| | |
CC Resources for Swarthmore College
 |
11-20-2009, 09:49 AM
|
#1 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 172
| Chemistry at Swarthmore?
From this report ( http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/...by%20Major.pdf), I do not see a lot of graduate school representation within the Chemistry graduates (and that includes Biochemistry). How strong is the Chemistry department, in terms of curriculum, faculty research and grad school admission? From my observation, the course offering is fairly limited compared to other schools (may be this will be complemented by the Honors seminars?). The prof. websites seem a bit outdated with the latest paper in 2005 so I'm not quite sure what happened after that. Also, how many chemistry students are there per class year?
|
| Reply
|
11-20-2009, 02:25 PM
|
#2 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: USA
Posts: 8,202
|
Use this file instead. It's the five year post-grad plans. Looking at a single year of data is going to give you very misleading info at any small liberal arts college. The raw numbers are so small that you get huge year to year swings: http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/...02004-2009.pdf
Also, be sure to scan down to the end for the predefined special majors BioChemistry and PhysicsChemistry as a lot of "chemistry" type majors at Swarthmore do these special majors as the school is really set up to accommodate that kind of thing.
Here is a table of majors (raw number and percentages) over time. This allows you to look at averages over the last four years. Again, look at both Chemistry and the related special majors. http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/.../DegMajors.pdf
There are also a signficant number of Chemistry minors at Swarthmore, in part due to the structure of the Honors program (which requires a major and a minor) and the fact that you have Bio and Engineering students taking a large number of Chemistry courses and the intertwined nature of sciences today. http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/.../ir/Minors.pdf
Swarhmore is one of the most science oriented liberal arts colleges in the country with large number of science/engineering majors and very strong graduate school results.
Here are the top 100 colleges and universities in order of percentage of graduates going on to a PhD in math, science, or engineering: Code: Percentage of grads getting PhDs
Academic field: All Engineering, Hard Science, and Math
PhDs and Doctoral Degrees: ten years (1994 to 2003) from NSF database
Number of Undergraduates: ten years (1989 to 1998) from IPEDS database
Formula: Total PhDs divided by Total Grads
Note: Does not include colleges with less than 1000 graduates over the ten year period
1 34% California Institute of Technology
2 24% Harvey Mudd College
3 16% Massachusetts Institute of Technology
4 10% Reed College
5 9% Rice University
6 8% Swarthmore College
7 8% Princeton University
8 7% Carleton College
9 7% New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
10 7% University of Chicago
11 7% Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
12 7% Case Western Reserve University
13 6% Harvard University
14 6% Carnegie Mellon University
15 6% Johns Hopkins University
16 6% Haverford College
17 6% Grinnell College
18 6% Cornell University, All Campuses
19 5% Kalamazoo College
20 5% Stanford University
21 5% Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
22 5% Yale University
23 5% Cooper Union
24 5% Oberlin College
25 5% Lawrence University
26 5% Bryn Mawr College
27 5% Williams College
28 5% Pomona College
29 4% Colorado School of Mines
30 4% Bowdoin College
31 4% Earlham College
32 4% Brown University
33 4% University of Rochester
34 4% University of California-Berkeley
35 4% Wabash College
36 4% Duke University
37 4% Worcester Polytechnic Institute
38 4% Amherst College
39 4% Stevens Institute of Technology
40 4% St Olaf College
41 4% Hendrix College
42 4% Beloit College
43 4% University of Missouri, Rolla
44 4% University of California-San Francisco
45 4% Occidental College
46 4% Alfred University, Main Campus
47 4% Allegheny College
48 4% Whitman College
49 4% College of Wooster
50 4% SUNY College of Environmental Sci & Forestry
51 4% Mount Holyoke College
52 4% Bates College
53 4% College of William and Mary
54 4% Knox College
55 3% Franklin and Marshall College
56 3% Georgia Institute of Technology, Main Campus
57 3% Washington University
58 3% Long Island University Southampton Campus
59 3% Macalester College
60 3% University of California-San Diego
61 3% Dartmouth College
62 3% Wellesley College
63 3% Trinity University
64 3% Juniata College
65 3% Ripon College
66 3% University of California-Davis
67 3% Florida Institute of Technology
68 3% Polytechnic University
69 3% Michigan Technological University
70 3% Columbia University in the City of New York
71 3% Lehigh University
72 3% University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
