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<p>Yeah. Swarthmore.</p>
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<p>I beg to differ. All are excellent schools for engineering, but I wholeheartedly believe that Rice offers the best overall undergraduate experience and social life as well.</p>
<p>But to each his own, this is just my two cents.</p>
<p>I will agree with part of what you say, Rice does have the best social life, but Olin also has a very good social life and the reason HMC doesn’t is because there’s a lot of work expected out of Mudders</p>
<p>My daughter is in the same boat, except she is interested only in the sciences, not engineering. Wants a liberal arts focus as well and seems to have a leaning toward the catholic schools. So far, she likes BC (probably a little larger than she would like), Providence College, and Holy Cross. Does not like Drew (didn’t feel right) or UVM (too big, cold, and earthy/crunchy). Is planning to visit Fairfield, Marist, St. Anselm (safety for her), and possibly Vassar and Colgate this summer. She also does not want to go more than 4 - 5 hours from western suburbs of Boston.
I’m wondering are there any schools that I should be steering her toward, that she hasn’t thought of already, that fit the sciences/liberal arts bill?</p>
<p>I think any liberal arts school that she likes should fit the bill, engineering is only offered at certain schools but all schools offer sciences.</p>
<p>Lafayette College in Easton, Pa and Union College in Schnectady, NY both fit the bill and are located within 4/5 hours of Framingham, MA.</p>
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<p>I’m not sure what you mean exactly. Swarthmore is one of the top science schools in the country. Eight percent of **all **Swarthmore graduates get a PhD in math, science, or engineering. Figure that only about a third of the graduates majored in those fields; that means that Swarthmore science and engineering grads are going on to science PhDs at a higher rate than MIT grads.</p>
<p>Here are the top per capita undergrad producers of science, math, and engineering PhDs in the United States. I’ve highlighted the small undergrad colleges in bold. As you can see, there is a wide selection doing a good job preparing future scientists:</p>
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Percentage of grads getting PhDs
Academic field: All Engineering, Hard Science, and Math</p>
<p>PhDs and Doctoral Degrees: ten years (1994 to 2003) from NSF database
Number of Undergraduates: ten years (1989 to 1998) from IPEDS database</p>
<p>Note: Does not inc. colleges with > 1000 graduates over the 10 year period</p>
<p>1 34% California Institute of Technology<br>
2 ** 24% Harvey Mudd College **
3 16% Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br>
4 ** 10% Reed College **
5 9% Rice University
6 ** 8% Swarthmore College **
7 8% Princeton University<br>
8 ** 7% Carleton College **
9 7% New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology<br>
10 7% University of Chicago<br>
11 7% Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute<br>
12 7% Case Western Reserve University
13 6% Harvard University<br>
14 6% Carnegie Mellon University<br>
15 6% Johns Hopkins University<br>
16 ** 6% Haverford College **
17 ** 6% Grinnell College **
18 6% Cornell University, All Campuses<br>
19 ** 5% Kalamazoo College **
20 5% Stanford University
21 5% Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
22 5% Yale University
23 5% Cooper Union<br>
24 ** 5% Oberlin College **
25 ** 5% Lawrence University **
26 ** 5% Bryn Mawr College **
27 ** 5% Williams College **
28 ** 5% Pomona College **
29 4% Colorado School of Mines<br>
30 ** 4% Bowdoin College **
31 ** 4% Earlham College **
32 4% Brown University<br>
33 4% University of Rochester
34 4% University of California-Berkeley<br>
35 ** 4% Wabash College **
36 4% Duke University
37 4% Worcester Polytechnic Institute
38 ** 4% Amherst College **
39 4% Stevens Institute of Technology
40 ** 4% St Olaf College **
41 ** 4% Hendrix College **
42 ** 4% Beloit College **
43 4% University of Missouri, Rolla<br>
44 4% University of California-San Francisco<br>
45 ** 4% Occidental College **
46 4% Alfred University, Main Campus<br>
47 ** 4% Allegheny College **
48 ** 4% Whitman College **
49 ** 4% College of Wooster **
50 4% SUNY College of Environmental Sci & Forestry<br>
51 ** 4% Mount Holyoke College **
52 ** 4% Bates College **
53 4% College of William and Mary
54 ** 4% Knox College **
55 ** 3% Franklin and Marshall College **
56 3% Georgia Institute of Technology, Main Campus<br>
57 3% Washington University<br>
58 3% Long Island University Southampton Campus<br>
59 ** 3% Macalester College **
60 3% University of California-San Diego
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<p>^ Rice University is #5, btw. You forgot to bold it. It’s not technically liberal arts, but does have a very liberal arts college feel but the prowess of a research powerhouse as well.</p>
<p>It’s quite small too – in case you are not that familiar with it, it was about 3,000 undergrads total.</p>
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<p>I’m not sure what that even means. A Rice engineering graduate would be as well prepared as the graduates of any engineering school. You may want to pick a school like Harvey Mudd because you want to be immersed in a campus culture that is 100% science and math geeks. I can understand that. But, I don’t think that makes the education available at those schools “better” on any kind of measureable scale than you would get at any number of excellent science schools like Rice University.</p>
<p>Start with the big picture and work towards the specifics. For example, do you want 100% science? Or might you want to study other things, too or (gasp) even change your major? Do you want to spend four years with future scientists? Or a mix that includes some poets and bankers and artists and linguists? Those are fundamental questions. Answer those and then start looking at schools that fit your criteria in that way for their offerings in science and engineering.</p>
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<p>Rice, while small, is not an undergrad only college. It also is not as small as it used to be. I don’t follow Rice that closely, but my understanding is that they are signficantly growing the size of the undergrad enrollment, in much the same way that UChicago has been doing.</p>
<p>Just want to say thanks to everyone who’s posting on this topic. I’m really glad this thread is resurrected.</p>
<p>Holy Cross just opened a state of the art 60 million dollar science complex in January 2009</p>
<p>I want to put in a rave for Grinnell’s sciences and math. The facilities are new and fabulous. The personal attention from outstanding faculty coupled with small (less than 30 even in intro) classes means you will get the mentoring you want if you are serious about an advanced degree in that field. No distribution requirements. And a huge endowment for research, paid internships and traveling to academic conferences that isn’t available for undergrads in many places. No engineering, but they do have the usual 3/2 option.</p>
<p>If you are okay with a small, rural environment (1,600 students), then the unpretentious, quirky, individualistic and high-achieving culture makes Grinnell a real treasure.</p>
<p>I second Smith as well as Mnt Holyoke - both have great sciences and are close to Boston although not Catholic.</p>
<p>I’ve heard some good things about Wheaton College in Norton, MA</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd also shares a campus with a women’s college. Something nice when considering the typical gender ratio at engineering schools.</p>
<p>NYU poly</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Oberlin College – the strength of their sciences and graduates is remarkable. And, of course, some of the best humanities around…</p>