Advice for future scholars

willmingtonwave
Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:33:49 +0000

I have to politely disagree with the idea that you should go to a “research school” if you are inclined towards an academic career. If anything, a small college environment will allow you to cultivate better relationships with your professors, which will translate into better recommendations.

Currently, I work in the admissions office of a small, liberal arts college and the research opportunities we offer are amazing. Sure, we do not have a graduate school affiliated with us and are in a rural location. Our students are able to research 1 on 1 with professors, and oftentimes are conducting graduate-level research. There are no graduate students to “compete” with for a professor’s time or institutional resources. As a result of this, we place EXTREMELY well for graduate school and medical school. Sure, the professors may be “unknown” to you, but to the people that matter (graduate school deans), they will know what our degree is worth.

Do you know what school produces the most eventual science PhDs per capita? Oberlin. A little school, outside of Cleveland that is more known for its conservatory.

Also, I am curious why you threw Wesleyan into the mix of those schools? It is a small, liberal arts college and clearly the outlier of the group.

This is not meant to savage you, Hucmenzu, but this post illustrates a reoccurring problem on College Confidential–people saying things as gospel when they really don’t know what they are talking about.