<p>Hey guys, just wanna ask which universities / colleges have the best departments for undergraduate chemistry. I know there are a few threads on this topic, but they are pretty old. I hope to get some new opinions. Thanks.</p>
<p>Northwestern University has an excellent Chemistry department.</p>
<p>Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley, Stanford....</p>
<p>Northwestern grad program is ranked the 9th.</p>
<p>You're asking the wrong question. Your starting question shouldn't be "which are the best schools for chemistry?" but rather "what makes a good program in chemistry?" If you know what to look for in looking at different programs you will be in a MUCH better position to choose the "best" program for YOU.
I would recommend you not rely on subjective opinions from strangers who don't know you, your needs, or your qualifications, and who may not have knowledge of all of the excellent programs available, but rather do some research to really understand what you should look for as you look at chemistry departments. </p>
<p>To answer that question, start with the resources from the
American Chemical Society: <a href="http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/acsdisplay.html?DOC=education%5Cindex.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/acsdisplay.html?DOC=education\index.html</a></p>
<p>In particular, read up on what a good, ACS accredited undergraduate chemistry program should have (click on guidelines for programs on the link below). I'd also focus on the 630 or so schools that are ACS accredited for undergraduate chemistry education. There's a searchable database here: <a href="http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/acsdisplay.html?DOC=education%5Ccpt%5Cprograms.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/acsdisplay.html?DOC=education%5Ccpt%5Cprograms.html</a></p>
<p>Then go to <a href="http://www.careercornerstone.org%5B/url%5D">www.careercornerstone.org</a> and do more research there. If you look under the education links, you will find a pdf file of all accredited chemistry programs in the country. </p>
<p>After you have figured out what makes a good chemistry program, however, don't rush to find schools JUST for chemistry -- first decide where YOU will learn best, and have the best overall experience. In short, your second question as you look at colleges should be, "Would I want to go to this college even if I decide I don't want to major in chemistry?" </p>
<p>Of course, no one can tell you which school will be "best" for YOU --- only you can do that!</p>
<p>^ great post!</p>
<p>Carolyn, you've done it again. I'm an ACS member but you know the site better than I do!
Edwinksl: there are a lot of fine chemistry programs at the undergraduate level. Because of that, and because if you want to beomne a chemist you will need a graduate degree to get anywhere, you should think more about the characteristics of the colleges than about the chemistry programs What type of college or university do you think would be best for you - large/small, urban/not-so-urban, research opportunities, etc. Think specifically about the chemistry programs when you're getting ready to go to graduate school, if that's your aim.</p>
<p>I think Carolyn's advice is good. Here are some schools to consider to get you started:
Gourman Report undergrad chemistry ranking:
Caltech
UC Berkeley
Harvard
MIT
Columbia
Stanford
Illimois Urbana Champaign
U Chicago
UCLA
Wisconsin Madison
Cornell
Northwestern
Princeton
Yale
Purdue
UNC Chapel Hill
Ohio State
Texas Austin
Iowa State
Indiana Bloomington
UC San Diego
Minnesota
Notre Dame
Penn State
Brown
U Rochester
Carnegie Mellon
U Penn
Rice
Michigan Ann Arbor
U Washington
Colorado Boulder
Texas A&M
USC
U Pittsburgh
U Florida
UC Riverside
dartmouth
UC Santa Barbara
UC Irvine
Johns Hopkins
UC Davis
U Utah
U Oregon
Duke
Michigan State
RPI
UVA
Florida State
Vanderbilt
Case Western
u Iowa
Georgia Tech</p>
<p>LACs with relatively large chem programs</p>
<p>college, SAT 75th percentile, total bachelors grads, number of bachelors grads in chem, proprtion of bachelors grads in chemistry</p>
<p>sorted by the proportion of bachelors graduates in chemistry</p>
<p>Albion College 1220 341 25 0.073
Kalamazoo College 1380 271 16 0.059
Harvey Mudd College 1560 155 9 0.058
Millsaps College 1290 276 16 0.058
Wabash College 1310 163 9 0.055
Willamette University 1340 447 24 0.054
St. Olaf College 1340 689 36 0.052
Centre College 1340 230 12 0.052
Colby College 1430 484 23 0.048
MacAlester College 1450 460 21 0.046
Wells College 1230 88 4 0.045
Grinnell College 1490 319 14 0.044
Bryn Mawr College 1410 320 14 0.044
Williams College 1520 504 22 0.044
The College of Wooster 1330 413 18 0.044
Haverford College 1460 278 12 0.043
Hobart William Smith Colleges 1270 425 18 0.042
Ursinus College 1320 324 13 0.040
Carleton College 1480 500 20 0.040
Hendrix College 1340 202 8 0.040
Allegheny College 1300 381 15 0.039
Hope College 1260 652 24 0.037
Virginia Military Institute 1230 299 11 0.037
Amherst College 1550 409 15 0.037
