Williams v. Pomona v. Rice

Colleges and Universities A-Z Williams College
1

<p>So it is decision time for me. I am posting this to see if my pros/cons about these three schools are valid. I have posted before and am interested in biology/pre-med/biomed engineering with an interest in attending medical school or Public Health School.</p>

<p>Williams: (+) Personal academic experience, outdoorsy and athletic students, diversity, grad school placement, tutorials, students, ability to run track
(-) lack of Public Health curriculum, lack of prominent research, cold, small, facilities seemed less nice than others, expensive, lack of name recognition, grade deflation</p>

<p>Pomona: (+) personal academic experience, outdoory students, diversity, california weather, ability to run track, campus beauty
(-) lack of Public Health curriculum, lack of prominent research, overly liberal students, large city and pollution, lack of name recognition</p>

<p>Rice: (+) tons of research, wide curriculum, cheapest, diversity, residential colleges, campus beauty, warm
(-) so many texans, more pre-professional, less liberal-art curriculum, Houston/Pollution, less outdoor opportunity, can't run</p>

<p>Do you think these are valid points?
How many students from Williams go to Harvard Med and other top med schools each year (I have seen the WSJ rankings but want to know how good med school prep is)?
Do any kids study public health?</p>

<p>Thanks and sorry if I am thinking out loud.</p>

2

<p>I can’t tell you any statistics – just anecdotal evidence. Favorite young cousin (closer to your generation than mine) went to Williams and on to Harvard Med. She isn’t in public health but emergency room medicine. Her H is into public health and has MD and MPH.</p>

<p>I think the prep is very good.</p>

<p>I didn’t know the facilities were cold and small, but I won’t argue with you. Could be.</p>

<p>From your list, I would say Rice fits you best. You may disagree. My S loves Wiliams, but if he’d written up the list the way you have, I would urge Rice unless he had a compelling reason to choose one of the others.</p>

3

<p>As for Williams, check this:</p>

<p>[A</a> Senior’s Experience in Biology : EphBlog](<a href=“http://www.ephblog.com/2009/04/11/a-seniors-experience-in-biology/]A”>http://www.ephblog.com/2009/04/11/a-seniors-experience-in-biology/)</p>

<p>On your negatives, I’d dispute a few. Surprised re: the facilities as I think you’d be hard pressed to find any better, anywhere – the entire science complex was renovated / built circa 2000, and of course there is a brand new student center, theater, and humanities classroom buildings, plus basically all the dorms on campus have been renovated over the course of the past decade. New library is next on deck. As for name recognition, no one who isn’t very educated about higher education will know Williams is anything remarkable (but the same is true of Pomona and Rice, of course) but any graduate program or elite employer will hold your degree in very high regard. There is definitely not grade deflation (the average gpa is around a 3.3 or so, which is pretty typical I believe of most elite schools). And as for research, that has been addressed ad infinitum on various threads, but the basic point is, in terms of how closely you’ll be working with faculty / the type of research you actually get to perform as an undergrad, Williams is second to none. The rest of your concerns are all totally fair I’d say. </p>

<p>I do know a few folks with MPH’s from top programs, and lots of prominent physicians / health care policy folks went to Williams (including a few of the people who run the Cleveland Clinic, and the current acting director of the CDC).</p>

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<p>In terms of grad school placement, I think Pomona and Williams would be about equal, with a slight edge over Rice. However, at this level, it’s much more about the student than the school.</p>

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<p>I think Williams is above Pomona by a little and both are a good measure away from Rice.</p>

6

<p>( Williams > Pomona ) >>> Rice</p>

7

<p>Williams>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Yale>Stanford>Princeton>Harvard<hudson valley=“” community=“” college=“”>Rice.</hudson></p>

<p>Lol, just kidding. All three are great schools, but you seem not to be totally into the LAC thing, so I’d suggest Rice for you.</p>

8

<p>I wouldn’t penalize either Pomona or Williams for lack of public health curriculum–Public health is almost everywhere a graduate degree–if you’re looking to do an MPH in science-oriented field (epi/toxocology, etc) or MD/MPH, then a biology/chemistry degree from either place would be excellent preparation</p>

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<p>Is there no advantage in MPH/MD admissions to having public health curriculum under your belt? At Rice, I could take epidemiology and other health classes in my undergraduate career.
What exactly are MPH programs looking for besides grades? I plan on doing the peace corps and this summer doing americorps or No More Deaths but what else? Should I be working on setting up some health services nonprofit or something?</p>

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<p>Most MPH curricula that I’m familar with assume no particular undergrad coursework and are aimed at producing generalists-If you’re doing MD/MPH, most of MPH is management/community health sort of stuff–curriculum assumes you’re getting science through medical degree and need to learn how to run things-there are some exceptions, you should look at places like Michigan that have strong scientific tilt to them–</p>