<p>Hi all; I am both lucky and unlucky in that I have several acceptance letters, with Wesleyan and Brown being at the top of the list. I am having a very hard time deciding.</p>
<p>I'm a science kid, but I would like to study other areas as well, thus the liberal arts colleges on my list. Wes was the first college I visited, and despite an interesting overnight, I still love it. Brown, however, seems to have more opportunities for a science major, and a possible neuroscience major.</p>
<p>So: my questions are for any science kids at Wes - how have you found your departments, your professors, your classes? Are there good opportunities in terms of internships? Any information on employment prospects for Wes grads and graduate school admissions? Any comments on the chem/molecular bio departments?</p>
<p>I'm a possible neuroscience major :o) There are lots of prefroshies who love their science :D</p>
<p>There are AMAZING opportunities in terms of research at Wesleyan. Lots of opportunity for undergraduate research, which you won't find as much at Brown, because they have more graduate students.</p>
<p>As an astronomy/physics double major, I've found it to be great. Wesleyan has small grad programs in all the sciences, which is why it's one of the few liberal arts colleges that has serious research opportunities for science students -- you can't really run a serious science department without grad students since they fill such a critical role.</p>
<p>The benefits of being in such a small environment are primarily:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>You will get to know pretty much all the faculty of your department on a first-name basis. They will consult with you very closely on finding research opportunities at Wes and elsewhere (for the summer), as well as other stuff like grad school (if that's where you find you want to go)</p></li>
<li><p>You will progress through your major track with largely the same group of students. You will get to know them very well and will work with them on problem sets and other classwork in a very collaborative environment (ie through weekly TA sessions and labs)</p></li>
<li><p>You'll be heavily encouraged to become involved in research as early as possible.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The other thing you'll find is that science students from Wesleyan go disproportionately into graduate programs rather than industry after graduating, as compared to the Ivies or Stanford/MIT (although I suspect Brown may exhibit similar behavior to Wesleyan in that respect moreso than the other Ivies, but I definitely don't know for sure). The general philosophy of most science students at Wes is that we're doing it because we really like it and not necessarily to make the big bucks (although I personally would have no objections to making the big bucks if that's how the cards fall...)</p>
<p>I don't really know that much about the relatively availability of research or general atmosphere of the programs at Brown, but I'm sure you're asking their board and they'll be happy to shill for their school. :)</p>
<p>Wesleyan is still embroiled in a very strong push to assert itself as the #1 LAC for the sciences. Whether you buy their line or not, though, I've been very satisfied with the astro/physics programs. I know that Neuroscience & Behavior is a newer program and might be on shakier ground than older stuff like physics. My suggestion would be to come to WesFest and sit down with a professor in the department and grill them on it.</p>
<p>Good luck making your decision. If you like, you can IM me at xmattus01 and question me further.</p>
<p>Edit: And the for the record, I'm doing a research fellowship this summer at Williams (the horror!) with an astronomy professor.</p>