Hamilton College 1420 423 15 0.035
Pomona College 1530 368 13 0.035
Southwestern University 1360 264 9 0.034
Sweet Briar College 1255 126 4 0.032
Randolph-Macon College 1210 196 6 0.031
Reed College 1460 298 9 0.030
Illinois Wesleyan University 1380 473 14 0.030</p>
<p>LACs for chemistry from Rugg’s
Amherst
Barnard
Bates
Bowdoin
Bryn Mawr
Bucknell
Carleton
Centre
Colgate
Dartmouth
Davidson
Drew
Franklin and Marshall
Furman
Grinnell
Hamilton
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Kalamazoo
Kenyon
Lafayette
Lawrence
Mount Holyoke
New College
Oberlin
Occidental
Pomona
Reed
St Olaf
Trinity (TX)
Union
Wellesley
Wesleyan
Wheaton
Whitman
Willamette
Williams</p>
<p>universities
sorted by the proportion of bachelors degrees in chemistry</p>
<p>California Institute of Technology 1570 217 19 0.088
Case Western Reserve University 1420 705 29 0.041
College of William and Mary 1440 1472 55 0.037
Emory University 1460 1476 50 0.034
University of Virginia-Main Campus 1430 3353 110 0.033
Dartmouth College 1550 1109 33 0.030
University of California-San Diego 1200 5042 130 0.026
Princeton University 1560 1145 29 0.025
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1560 1220 29 0.024
University of Chicago 1280 1072 25 0.023
Saint Louis University-Main Campus 1320 1512 34 0.022
Rice University 1540 748 16 0.021
Duke University 1530 1448 30 0.021
Carnegie Mellon University 1480 1278 26 0.020
Washington University in St Louis 1520 1529 31 0.020
Vanderbilt University 1440 1519 29 0.019
University of Rochester 1410 1134 20 0.018
Harvard University 1580 1807 27 0.015
Wake Forest University 1410 953 13 0.014
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus 1430 2512 34 0.014
University of California-Berkeley 1435 6767 89 0.013
University of California-Irvine 1280 5242 66 0.013
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 1390 6088 75 0.012
University of Washington-Seattle Campus 1310 7287 86 0.012
Southern Methodist University 1300 1491 17 0.011
Miami University-Oxford 1320 3759 40 0.011
University of Pittsburgh-Main Campus 1330 3989 42 0.011
SUNY at Binghamton 1340 2702 28 0.010
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1320 6752 69 0.010
University of California-Santa Cruz 1300 2991 29 0.010
Northwestern University 1500 2083 20 0.010
Johns Hopkins University 1490 1412 13 0.009
Clark University 1305 472 4 0.008
University of Wisconsin-Madison 1390 6316 53 0.008
Stanford University 1550 1790 15 0.008
Clemson University 1300 3005 25 0.008
Stevens Institute of Technology 1390 365 3 0.008
Michigan State University 1240 7733 63 0.008
Worcester Polytechnic Institute 1390 615 5 0.008
Boston College 1410 2341 19 0.008
New York University 1410 4696 37 0.008
Yeshiva University 1350 647 5 0.008
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 1420 1173 9 0.008</p>
<p>I know some people will disagree with me but I'm still going to say this. I suggest you look into colleges that are ranked highly for graduate chemistry. I know I know that having a good graduate department does not necessarily mean a good undergrad but I think that it’s true most of the time.
The top 5 programs for graduate chemistry:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5.0
University of California–Berkeley 5.0
3. California Institute of Technology 4.9
Harvard University (MA) 4.9
Stanford University (CA) 4.9</p>
<p>Again I don't think they should be ranked in this order for undergrad. This is just to give you an idea for who's at the top of the list.</p>
<p>for liberal arts colleges, Amherst and W&M are very good. plus if you change your major, all the other depts are excellent as well.</p>
<p>
[quote]
know I know that having a good graduate department does not necessarily mean a good undergrad but I think that it’s true most of the time.
[/quote]
This is such a sweeping generalization! Why is there any a-priori reason to believe that a school with a good grad program provides personal attention to undergrads, faculty that is interested in working with and mentoring undergrads (so important in eventually getting strong recs for grad school), the ability to easily find positions working in research, a faculty advisor, the ability to get the classes you need to finish on time, and so on? </p>
<p>Some programs do these things, many don't. From comments molliebat has made about MIT I get the impression this is common there. I don't know about the other schools. But the point is that anyone looking for a good undergrad needs to know about the specific schools in question, not just rely on sweeping statements to the effect that if the grad program is great the undergrad is likely to be too.</p>
<p>^Mike I agree that more research is needed but I'm just saying that looking at the top graduate programs is a good place to start</p>
<p>mikemac, I agree entirely with you. There are so many examples of disparate quality relative to graduate vs. undergraduate programs. </p>
<p>I also agree with Carolyn and Dadofsam regarding the importance of examining the many other factors important in selecting a college.</p>