What is Scranton’s rep in the biological sciences (research career vs. med. school track)? D loved her campus visit, but we are concerned with internship and grad school outcomes given school’s out of the way location.
Hi- recent Scranton grad. Scranton isn’t a major city, but it does have a strong regional reputation for the sciences, so folks in the sciences in the Northeast will likely be familiar with it. I didn’t study science myself but it’s quite popular at the school, so I know many people who did.
I believe Scranton has a good med school acceptance rate and there are a lot of pre-med students there. Out of the alumni I personally know, they are at Penn Vet, the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, and the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (a med school in Scranton). I also know someone who is at Salus University to study optometry. According to Scranton’s site, over the last 18 years they have a 79% acceptance rate to med schools. You can get more info here: http://www.scranton.edu/academics/pre-med/index.shtml
The director of the pre-med and pre-health professions program is a professor named Dr. Mary Engel who is known for being pretty rigorous but she also does a lot to help kids get into med school and she’s very knowledgable.
I also know some alumni who are pursuing further science education in non-medical arenas.
*Master’s in biochemistry at Scranton (had studied biochemistry in undergrad)
*Master’s in biomechanical engineering at the University of Hartford (had studied biology in undergrad)
*Not sure if it qualifies as a biological science, but I have a good friend who studied neuroscience at Scranton and is now pursuing her doctorate in neuroscience at the University of Minnesota. And it’s definitely not bio, but I know 2 students who studied physics and are now pursuing doctorates in astrophysics at the University of Michigan.
These are just the students I can think of at the moment… there are so many who studied bio or a similar field. I am sure that the biology department or another department at Scranton could tell you their acceptance rate for grad school.
Scranton does seem to have a lot of research opportunities with professors at school. It’s pretty common for students to get research experience. As for internships, I’m not sure. My friend who studied neuroscience did a summer research program at the University of Iowa, but that was research rather than an internship. I would ask admissions if they can put you in touch with someone from the bio department who might be able to give you more info about internships. I do think the science students have a lot of opportunities to get hands-on experience.
Good luck with the college admission process and please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions about Scranton!