<p>As a scientist wanna be who dreams to get into a top graduate school.. where should I go? Should I go to a university with many prestigious professors and high tech equipment even though I may not have the chance to touch them or go to a decent LAC with small name professors and slightly lesser equipment but I could make full use of them?</p>
<p>Bottom line: Where do I get a better shot in getting into Ivy League Science Graduate programs?</p>
<p>PS: Do you guys consider a top 20 LAC good enough to give me all that I need to get into a top grad program (especially when I am an international, will being an international matter at all?)</p>
<p>i dont know if i am completly wrong or not, but it seems that the LAC are much stronger in the humanities department and not so much is the sciences…</p>
<p>Unless you like small environments, I would recommend you go to a research university. While it’s harder to get access to all the facilities since there are more students, you most definitely can; it’s not as difficult as you think. Even at a large school like Berkeley or UCLA or UW-Madison, it isn’t terribly difficult to get in on the research/facilities/programs since there’s so much of it all.</p>
<p>While LACs do have a high grad school placement, I have a feeling it tends to be in the arts/humanities/social sciences.</p>
<p>It will matter that you’re international when you’re applying to graduate schools. Many top US science graduate programs have a huge number of international applicants for a limited number of spots – since most graduate science funding comes from the US government, programs generally prefer to take US citizens if they can help it.</p>
<p>It’s important to know that “top biology/chemistry/physics graduate programs” and “Ivy League graduate programs” aren’t the same – most great science graduate programs aren’t at Ivies, and not all of the Ivies have good graduate programs in the sciences. For graduate school, you want to go to the program that’s best in your field, not the one that has the biggest undergraduate name.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in attending graduate school in the sciences, your most important consideration in picking an undergrad school should be undergraduate research. You want to pick a school where a large percentage of students are able to do great research. It’s often easiest to do this at a small school with a fabulous graduate program in your chosen field, because there are lots of great labs which need undergraduate assistants. You also want a school where you’ll get to know two or three professors well enough that they can write you good recommendations. Some LACs have great undergraduate research programs in place, and others do not – it’s something you’ll have to check out for yourself.</p>
<p>The undergraduate school you attend does not absolutely determine where you can go to graduate school, but it is easier to get into a top graduate program if you come from a great undergrad school. Students from lower-tier schools definitely do get into top graduate programs, though, as long as they’ve been able to fight for great research opportunities and recommendations for themselves. But the ideal situation is to be in the lab of a superstar professor in your field, who will write you an out-of-this-world recommendation – it’s easier to be in a superstar’s lab when you’re at a school with a high concentration of superstars.</p>
LACs seem to be pretty well represented. Last year’s graduating PhD cohort at Caltech, for example, had students from Amherst, Barnard, Bates, Bowdoin, Carleton, Claremont McKenna, Gettysburg, Harvey Mudd, Occidental, Reed, Swarthmore, Sweet Briar, U Redlands, Wellesley, and Wesleyan.</p>
<p>On the whole, I agree with mollie (even if she did forget geology :(). I’m a science major at a relatively small research university, and faculty outnumber majors as least four to one. There are many more research opportunities available than get taken.</p>
<p>molliebatmit, warblersrule86- Caltech comes to mind when you guys talk about small universities with ample research opportunities.. but Caltech is like a super reach school for me.. </p>
<p>Which small universities do you guys recommend? Any particular good LACs which I should definitely look at?</p>
<p>Yes, plenty of small liberal arts colleges have very fine [in some instances, superlative] science departments, particularly in the life sciences. In addition to those already mentioned, Allegheny College, College of Wooster and Case Western Reserve University come to mind. Of course, many state collegs have significant resources, Michigan State University being one of the most prominent.</p>
<p>The chart below listing undergraduate origins of PhDs in Sciences and Engineering is from the Swarthmore web site for the decade 1995-2004. Obviously, the data skews in favor of schools offering engineering degrees (MIT, Caltech, Mudd, Swarthmore, HYP, Rice). But it gives a pretty good snapshot of LACs (and some uni’s) with strong undergrad departments in the sciences in general. Missing from the list but still to be considered, especially in the Boston/NE zone, are (at least) Bowdoin and Wellesley. </p>
<p>Within this general listing there are still some notables, Carleton and Mudd (physical sciences), Swarthmore and Reed (biology), etc.</p>
<p>Institution All Disciplines Sciences & Engineering</p>
<p>“While LACs do have a high grad school placement, I have a feeling it tends to be in the arts/humanities/social sciences.”</p>
<p>Schools like Colgate, Grinnell, Harvey Mudd, Case Western, Reed, Amherst, etc. all have great science programs. Additionally, LACs also have excellent grad school rates, and easy access to professors (not TAs) and research. </p>
<p>Big schools are better fits for some people, small schools are better fits for other people. You can get into Ivy grad schools from either route - it all comes down to preferrence.</p>
<p>Might want to look at Holy Cross-school has produced Nobel Prize winner, one of the best AIDS researcher, and the school is building a $60million addition to its science complex. HC’s location is close to Boston as opposed to remote Colgate and Bowdoin. Despite its name Holy Cross is not that religious.</p>