73 3% Centre College
74 3% Hampshire College
75 3% University of Pennsylvania
76 3% Wesleyan University
77 3% University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
78 3% Colorado College
79 3% Bucknell University
80 3% Davidson College
81 3% Northwestern Univ
82 3% Texas Lutheran University
83 3% St John's College (both campus)
84 3% Furman University
85 3% Hope College
86 2% Clarkson University
87 2% University of Virginia, Main Campus
88 2% Illinois Institute of Technology
89 2% Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ
90 2% Union College (Schenectady, NY)
91 2% University of California-Santa Cruz
92 2% Lafayette College
93 2% Brandeis University
94 2% University of Dallas
95 2% Rhodes College
96 2% University of Notre Dame
97 2% Middlebury College
98 2% University of Wisconsin-Madison
99 2% Colgate University
100 2% Hiram College |
| Reply
|
11-20-2009, 10:06 PM
|
#3 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 172
|
interesteddad. that was VERY helpful! I do see a range of grad schools for chemistry graduates in the 5-year span, which is reassuring. The number of chem. graduates per year seems a bit small (3?!), which is a good thing or not depending on how you look at it. (Maybe the small sample size does put the percentage of Swat going to Chem grad schools* higher). And holy smokes Biology and Economics! (I've heard Swat is a target school for I-Banking so that may be why).
*2005-06 HEDS Weighted Baccalaureate Origins Study
Edit: Also, could someone briefly explain to me the major and minor Honors? I've read the Swat website but I'm still confused.
Last edited by mcpheevn; 11-20-2009 at 10:11 PM.
|
| Reply
|
11-21-2009, 12:17 AM
|
#4 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Area 52
Posts: 1,381
|
If you'd like a LAC feel similar to Swarthmore, you may want to look at HMC.
More than 80% of HMC chemistry graduates go on to get a PhD, by far the highest in the country. Of course, there are only ~10 or so each year.
see bottom of page for source Introduction to the Department of Chemistry |
| Reply
|
11-21-2009, 02:20 AM
|
#5 | | Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 172
|
I've considered HMC, but I don't want to be surrounded by math & science people all the time (my high school is one), plus I want some snow. Still, I'm gravitated towards schools with rigorous academics rep (e.g. Swat, Carleton, Grinnell, Reed) and I'm trying to gauge the strength of the chem department at each.
|
| Reply
|
11-21-2009, 09:57 AM
|
#6 | | Member
Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: MA/Swarthmore 2011
Posts: 650
|
OK, explaining Honors. Here goes.
Basically, any student can choose to have normal Course majors and minors, which consist of a bunch of classes in the department (usually with some more specific requirements) and a senior capstone thing (senior seminar, thesis, "comprehensive project", etc.--it varies by department) in the case of a major. Students get grades from their professors on their classes, and they graduate. Straightforward.
But if a student decides to do Honors, he or she will complete three two-credit Honors preparations in the major (which can be a thesis, a seminar or a course combination; each department works differently) and one in the minor. Participation in the Honors program requires an Honors major and an Honors minor. Honors exams happen at the end of senior year, and external examiners (professors from other universities) come in to give the oral and written exams and assign grades of Highest Honors, High Honors, Honors or Pass.
Chemistry at Swat is what one might consider a small-but-mighty department. While they have relatively few majors, the total number of students taking Chemistry courses is larger than their major numbers would indicate. And a small department means that the majors get more personal attention from professors, etc.
Hope that helps!
|
| Reply
|
11-21-2009, 12:56 PM
|
#7 | | Senior Member
Join Date: May 2007 Location: Swarthmore
Posts: 3,227
|
Since interesteddad never says it, I will say it:
The percentage of people going to graduate school does not indicate the strength of the colleges' departments. For example, Swarthmore's percentage is higher than Princeton's and the University of Chicago's, but if you ask most Swarthmore professors which is better for math grad school, I think most would say the latter schools. I'm not saying that Swarthmore is a bad choice for those considering math grad school, but it's very hard to get research experience in math at Swarthmore, and very few Swarthmore math majors who go to graduate school end up going to the top ones. For graduate school placement, the economics, political science, physics, and biology departments are all very strong, and stronger than the math department. Though the level of instruction in math here is overall good.
|
| Reply
| All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:15 PM. |