Best NESCAC (or NESCAC-type schools) for Biology?

College Search & Lists
1

I really want to hear personal feedback; I’m wondering which schools within the NESCAC are really good with Biology? I want a school that has the potential for research and really good biology classes. I know everything I’m asking is a bit subjective but I’ve seen it all from the rankings point of view and I’m trying to get a grasp on how people have actually experienced it. I don’t know if I will be pre-med but that’s definitely something to keep in mind. I’m looking for a liberal arts vibe while still getting really good exposure to biological science.

If you want to recommend a school out of NESCAC that’s cool as well, I’m just primarily looking within the NESCAC.

(Say NESCAC one more time!! Hah, TIA.)

2

While you await personal perspectives, you might want to review this U.S. News list, which includes schools noted for their opportunities for faculty-mentored research/creative projects:

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/undergrad-research-programs

3

You’ll probably get a better response on the individual college CC forums.

4

I’d imagine Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin would be at or near the top of the NESCAC list. (We looked at them twice, once for a science student, once for not a science student.)I love Bates, and they are building a new science center. It can be nice to have brand-new lab facilities.

https://www.bates.edu/news/2018/05/17/striking-new-building-to-embody-vision-for-science-education-at-bates-college/

Dickinson in Carlisle, PA is a NESCAC-type school. We know a recent bio major who was going on to med school. They had great opportunities there. Lafayette and Franklin & Marshall, both also in PA would also be similar.

What about a mid-size (4k-8k undergrads) national university? I think schools like Rochester, William & Mary, and Tufts (a NESCAC school) offer LAC-type experiences with great research opportunities. (And Williamsburg has great weather and new science facilities.) Case Western Reserve University (CWRU, “Crew”) and WPI are mid-size STEM schools. WPI, in particular, feels like a STEM version of a New England LAC to me. WPI does have a particularly hands-on, project-oriented approach that may or may not appeal.

Good luck!

5

For what it’s worth, College Factual published a list of the best schools for general biology in 2019, and Tufts comes in at #3 behind MIT and Stanford, respectively.

“It is hard to beat Tufts University if you want to study General Biology. Biology majors from Tufts University earn a boost of approximately 33.7% above the average earnings of general biology graduates.”

https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/biological-biomedical-sciences/general-biology/rankings/top-ranked/

More personally, I’ve found research opportunities to be abundant and easy to get at Tufts. Although I’m an environmental studies major and not a bio major, many of my bio friends do research with (and also get published by) professors they’ve had in the past. I do environmental research and have gotten my name put in a couple publications made by the professor under whom I work.

Tufts is great because while there’s opportunity for research, the classes are still very much liberal-arts oriented in that they’re pretty small and personal. Also, Barnum Hall will reopen after massive renovations and will be the home base for Bio and Environmental Studies, among other things—so state-of-the-art labs are something to look forward to.

6

I’ll grab a little popcorn and sit this one out.

I would apply to all of them and hope to admitted to few and then assess in this manner.

Or visit them or do the online tours. Each one is so good it’s really just a matter of getting in and hopefully finding the best fit for you.

But I’d also throw in the Colgate Hobart Union Vassar group and some of the Pennsylvania lac powerhouses. Swathmore and Haverford.

Personally I’m a big fan of Tufts and Hamilton too.

7

@TTG, forgive my seeming obnoxious, but folks refer to CWRU as ‘Case’ (the ‘c’). I was not around when Case (an engineering school) and Western Reserve (liberal arts) merged, but I have been around long enough to remember the time when It was NOT allowable to refer to the school as Case. Employees were required to call it Case Western Reserve University, always. (Of course, everyone still called it Case). The merging of the two schools was a major sore point for everyone involved and it took decades for everyone to calm down enough to officially call it Case.

8

Colby also has research opportunities for science majors in all fields. If you are accepted as a Presidential Scholar, I think you can start freshman year.

I’m with @privatebanker on this one. Read up on all of them (and other LACs that are not NESCAC schools) and apply to the ones you like. Not sure that the opportunities vary as much as the feel of each school.

9

You have a long list of good suggestions and many schools to research. These LACs will all have more than adequate biology offerings, facilities with great lab space, and involve undergrads in research, some as early as freshman year. I agree with those who have said the major differences between LACs will be outside the bio departments.

With that said, to tease out differences in biology strengths and offerings:

-Look at each school’s number of bio majors (use Ipeds/college navigator https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/), department course offerings (online catalog), rotation of courses, and see what type of courses appeal to you

-Look at the number of profs in each department and their bios—what areas of biology do they expertise in? In what area(s) is their research? Again, see what appeals to you and allow that to help inform your decision.

Good luck.

10

There are so many good choices among the NESCACs. AFAIK all have school year and summer research grants. They all have high post-graduate employment rates and med school acceptance rates. What you may find is a fluctuation of a couple of points (e.g., 2% vs. 4% still seeking employment), but IMO that’s within the margin of error, especially considering that they all collect and sort data in slightly different ways.

