<p>I'm divided between two schools which could not be more dissimilar. On the one hand, I have the the state's University of Connecticut. Total cost per year is estimated at $21000, but I received a $4000/year scholarship. So, about $17000. Major is Physiology and Neurobiology. Great. UCONN is a major research university. Great. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, I can't help feeling I'm a better student than UCONN. I don't feel I'll fit in there. I'm a real nerd, in the sense that I love to learn. I'm in the top percentile of my class, earned a 2300 on the SAT, have taken 7 AP/College courses, have a weighted GPA of 105.5, etc. UCONN is not the most intellectually curios school. In fact, it has the reputation of a party school. </p>
<p>I feel like I'd be lost in a crowd of tens of thousands of students... I doubt I'll stand out. But, UCONN does have research opportunities. </p>
<p>In contrast, I could enroll at Reed College. It fits my personality ideally, I feel it would actually make me develop as an individual, and it seems to have a very strong success rate with postgraduate education. Problems: It costs about $10,000 more per year, it is on the other side of the country (which is good for me, but requires plane rides and means I won't be able to bring much there), it doesn't have an association with a medical school, and I've never visited. </p>
<p>So, I'm trapped. Any advice, perhaps? I think the most important thing to me is to become a biomedical researcher, probably in the cognitive sciences. However, I am young. I accept the fact that my experience of the world is rather narrow. I don't expect to change, but perhaps I will. I can really only have one true undergraduate experience... so... help would be appreciated...</p>
<p>You need to plan on going to med school. A BSc. in Physiology and Neurobiology is not going to get you anywhere probably not even a $12 an hour lab serf job. You won’t be doing any sort of research with just a BSc. Most research is going to be done in China and other third world countries and the stuff in the academic sector by post-docs slaving away for $35k for the vain hope of someday finding a real job that will never happen for most. You have great potential, I’d hate to see you flush it by getting caught in this web of lies, misery, and suffering that science in the US has become.</p>
<p>Your best bet is to go to med school, kick butt, and specialize in neurology.</p>
<p>I’d hate for you to end up like this poor soul.
<a href=“http://scforum.aaas.org/viewthread.php?id=60485[/url]”>http://scforum.aaas.org/viewthread.php?id=60485</a></p>
<p>Your state flagship will have academically-minded students like yourself, who could have gone out of state but made a financially sound decision instead. In fact, UConn has probably more smart students than Reed: 4,300 students with SAT scores above 1300 (verbal plus writing) at UConn compared to 700 students at Reed, for example. </p>
<p>You can and will find your niche at UConn. The question is whether you would be happy in an intellectual “subculture” at UConn, or if you need that subculture isolated into its college (= Reed). </p>
<p>As a nerdy science major myself, I would not choose to go to a liberal arts college again. The small classes and close-knit community were great for the first two years but extremely limiting afterwards. Not having access to graduate classes or research seminars is EXTREMELY limiting for advanced science majors. </p>
<p>P.S. Beware of false advertising. I am a student at Bryn Mawr, which has a reputation for a very intellectual atmosphere and intense workload. It also rivals Reed in the percentage of graduates going on to earn PhDs in the sciences. I was so disappointed when I got there and discovered that the science majors at Bryn Mawr were less intellectual and the workload lighter than the science majors at both my high school and my local state university.</p>
<p>^ b@r!um, to what do you attribute the discrepancy between Bryn Mawr’s reputation and the situation you found there? </p>
<p>Do you think that your perception of science majors at Bryn Mawr would apply to Haverford or Swarthmore as well (if you took any courses or knew many science majors at those schools)?</p>
<p>Haverford and Swarthmore definitely struck me as more intellectual, and the classes I have taken there were also more challenging.</p>
<p>If I had to make a guess, I would attribute my observations about Bryn Mawr to a combination of the following factors:</p>
<ul>
<li>the all girls thing (there simply aren’t that many female nerds, and they may not be attracted to a women’s college)</li>
<li>Bryn Mawr being noticeably less selective than Haverford and Swarthmore</li>
<li>hard-core science majors generally being less attracted to liberal arts colleges (“breadth”, “exploration” and “self-discovery” may not be the right buzzwords for this population)</li>
<li>Bryn Mawr being smaller than research universities. 5% of 20,000 students being intellectual or at the top of the academic pecking order is far more than 20% of 1,500 students.</li>
</ul>
<p>I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but selectivity-wise Reed is closer to Bryn Mawr and UConn than it is to Haverford and Swarthmore. I am confused why someone who feels overqualified for UConn thinks that Reed might be a good academic fit.</p>
<p>I’d say go with UCONN. Since it has a medical school, there will be even more opportunities available to you to conduct biomedical research as part of your undergraduate studies. The program seems like a solid one, with wide enough breadth that if you decide not to go into neuroscience for grad school, you can do something else.</p>
<p>please please please go visit Reed College. It’s a different and amazing place to be (if you can afford it…)
and look at this little statistic from the NSF
[nsf.gov</a> - NCSES Baccalaureate Origins of S&E Doctorate Recipients - US National Science Foundation (NSF)](<a href=“http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08311/?govDel=USNSF_178http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08311/?govDel=USNSF_178]nsf.gov”>http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08311/?govDel=USNSF_178http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08311/?govDel=USNSF_178)</p>
<p>Table 2 shows what percentage of students who were STEM (science, tech, engr, and math) majors as undergrads who went on to do a PhD in a science field. In terms of percentages, Reed somehow gets in the same breath as MIT, Mudd and Caltech.
And note that Reed is a very intellectual school in general. The place is known as a pre-PhD factory, regardless of field.</p>
<p>That being said, Reed isn’t for everyone. It’s really unfortunate you couldn’t visit.
And don’t let the reputation of Uconn’s general popular bother you. If you’re that hard working and what not, you’ll find other smart people (possibly through a research lab).</p>
<p>
How is Reed’s 13% is “in the same breath” as Caltech’s 35%? It’s less than half!!!</p>
<p>As I said before, I would be very careful equating PhD rates with atmosphere or academic strength. Bryn Mawr has a high percentage of students getting PhDs and it’s not a very intellectual place at all. Penn appears to be very intellectual to me (or at least the crowds that I am socializing with at Penn) but they have relatively few students getting PhDs. </p>
<p>Reed may well be an intellectual place (never been there) but you can’t deduce that from statistics.</p>
<p>
Ok fine. Schools like MIT, UChicago, Princeton and Harvard. </p>
<p>And I have been to Reed and wanted to go there (but not at 40k+ a year). Compared to the large publics in California (which I looked at/currently attend), I found Reed to be an interesting place. Hard to say as much as I visited in my high school days.
And considering I’m just some random guy on the internet, I’d prefer to have some statistics to back up my (possibly wrong) claim vs. “Well this is what I thought (and it could all be total BS)” argument.</p>
<p>If you’re an aspiring scientist, I think that you’d be happier at Reed if you can swing it. Even borrowing 10K/yr isn’t crazy. If you go to graduate school, you’re likely to have a stipend and tuition paid for, so you won’t come out with insurmountable debt. </p>
<p>On the other hand, If you’re an aspiring physician, I would go to UConn and graduate debt free so that you can borrow money for med school.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, that is the crux of the decision in my opinion.</p>