I’m currently a senior looking into different women’s colleges and was curious as to which one has the best geology programs. Does anyone know which have the strongest programs? Bryn Mawr is the one that I’ve heard the most about. I want to study geology but also having paleontology classes would be really nice. Also if anyone knows anything about playing in an orchestra at any colleges that would be great! Thank you!!
Bryn Mawr, Smith, and Mt Holyoke are probably the best known for geology. They should all have good-sized departments with coverage of paleontology. You could confirm this by checking faculty biographies on the web.
Bryn Mawr is in the Bi-College Consortium with Haverford, a coed school just a few minutes away. Bi-College students can take classes or declare a major at either school. Haverford doesn’t have a geology program, so any Haverford student that wants to study or major in geology has to do it at Bryn Mawr. This means that Bryn Mawr geology classes typically include a noticeable number of guys, which may or may not be what you are looking for in a women’s college experience.
Smith and Holyoke are in the Five-College Consortium with Amherst College, UMass-Amherst, and Hampshire College, all of which are coed. However, Amherst and UMass have their own geology programs, so they wouldn’t typically need to cross-register at Smith or Holyoke. Hampshire doesn’t have much for geology, but Hampshire students would be more likely to cross-register at Amherst or UMass, because they are closer. The bottom line is that geology classes at Smith or Holyoke, unlike those at Bryn Mawr, would probably have few or no guys.
FWIW, Bryn Mawr’s collection of samples is quite beautiful. It was enough to make me want to become a geologist! BMC is also redoing its sciences facilities.
I searched the five-college consortium courseguide and that of the Tri-co (swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, haverford) and found no paleontology classes in either grouping.
At University of Pennsylvania, they seem to have paleontology resources. https://www.sas.upenn.edu/earth/research
Bryn Mawr students can take classes at UPenn.
There are probably more, but I couldn’t find a searchable database of courses. There probably is one, but it may be behind a firewall.
Okay, BMC mentiones paleontology in this blurb – https://www.brynmawr.edu/geology/
Prof. Wang at Swarthmore seems to use statistical approach to paleo-research – https://www.swarthmore.edu/news-events/steve-wang
BMC students can take classes at Swarthmore.
Smith college seems to have one class on paleontology that didn’t seem to show up in my earlier search.
There is a paleontologist on the faculty at Mt. Holyoke – https://www.mtholyoke.edu/people/mark-mcmenamin
Mills college – https://inside.mills.edu/academics/faculty/bio/lurry/lurry_cv.php
And you can take classes at Berkeley
Mills dropped tuition to $28K this year.
Check Scripps: it seems to have paleontology and it’s part of the consortium which also may have classes.
Barnard is one of the undergraduate colleges of Columbia, and has access to the full catalog of courses at both schools. Check Barnard and Columbia. Initial glance looks like columbia has some great resources
Similarly Welleseley seems to have a professor – and Wellesley students can also cross reg with MIT.
Agnes Scott has no paleontology, but it’s possible to take classes at Emory.
http://envs.emory.edu/home/people/faculty/martin_anthony.html
Bryn Mawr, Smith, and Holyoke all have paleontologists in their geology departments (Marenco, Pruss, and McMenamin respectively). They all offer intro paleo courses (e.g. Geol B203 at BMC, Geo 231 at Smith, Geol 109 and 224 at MHC). The profs are probably prepared to organize advanced seminars or provide research opportunities to interested students as well.
For more info, email the profs. They are LAC profs, so they should be approachable and happy to discuss their specialties with a prospective students.
Recent news story about the Bryn Mawr program:
Some relevant excerpts:
“In a unique arrangement, students interested in geology at Haverford and Swarthmore colleges take the major at Bryn Mawr, so it’s always been coed.”
“Pedro Marenco is a paleontologist who does lots of outreach in Philadelphia schools.”
In practice, it is quite feasible for Haverford students to major in geology at Bryn Mawr, but I suspect that Swarthmore students rarely do the same. There are free buses to/from Swarthmore, but they take much longer than the bus to/from Haverford.
Just to be clear, students may take a class at another Five Colleges consortium school whether their own school offers the same course or not. When D was at MHC she took a course at Hampshire because the scheduling was more convenient at Hampshire, even though Mt Holyoke offered the same course.
Bff was a geology major at MHC, then got a grad degree and has been employed in the field throughout her career. At the time, there were sponsored off campus opportunities. Look for that as you explore. As ever, check courses offered and prof backgrounds and interests, how active they are in their fields.
Swarthmore students who want to major in geology take classes for their major at Bryn Mawr–it’s part of the tri-co… At least this was the case in the past. My D (BMC alum '11) had a high school friend at Swarthmore who wanted to major in geology and took her geology courses at BMC. Swarthmore had an environmental studies major and I believe there were some geology courses offered, but D’s friend wanted a geology major. She’s gone on to get a graduate degree (MA) in geology at Boston College–she started at Boston University for a doctorate but BU’s geology program was folded into environmental science so D’s friend followed her advisor to BC. Wonder if that’s a trend for geology programs to get put into environmental studies??
Jobs in some subfields are way down. Or concentrated in certain locations. Bff jokes if she didnt happen to live in metro DC, for her expertise, it would be North Dakota or bust.
I am a senior at MHC with a Geology major, Biology minor, and a Five College Certificate in Costal and Marine Science. I have tailored my courses to fit my desire to go into either Paleoecology or Paleobiology. There are plenty of Paleontology courses at the five colleges but they may not have paleo in their name. Possibly only part of the course is paleo and the rest is current. For instance, I had Macroevolution this past semester and next semester I have a course in Biogeography at smith. I am also taking a grad course at Umass in stats. I did a study abroad program in southeast England which allowed me to travel around many fossil rich areas and conduct my own digs under the guidance of my professors back at MHC. I came back with about 100 kg of fossils. I also got to visit the Jurassic Coast and where Mary Anning lived! Currently I am doing my senior thesis in this field and I have full access to a scanning electron microscope.
I’m not sure how it is at other colleges but at MHC I found plenty of courses and opportunities to pursue my paleontological desires.
Hi, I’m a current Bryn Mawr senior who’s taken lots of classes in the Geo department and some of my best friends are Geo majors. The department is renowned inside and outside of Bryn Mawr. There are lot’s of research and internship opportunities and the professors are very enthusiastic and available. If you want more info, email Don Barber, he’s always happy to talk to prospective Geo students.