I would look at programmatic differences and at differences in the college atmospheres themselves. For instance:

Amherst: It’s in the consortium, so students have the resources of U Mass and its medical center at their disposal.
https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/fivecollege

Bates: Two teaching hospitals within an easy walk. Purposeful work program that goes beyond job and internship advising to help you decide what you want to do with your life (e.g., if you want to attend medical school not just how to get in.) Short Term-provides a ton of opportunities for field work, internships or exploration of interests. Brand new science center opening in 2021.
https://www.bates.edu/purposeful-work/

Colby: Presidential Scholars Program comes with a guarantee of research opportunities.
https://www.colby.edu/admission/presidential/

Trinity: Multiple teaching hospitals within walking distance. In the city.

Tufts: Has its own medical school. Is in the city, and is the largest of the NESCACs.

Wesleyan: Known for strength in the sciences, NFS funding.

Williams: #1 ranking among the NESCACs. Bucolic setting (but you’d need a car top get to a teaching hospital for an internship during the school year.)

Can others speak to the advantages of the other NESCACs?

Bowdoin
Conn College
Hamilton
Middlebury

@JXK239, If I were you I’d do a first pass based on things like geography, general school feel and other factors. Middlebury or Williams is going to feel different from Tufts of Trinity although they’re all excellent schools.

11

Look at Davidson and Carleton too.

I suggest going deep in the bio departments’ websites at colleges. Read about profs and their research, compare number of faculty, explore depth and scope of courses offered, see what you can find out about facilities, etc. Some colleges also post outcomes for grads by major so you can get a sense of where they end up.

We found this kind of ‘desk research’ is fun to do together (parent and student) to compare what we found, highlight differences, etc.

LACs are a great place for science majors and good luck!

12

Oh, and since you asked for personal, I will share that my D just finished first year as a bio major at Davidson and found it excellent. Her first semester bio prof just won the (or at least ‘a’) national undergraduate teaching award for bio. He developed a two-semester spiraled curriculum. They have excellent new facilities and a big department. It’s prolly more well known as pre-med rather than pre-PhD. My D is the latter but she likes having a less crowded swim lane.

She was accepted to do a paid REU (through NSF support) this summer in bio and math – which is her current interest. Basically it’s math modeling of bio structures/environments. It’s pretty unusual to get one of these after first-year so she’s excited!

13

@Sue22 For Williams, I’d add that you are allowed to go off-campus during the winter study term after freshman year for alumni-sponsored internships, certain classes, research, etc. For example, some students this January gained experience working in eye clinics in Nicaragua. It’s basically a pathway that the college provides for students who want to gain experience during the school year.

14

A couple of non-NESCAC LACs you might consider include: Lafayette, Union, Bucknell, and Franklin & Marshall.

15

Out of general interest, you may want to read through the list of recent Goldwater Scholars. You will note that students from Tufts and NESCAC-like schools such as Swarthmore and Vassar were recipients in the field of Life Sciences. Though I wouldn’t suggest you choose your college based on a one-year sample, the inclusion of many schools of this type in the general sample should be encouraging to you in terms of what you could achieve from any of them.

https://goldwater.scholarsapply.org/2019-goldwater-scholars-by-institution-state/

16

Bowdoin is quite good for students interested in marine science. It offers a fall semester program at its coastal studies center, and there’s a summer program at its field station up in Canada.

Conn College is one of the relatively few small schools (Ohio Wesleyan is another) that’s extremely strong in organismal biology, especially plant science.

Both marine science and botany have implications for medicine.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4967429/

https://scripps.ucsd.edu/cmbb

17

Thank you to everyone for responding! Does anyone else have any more insight :slight_smile:

18

Middlebury seems to be strong in environmental science, Connecticut College in botany.

College of the Atlantic is another New England (but not NESCAC) school that has an interesting approach to environmental science.

Even farther (geographically) outside the NESCAC is Colorado College, which seems to be strong in organismal biology and ecology. Its unusual one-course-at-a-time block plan, and its Rocky Mountain setting, provide nearly unique opportunities for field work. (https://www.coloradocollege.edu/academics/dept/obe/index.html)

Eckerd College in Florida seems to be strong in (and well located for) marine science.
St. Mary’s College of Maryland (the state’s public honors college) also is well-located for that (http://www.smcm.edu/biology/research-opportunities/environmental-research/).

For biochemistry, you might want to consider Brandeis (although it’s not a LAC).
https://www.brandeis.edu/learning/undergraduate/pdfs/biochem.pdf

19

Biology is a core major and is a popular major at most LACs. You’ll find solid offerings at any of them. Agree with others that you should focus more on other factors in your search.

20

Would be interested in hearing your perceptions assuming you have done some research on the schools’ programs/courses/prof backgrounds/research opps, as several posters suggested.