W&L's reputation in physics and computer science

How is the reputation of Washington and Lee university in physics and computer science? How does it compare to other LACs like Bucknell, Hamilton, Haverford, or Bates?

W&L faculty were among those few that designed an early, model CS curriculum for liberal arts colleges (post #5):

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19416515#Comment_19416515

Among your listed schools, Hamilton would appear to be the strongest in computer science as measured by breadth of key course offerings, followed by W&L, then Haverford (though consortium options would be available), then Bates:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19190340#Comment_19190340

(Bucknell’s CS department would appear to be equivalent, by course offerings, to W&L’s.)

Hamilton, Haverford and Bucknell have each produced Apker Award recipients (for undergraduate research in physics):

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19894594#Comment_19894594

but how do they compare to other schools like U of Rochester, Emory, Tufts, and other research universities?

It would depend on the school. At Hamilton, for example, 8% of the students major in math, so the school will tend to have a recognizable quantitative bent. Emory, in contrast, enrolls a greater percentage of biology majors (11%). W&L may have somewhat of a business emphasis.

In computer science specifically, you can compare offerings directly:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19190340#Comment_19190340

That said, the science facilities at well-resourced LACs will often be more proportionately impressive than those at their university counterparts.

For instance, if you were to compare W&L’s key, upper-level CS course offerings using the link in #4 to those available at Emory, you would see that W&L indicates eight courses across these topics, which compares favorably to the seven options available at Emory.

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