<p>I'm currently trying to finish off my college list. I'm already applying to 9 schools, but I'm thinking of a 10th just to round things off. Crazy? Maybe...but I think of this as my one chance to apply and I want to make sure I explore every avenue.</p>
<p>To give you an idea of what I want, I'm looking for a smaller college/university (around 6,000 undergrad or less) that is strong in the sciences--especially biology. Even though I'm into the sciences, I also hope to find a school with a strong general education program. Moreover, I really am looking for schools that emphasize research in their undergrad programs as well. As for location, I'm really partial to more southern areas. I've lived in the Northeast all my life and am REALLY sick of snow. But honestly, for this last one, location is negligible. Any school somewhat like the ones I am already applying to would be fantastic. I have a few ideas, but I want to see what you CCers think as well.</p>
<p>If it helps, statwise I'm right at a 4.0 UW and a 2200 SAT. Also, pretty good ECs, if you ask me. I don't want to go into depth because then it'd be a chances thread!</p>
<p>To give you an idea, the schools I'm already applying to are:
Duke
William and Mary
Pepperdine
Stanford
Davidson
Vanderbilt
Rice
Pomona
Tulane</p>
<p>Are you a strong enough applicant to make any of those a safety or at least a "likely"? If not, I would get a true safety. If you are confident that you are 98% in at one of those schools and you would be happy there, then your options are a little more broad.</p>
<p>I'm already in at Tulane. And I did the usual state school as a safety thing. (Just didn't include that.) So I'm definitely going somewhere I can deal with!</p>
<p>I was just gonna say. Rhodes has a great partnership with St. Judes children's hospiatal if you're thinking pre-med and they have a solid bio dept. from everything I've heard.</p>
<p>I strongly reccomend visiting, however. I thought Rhodes looked perfect on paper (in the colleges that change lives book among other places). When I visited, I almost instantly hated the place. It had nothing to do with its academics, just the culture of the school. Very preppy, embaressingly low diversity, and for a southern school, people weren't very friendly at all. Who knows, plenty of people love it so it must have its good points. I just didn't see any.</p>
<p>Anyways, check it out if you're thinking biology. I'd be shocked if you don't get in.</p>
<p>Holy Cross and Tufts are very good in sciences. HC is building a $60 million addition to its science complex and has produced a Nobel Prize winner. HC also has good combination of academics/ athletics.</p>
<p>Holy Cross and Tufts aren't exactly in the South.</p>
<p>Have you considered Emory? Emory excels in the sciences, and it has fantastic opportunities for research. The CDC and American Cancer Society are literally next door, and Emory even has a primate research center (only eight in the country).</p>
<p>Though it is another tough one in terms of admissions, check out Washington University in St. Louis. If you want a smaller option, I too like Rhodes. Another really strong school that is smaller is Trinity in San Antonio.</p>
<p>South? A real jewel is Furman in Greenville, South Carolina. Its VERY hard to get in there. Gorgeous campus. They have a program in the Galapagos Islands and in Costa Rica. Great school spirit, strong in sports Div 1-AA, and a strong academic reputation. Furman grads find jobs with a GREAT alumnae association, and they get into prestigious graduate schools. Its smaller than Vanderbilt but its equal in academics.</p>
<p>furman or w&l (washington & lee, surprised you haven't already added it based on the vanderbilt and davidson applications) depending on where your grades are.</p>
<p>Yep...W & L is a great school......but its division III and I dont know how strong they are in biology and this person wanted a strong science department. W & L is best known for political science and history and getting kids jobs on Capitol Hill to work for Congressmen. And its "quirky".</p>
<p>second Wake Forest, good size and really focuses on the undergrads.
If you're already applying to Pomona, maybe apply to a couple of the other Claremonts as well? Harvey Mudd comes to mind for science, and research is big since it's only undergrad, but isn't too "sciency" if you dont want it to be because you have the cross-registration at the other claremonts.</p>
<p>Actually I think your list is really well done as it is, but you might want to take a look at Princeton or Brown, even though its tough competition at both. Both schools have excellent programs in Molecular Biology (Brown calls their department MCB for Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry), and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Princeton has an exceptional semester abroad program in their EEB department where you can take courses with Princeton professors in Kenya, Bermuda, and Panama. Many students do research as well: a majority do independent field research at zoos, aquariums, wildlife preserves and national parks worldwide. Princeton also has an integrated science curriculum which combines biology, chemistry, and physics into a novel interdisciplinary course which is very different from the typical intro courses, and is linked to the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrated Genomics: Princeton</a> University - Integrated Science - Overview. EEB at Brown has strong ties to the Organization of Biological Field Stations, and a large proportion of their students do research through that or REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates), which is supported by the National Science Foundation. </p>
<p>If you are interested in adding two great schools to an already good-looking list, Princeton and Brown are fitting choices.</p>