<p>I live in NJ, so schools on the east coast are preferable, but I've also been looking into some west coast schools (Stanford, Pomona). Are all of the programs at larger universities pretty much comparable, or are there clear leaders? In addition, what sort of facilities and expertise do LACs such as Amherst, Williams, Haverford, and Pomona have in regards to Bio? Is the quality of education at these institutions in any way comparable to the larger universities like Penn, Duke, or Princeton?</p>
<p>LAC's such as Williams and Amherst are excellent all-around, but they are significantly different than Uni's such as Penn Duke and to a lesser extent Princeton (Princeton is the smallest of the three)</p>
<p>Biology rankings from Gourman Report
Caltech
MIT
Yale
Harvard
Wisconsin
UC San Diego
UC Berkeley
U Colorado
Columbia
Stanford
U Washington
U Chicago
Duke
Wash U St Louis
UCLA
U Michigan
Cornell
U Penn
Purdue
Indiana U
UNC Chapel Hill
U Utah
Johns Hopkins
Northwestern
Princeton
UC Irvine
Notre Dame
UC Santa Barbara
UVA
Brown
U Illinois Urbana Champaign
U Pittsburgh
Vanderbilt
U Oregon
SUNY Stony Brook
U Rochester
Tufts
U Minnesota
SUNY Buffalo
U Texas Austin
Florida State
Michigan State
USC
U Connecticut
UC Riverside
Rice
Iowa State
SUNY Albany
Case Western
Boston U
Ohio State
NYU
U Iowa
Penn State
Emory
Brandeis
U Kansas
Rutgers New Brunswick
Tulane
US Air Force Academy
U Missouri Columbia</p>
<p>LACs for bio from Rugg's
Amherst
Bowdoin
Bryn Mawr
Bucknell
Carleton
Claremont McKenna
Colby
Colgate
Colorado C
Dickinson
Franklin & Marshall
Gettysburg
Hamilton
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Holy Cross
Kalamazoo
kenyon
Lafayette
Lawrence
Macalester
Middleburyt
Mt Holyoke
Occidental
Pitzer
Reed
Rhodes
Smith
St Olaf
St Mary's (MD)
Swarthmore
Trinity (CT)
Vassar
Wellesley
Wesleyan
Wheaton (IL)
Whitman
Williams</p>
<p>Easy answer: go to the school where you'll be happiest. Apply to your favorites. If you're happy with the atmosphere around you, you'll get a better GPA, you'll learn more in your classes, and you'll be much better off when admissions time comes.</p>
<p>And like others have said, pretty much all schools have strong bio programs.</p>
<p>If it helps, I've heard good things about Emory (I'm surprised it's so low on the list. Then again, rankings are usually somewhat skewed).</p>
<p>
[quote]
However, Johns Hopkins prepares students well for pre-med as do Duke.
[/quote]
Just curious. How specifically do JHU/Duke prepare their pre-med students better than similar caliber schools like Penn, Yale or even the University of Washington?</p>
<p>Pomona has greatly improved its Molecular Biology program. It built a brand new Biology building in 2005. They offer a major and a minor, and they have joint programs in Molecular Biology, Neuroscience, Environmental Analysis, Biology Public Policy Analysis, and Medical Sciences. The link to Pomona Biology and the page for the new Seaver Building are below. I considered Pomona back in 2005, and I would still recommend it now.</p>
<p>Princeton also has pumped up its Molecular Biology program intensely. I'm sure it has something to do with our president Shirley Tilghman's training as a molecular biologist. I took my first MolBio course there this year, and I was highly impressed with the professors and lab staff (as well as the labs) for Intro to Cellular Physiology (the course every pre-med/MolBio major/ Ecology & Evolutionary Bio major is required to take). I am only mentioning this because the OP mentioned Princeton. I would research all of the programs, and take size into serious consideration. Bigger is not always better for your education.</p>
<p>Usually out of the big universities, Stanford, UC-Berkeley (and a lot of other UC campuses), MIT, Cornell, Univ. of Chicago, and Harvard are the most highly regarded in Biology, but I feel that many more schools are on the same academic level, notably with LACs like Pomona and Carleton.</p>
<p>It's funny how everyone here automatically thinks that biology = pre-med.</p>
<p>In today's world, most people are looking at medical schools are finding that it is advantageous to have a major outside of the standard of Biology &/or Chemistry or the natural sciences. Medical schools don't want all bio major or all physics majors. </p>
<p>Some of the best schools out there that provide preparation for medical school allow and further encourage students to be any major and follow a track that gets them the pre-requisites for admission to medical schools. </p>
<p>For example, Johns Hopkins (which has arguably the best medical college preparation in the US) allows students to be ANY major they want while allowing them to fulfill the requirements for medical school admissions. </p>
<p>For first time applicants, Johns Hopkins places students in medical school at an incredible 86%.</p>
<p>i'm planning to attend UCLA (for physiological science, english, and pre-med) next fall and i'm beginning to regret my decision for not picking an LAC. i thought i was assertive enough at a big U last spring but now i'm having the butterflies.</p>
<p>if i act quickly next week, i believe i can get my spot back at Wellesley (or Carleton)..</p>
<p>What do you think is best for medicine? UCLA currently has the no. 3 ranked hospital in the nation and i plan to get involved there, but Wellesley really nurtures their students. Is research @ a suburban/rural LAC limited?</p>