<p>Hi I am a high school senior and am looking for liberal arts schools that are strong in science. I want a small school with a large average class size, but also want to go to a college that can prepare me well for medical school. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>What part of the country? </p>
<p>With my son, we looked at LAC schools that had engineering programs. Don’t have any hard evidence, but we just assumed that if a liberal arts school maintained an engineering program it was likely that they had a pretty solid STEM trac.</p>
<p>I meant to say small average class size sorry. Thank you!</p>
<p>GPA, SAT scores? What schools has your GC recommended?</p>
<p>Franklin & Marshall, but not if you want merit aid as they don’t offer it.</p>
<p>Juniata</p>
<p>Eckerd</p>
<p>Not an LAC, but with ALL small classes and good merit aid if you have a 1290 (M/CR) or 29, Nova Southeastern.</p>
<p>Most of the top LACs have pretty good pre-med tracks that are very successful at getting people into med school. Some are better than others, but just as an example, almost all of the NESCAC schools have pretty strong science programs. You just have to pick one that fits you, both academicaly and socially.</p>
<p>Whitman College has a great BBMP (Biology, Biophysics, Molecular Biology) program that works well for pre-med and it is a great small LAC.</p>
<p>For pre-med a top consideration ought to be cost. Another is academic fit because undergraduate GPA is critical. A place like Austin College doesn’t show up on many people’s radar, but you should look at it. Full ride price is lower there than most LACs, they give considerable merit money to students with decent but not extraordinary stats, and they do a great job of preparing for and getting students into med school. In 2012 they had an astounding 6 profs on Princeton Review’s best profs list (out of 300 profs named in the whole country). [Six</a> Austin College Faculty Named Among the Best in the Nation | Austin College](<a href=“http://www.austincollege.edu/50572/austin-college-faculty-named-nations/]Six”>http://www.austincollege.edu/50572/austin-college-faculty-named-nations/)</p>
<p>My D also wanted a LAC strong in the sciences. I don’t know your stats, but our favorites included: Lafayette (where she attends), Franklin and Marshall, and Union. We saw a number of other really fine schools including: Bucknell, Muhlenberg, Trinity (CT), and Dickinson which I think would have been good choices as well. The LACs each seem to have a personality or a vibe so it is important to visit and see which schools click for you – I think that two reasonable people with similar stats could find themselves drawn to two different LACs.</p>
<p>holy cross has very good science programs.</p>
<p>Geez - there are a million threads on here about colleges that are good for pre-med. Not to mention an entire forum devoted to the topic. Dig in and start reading…
[Pre-Med</a> Topics - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/]Pre-Med”>Pre-Med Topics - College Confidential Forums)</p>
<p>Pre-med courses are quite common. Even a very arts oriented school like Sarah Lawrence has pre-med courses (though not much more than that in its science offerings).</p>
<p>Now, if you actually want to major in a science, you need to look at the courses and curricula for your specific science major at each college. Biology is very common, but has a lot of subareas, so you may want to check which subareas are emphasized at each school. Chemistry can be checked for [ACS</a> approval](<a href=“American Chemical Society”>American Chemical Society). Physics has a well defined core set of upper division major courses that you can check for, although elective physics offerings can vary. Math is probably one of the harder subjects to find strong and deep offerings for majors at LACs for.</p>