Son accepted! Very excited.
Can anyone tell me about sciences at Oberlin? Particularly chemistry and physics.
Thanks!
My daughter is a Physics major and loves it at Oberlin. What specifically do you want to know?
What do you want to know? Reputation? Areas of specialization? Rigor?
Graduates are very well represented in the National Academy of Sciences. Placement in graduate programs is also excellent.
Great! I guess largely rigor, and research opportunities. My son is all about science with a particular interest in chemistry and physics. He does plan to go to graduate school. He really enjoyed his visit there - but wonders if a bigger institution would be better for his future path. Or if a smaller place like Oberlin might be a better fit for undergrad with a plan for graduate work.
There is much more opportunity for research as an undergrad at a small school (Oberlin included). At large “research” universities, it’s the profs and grad students who do research. At LAC’s, undergrads have much more opportunity. Also, all courses are taught by professors, not grad students. I can’t speak for Chemistry, but physics classes at Oberlin are very small.
Both are strong programs, my chem and physics major friends seemed very happy with them, and they have tons of opportunities for research and solid grad school placements. The chem department’s website: http://new.oberlin.edu/arts-and-sciences/departments/chemistry/ has some good links on the side. The “Annual Report 2016” profiles every '16 grad, which I think is helpful so you can see a good feel for the department looking over that vs standard recruiting material that only highlights a few select students. I only took a few science courses at Oberlin, but I really liked that the professors actually teach the lab sections as well, generally with a couple upperclassmen TAs to help.
Obviously this is the Oberlin board, so we might lean towards the LAC experience vs a large institution, but it’s just what fits him best. For example course choice. Looking at the 17-18 course catalogs for Oberlin and Ohio State, Oberlin offered 14 chemistry courses vs OSU’s ~100, and that doesn’t include their ChemEng or Biochem departments. So that means you will get to pick the ones at OSU that are most interesting to you, but they might be large and impersonal, vs Oberlin where you might exhaust the courses you’re truly passionate about, but they will be smaller and you’ll be able to really get to know your peers and professor. So it’s just going to be up to him (and you to help him of course!) to decide where he sees himself and what is important to him. Good luck deciding and congrats on the acceptance!!!