Hello,
I’ll be attending Wesleyan in the fall and currently see two paths forward: either the College of Social Sciences (I love philosophy and politics and am fairly interested in economics so it’s perfect) or physics/astronomy. In the latter case I may go for a double major (I’m assuming you can’t double major with CSS, correct me if I’m wrong).
Now, I’ve read from past threads that Wes gets an unusually high amount of federal science funding - the highest of any LAC, though I don’t know if this information is up to date. However, from what I have read of it, most of this money seems to go to biology research. Is there a disparity between the quality of the biology and physics programs at Wesleyan? Do physics majors get the same kinds of opportunities?
I can’t say if there’s any disparity between the bio and physics depts., but Wesleyan has been awarded two Apker Awards in physics within the past 10 years.
Colgate 2007
Haverford 2008
Mt Holyoke 2009
Wellesley 2009
Williams 2010
Wesleyan 2010
Augustana 2011
Franklin & Marshall 2012
Wesleyan 2013
Loyola Univ MD 2014
Williams 2015
Should you elect to go the graduate school, Wesleyan is listed as a top Ph.D. feeder school.
https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/infographics/top-feeders-phd-programs
Also, remember that Wesleyan’s physics prize was won against much bigger schools since the Apker is divided into two tracks, one for Phd-granting institutions and one for non-Phd-granting institutions. That explains why both Wesleyan and Williams won in the same year (2010).
Put in this way, if Wesleyan didn’t have a film or music department, Guy Marcus '13 would be the functional equivalent of a rock star on campus:
http://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2016/01/19/lubelllextonmarcus/
I know of a dual major at Wesleyan in Astronomy and Classics. So yes, you can dual major in almost anything. The CSS program is very rigorous and while technically it would be possible to do CSS and Astronomy or CSS and Physics it would be a grueling regime. The Astronomy program at Wesleyan is very hands on and you will have use of the instruments and be able to contribute to and ultimately co-author peer reviewed research.
Thanks for this info, in particular the Apker Awards - it’s fascinating to see Wesleyan compete with the likes of Princeton in undergraduate physics.
However, what I am ideally looking for is the perspective of a current physics/astronomy undergraduate. While it’s encouraging to, for instance, read on Wesleyan’s website that it graduates more astronomy majors than any other LAC, facts and statistics on their own are not what I am looking for; what I really want to know is why Wesleyan’s astronomy program produces such strong results. Is the faculty uniquely talented? Is the equipment better at Wesleyan than at Wesleyan’s peers? If someone with first hand knowledge about the department could parse the strength of Wesleyan astronomy that would be perfect.
@eridan2 There are many schools with good Astronomy undergraduate programs. You are probably too young to know what you are interested in, but I would advise you to read through the professor bios and their areas of research. My experience with Wesleyan’s program is 30 years old, but what I can tell you was 1) freedom to design your own program of interest 2) complete access to all the facilities starting as a Freshman! 3) at the time top-notch equipment for the research that was being done. I cannot offer you advice on the current state of affairs of the program but given that you are entering in the fall, it can’t hurt to take one of the gateway astro classes, see if you like the professor and program and get involved. The biggest piece of advice I can offer about Wesleyan is that you have to be pushy and aggressive and never take no for an answer. Its a great place for people who know what they want and are focused in trying to get it. Literally you can pretty much do what you want but you have to start right away asking and pushing for it. The Astronomy program now is better funded and has more majors than when I attended so there may be more competition for resources, but if you are hell bent on following your passion you will get the opportunity and as much rope as you can handle.
It probably is. The reason is that most federal science funding supports doctoral-level research, and Wes is basically the only LAC that does this. College Navigator shows 15 PhDs issued by Wes in 2015-16, all of which were in STEM fields. That’s not a large number, and it doesn’t make Wes a research university, but it is probably more than every other LAC in the country put together. Other LACs can only apply for federal funding to support undergraduate research, and there is much less money for that.
Note that there is limited competition in the “LAC Astronomy” category. Many LACs, even highly ranked ones, don’t offer astronomy degrees. For example, the AAS list of programs shows only four LACs in New England that offer astronomy (Smith, Wellesley, Wesleyan, and Williams). Wes is easily the largest of these schools (at over 3,000 undergrads, it is one of the largest schools in the LAC category), and it has the most research funding, as noted above.
https://aas.org/learn/college-departments-offering-astronomy-related-degrees
@Corpfinguy96 - Use the square brackets [] around the word “quote” in lieu of quotation marks. Just remember to add a right leaning slash in the second bracket. Using a pair of curved parentheses for illustration purposes, it would look like this:
(quote) cut and paste sentence here (/quote)