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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