My child wants to study Biology (Molecular/Cell Biology, to be exact) in college and then presumably apply to Ph.D. programs in the same field, with the ultimate goal of working in R&D, (whether academia, industry, or government). Among the college offers, the following seem to be the front-runners. Disregarding cost, which one(s) would you favor and why?
Much appreciated upfront!
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU does not typically admit students to majors)
Lehigh University (College of Arts and Sciences)
New York University (Biology major)
University of California - San Diego (Molecular and Cell Biology major)
University of Pittsburgh (Molecular Biology major)
Case Western Reserve would be the best choice, since it has the highest proportion of students who go on to do a PhD.
CWRU is #12 in colleges in the USA for the highest percent of students who go on to do a science or engineering PhD. Overall, 10.1% of their science and engineering graduates go on to do a PhD in their field. None of the other universities on this list comes even close, so, all things being equal, CWRU is a fairly clear best choice.
Liberal Arts Colleges are also, as a rule, the best bet (about 2/3 of the colleges with the highest percent of graduates who go on to do a PhD in any discipline are LACs).
I’d look and see what individual professors in the field are researching to see if any appealed. Different places often study different things (in depth). If your student were able to work with a professor doing what they like doing, they’ll have a leg up for future work in that.
NOTE: It can be risky depending upon just one professor as they can retire, move, or simply have all their slots for research/help filled by other students, so bonus points to a place that has more than one that appeal.
Case Western Reserve. More academic than Lehigh (although your child could be a future PHD who likes to party and plans to join a sorority in which case Lehigh would be a better fit but wouldn’t lead as likely to a PHD) and more likely to lead to a graduate program, with multiple opportunities to do research both on campus and near campus. Plus, cool, vibrant neighborhood.
NYU’s Bio major is nothing special, UCSD is best for a PHD not for undergrads.
That leaves Case v. Pitt and everything else being equal, I’d pick Case over Pitt.
Given that Case focuses so heavily on STEM – approximately 2/3 of undergrads are majoring in a STEM field – it is hardly surprising that it outpaces other colleges in PhD production. Can one really compare a university like NYU (3.6% engineering, 17% arts) with Case Western (30% engineering, 2% arts)?
As for your second statistic, if it is drawn from the NSF data, it should be noted that it divides PhDs per school by all undergraduate degrees, not only STEM degrees. As far as I am aware, there are no available rankings that calculate PhDs per capita based on undergraduate and graduate degrees in individual fields rather than overall undergraduate numbers – which obviously heavily favors schools like Harvey Mudd that have high percentages of students in fields requiring a PhD.
That said, I personally would go with Case or Lehigh, with location and campus climate/feel being the deciding factors.
Other than Caltech and HMC, most colleges with high percentages who go to any PhD programs are LACs. Although those have the highest percent, the next 18 are (or were in the years leading up to 2018), in this order (with % who go off to do a PhD):
Swarthmore College 22.4%
Reed College 22.1%
Carleton College 18.6%
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 18.5%
Grinnell College 16.3%
Haverford College 14.6%
Princeton University 14.3%
Pomona College 14.2%
Harvard University 14.1%
Bryn Mawr College 13.6%
Simon’s Rock College of Bard 13.0%
Rice University 13.0%
Yale University 12.9%
Oberlin College 12.6%
Amherst College 12.5%
Macalester College 12.2%
Stanford University 12.0%
Brown University 11.8%
So only MIT there is heavily STEM. In fact, of these 18, 11 are liberal arts colleges, most with few or no engineering students.
In any case, OP specifically asked about a STEM PhD, so colleges which are STEM heavy with many students going on to do a PhD are exactly what the OP would want.
Besides, the vast majority of engineers do not go on to do a PhD - Caltech and HMC are anomalies.
Well, in all honesty, the vast majority of all fields do not do a PhD. Fewer than 3% of all people who get a BA/BS go on to do a PhD.
I checked a few of the colleges and they fit the data presented. While things may have changed slightly since 2018, at most we are talking about minor changes.