching trumps research at non research universities.
  3. Infrastructure demands are extraordinary. Small universities have difficulty competing with research one institutions, can you imagine how hard it would be for an even smaller college to do so.</p>