For the record over the past 10 years, Wellesley and Dartmouth had the same number of NSF research fellowships in the life sciences (9). Wellesley has about half the number of Neuro and Bio grads as Dartmouth which would suggest that Wellesley is more effective at providing undergraduate research training than Dartmouth despite Dartmouth’s advantage in NIH spending.
I suspect that Dartmouth’s larger Bio department size and grad programs do translate into more Genetics courses, so that will be a trade off.
Next semester, Wellesley offers 2 genetics courses - BISC 219 and BISC 316 https://courses.wellesley.edu/. There are several Bio research labs on campus and relationships with Harvard,Tufts and Northeastern.
I don’t need to get into a flame war with a parent of a current Wellesley student (partisan much?) about the relative prestige of Dartmouth and Wellesley. @kajame can figure that out on her own. And forget the 70% figure; what’s MUCH more useful than what percentage of students go to medical school is WHERE those students end up. I could go to med school in the Caribbean and still be in med school.
@kajame Try going to the premed offices at Dartmouth and Wellesley and find that fact sheet of where people in the past year end up (not just where, but the distribution/how many.) Premed advisers are generally pretty helpful people.
I just personally find it hilarious when people from certain schools draw false equivalencies in prestige between their schools and other more “prestigious” institutions. You can debate if prestige even matters or makes the student happy–I personally think “fit” and being happy at your school is way more important–but to buckle down in your self-affirming thoughts is funny and plain wrong.
It kind of reminds me of how some Barnard students will say they go to Columbia or that their school = Columbia in prestige, when actual Columbia students are side-eyeing.
And to be perfectly, brutally frank in a way that sounds horrible but is reflective of many people’s attitudes: When you go somewhere less “prestigious” but are an obviously intelligent person, grad school admissions often don’t take that into account. Or to be frank: When a lot of people see someone coming from Wellesley, many assume they weren’t good enough to get into Harvard/MIT/somewhere more “prestigious” unless proven otherwise.
This is anecdotal but the few people I know from LACs or less prestigious universities at top med schools on average tend to MORE competent than the ones from Ivies. This isn’t because LACs are better–it’s because these candidates had to be the best of the best in their school, and that is not an easy feat. There’s more latitude given when you come from a more prestigious school. Just look at the class composites for top med schools: there is a completely disproportionate representation from “prestigious” schools that is more than a factor of numbers (ie fewer people at Wellesley than Dartmouth.)
I have no personal connection to either Dartmouth or Wellesley, but anyone who believes Wellesley is that far away from Dartmouth as an undergraduate experience is not someone I’d take seriously.
Go to accepted student days at both. Your choice will likely be clearer after that. I do think they are academic peers, and you will do fine career-wise from either.
Your link shows Dartmouth at number 7 and Wellesley at number 15.
Lol. OK.
I personally am not 100% wrapped up in rankings, but I find it hilarious that the rankings you give only provide further evidence for my statements.
And as for your second piece of evidence, OP is looking to go to medical school, not graduate school. And I think that one reason Wellesley has a higher per capita of PhDs is because Dartmouth is notorious for feeding students into Wall Street/consulting/etc.
Sorry that you think in absolutes and not in comparatives. The point is that they’re comparable schools. Wellesley is right next to the Ivies in outcomes to the best graduate schools. What you’re saying is that they’re far away from each other in reputation and prestige. That is not true in elite circles.
When the dust clears, at one you are a short train ride to the ultimate college town , Boston; at the other, you are a long bus ride from Jellystone Park.
@Arwen1 Barnard students sometimes tell others they go to Columbia University because it is officially under the Columbia University umbrella. Barnard women get degrees from Columbia University, graduate at Columbia University graduation and take classes/ join clubs/ sororities/ societies/ sports teams at Columbia. If a girl is committed to a sport at Columbia University she can choose which undergraduate college to apply to: Columbia College, Barnard, Fu School of Engineering, and sometimes General Studies (if she is old enough to count).
I have never met someone from CC/SEAS who has “side-eyed” a Barnard girl for saying she goes to Columbia UNIVERSITY. In fact, many CC and SEAS people introduce their Barnard friends as going to Columbia U to other people. It just simplifies the situation rather than having to explain that Barnard is part of Columbia to every single person that asks/that you meet.
Barnard is an AMAZING school on its own (most selective all women’s college in the world- 14.8% acceptance rate), so Barnard girls obviously don’t need to say they go to Columbia to get “prestige”. It is just simpler to say Columbia to uneducated people who do not know what Barnard (or many other small liberal arts colleges for that matter) is.
@NYCGirl33 I am well aware of the integration between Barnard and Columbia. And I have definitely talked to Columbia students who have made snarky comments about Barnard women.
To all you high-ranking LACers, do you really think that people who think your schools aren’t academic peers to the HYPS/etc. are going to say so to your faces? I would personally never say something that rude and frankly unproductive face-to-face to someone who attended a LAC school. What’s the point? But I have had countless conversations with actual Ivy League school attendees who think that. I mean, it’s not limited to Ivy vs. Lac; there are intra-Ivy snobberies like everyone else looking down on Cornell, HYP > rest of Ivies, and Harvard thinking everyone else isn’t as good. That’s just the way life works even if it doesn’t make your self esteem happy.
This has become a digression on @kajame initial post, which only very tangentially dealt with prestige. If you go to Wellesley, know that you won’t be given that initial benefit of the doubt that Ivy/elite school people are. Or have access to the quite frankly awesome Ivy alumni network (lots of events, gatherings, etc.) But in the real world, the prestige of your degree only lasts so long; your overall competence is going to be more obvious and important than where you came from. But to falsely draw equivalencies because of your egos and give misleading advice to impressionable high school students is sad and wrong.
@Arwen1 - the people with the self-esteem problems are the ones making the snarky comments, which reflect poorly on them-- not on the objects of their snark. The same is true of sexist and racist comments and jokes – which fall in the same category — crass comments made by uncouth individuals, some of whom are sensible enough not to actually say them directly to the targets of their insults.
I’m sorry that you seem to somehow think that such comments are anything other than the reflections of the speaker’s own insecurity, at best. (That’s Psychology 101 …though I suppose the concept may be illusive to people who themselves are in the habit of trying to pump up their own fragile feelings of self-worth by demeaning others)
Anyway, it is a digression, but for the OP – if there is any truth at all to the Arwen’s claims about the comments he hears coming from Ivy Leaguers – that would be one more strike against Dartmouth and in favor of Wellesley. Choose a school where the students understand the difference between class and crass.
I can’t thinking of that old joke… How many Harvard students does it take to change a lightbulb? One to hold it while the rest of the world just revolves around him.
There are also many Wellesley students who take a few classes and do research at MIT, thanks to cross-registration… I’m sure you would be able to find some fascinating classes there. I knew a few Bio majors when I was at Wellesley and they all seemed to have ample research opportunities and got great recommendations from their professors.
Wellesley and Dartmouth are both great schools that offer great opportunities. I agree with other posters who say that it’s down to fit at this point… choose the school that you’d be happiest at.
Wow! That was a lot. Thank you all for your input, advice, and experience. I think I really need to visit both of these schools and see for myself what they have to offer. Hopefully then I’ll find some clarity and make my choice with confidence.
