Who has the best Molecular Biology Program?

<p>I love studying molecular biology like DNA, molecular based genetics, biochemistry and such, but I'm confused as to which school actually offer a good program since everything is focused on engineering. It'd be even better if they had a very well-off research program, but I'm going to focus on research in grad school. I'd think I'd be happy with a Biological Engineering program to, but I'd like to hear the community's input. Thanks.</p>

<p>Lots of the usual suspects--Harvard, Stanford, MIT, UCB, Wash U</p>

<p>I may be confused, but wouldn't Molecular Biology at the undergrad level be confined to 1 or maybe 2 courses rather than a whole program? As for biochemistry, a lot of colleges are offering that major now, but my wife (who is a Bio prof. specializing in Molecular Biology) says that really it is quite possible to get the same experience just majoring in biology (or chemistry I guess) and taking the appropraite upper-level courses.</p>

<p>I can tell that I am pleasantly surprised at WUSTL’s BME dept’s research activities. It’s relatively new but picking up pretty fast.</p>

<p><a href="http://bme.wustl.edu/Academics/GraduatePrograms.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://bme.wustl.edu/Academics/GraduatePrograms.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>the school was very clean too, I think I “misunderestimated” Wash U.</p>

<p>Anyone knows LACs with strong molecular biology program or courses?</p>

<p>I was looking into Harvey Mudd as a LAC, but it's very expensive.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I may be confused, but wouldn't Molecular Biology at the undergrad level be confined to 1 or maybe 2 courses rather than a whole program?

[/quote]

Well, you can take molecular biology as a course, you can take immunology, you can take physiology of cells and tissues, you can take cellular neurobiology... most of those topics wouldn't be considered strictly molecular biology at the graduate level, but they would be included in the electives for a molecular biology undergraduate program.</p>

<p>I think most undergraduate molecular biology programs would be more accurately described as molecular/cellular biosciences programs.</p>

<p>EDIT: And as a biologist myself, I don't think that most of the top research departments in molecular biology are doing engineering! There's plenty of awesome research going on in molecular bio, and there's no need to settle for a biological engineering program if that's not what gets you psyched.</p>

<p>Wisconsin has a large number of life science majors (all of which are very good) including molebio which seems to cut across departmental lines. Most ugs do biochem.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.biology.wisc.edu/images/Molecular_Biology_Brochure.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.biology.wisc.edu/images/Molecular_Biology_Brochure.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Gourman Report ranking for undergraduate molecular biology</p>

<p>molecular biology
MIT
Caltech
U Wisconsin Madison
UC Berkeley
U Colorado Boulder
Northwestern
UC San Diego
U Michigan Ann Arbor
Harvard
Princeton
Carnegie Mellon
Cornell
U Penn
Purdue
RPI
SUNY Buffalo
U Arizona
U Texas Austin
U Washington
Penn State UP
Vanderbilt
UC Santa Cruz</p>

<p>Pomona has molecular biology major, as well as biology major. But I don't know if the program is good. There is no formal mol biology lecture course, but there is mol bio lab. I was told that only students who major in molecular biology can take this lab class (max 15 people), but not other biology majors.</p>

<p>MIT! :) They're good at everything in math and science. Literally.</p>

<p>Yes they are. Cal Tech too. Just that little admissions problem for 99% of students.</p>

<p>It's nice to see UT Austin on that list since it's my safety. Can anyone give an opinion on how the program is?</p>

<p>I'd like to know why Gourman leaves Michigan State University off that list.</p>