Best school for Bio/English double major?

College Search & Lists
1

<p>Hi, I’m a senior in the middle of the college application process, and would like some input as to what schools have strong departments in both English and the Biological Sciences. The ones I am applying to are </p>

<p>Reach:
Yale
Stanford
Princeton
Columbia</p>

<p>Low Reach / High Target:
U Chicago
Northwestern
Tufts</p>

<p>Target:
NYU
George Washington
University of Rochester </p>

<p>Saftey:
Boston University
University of Maryland</p>

<p>But other suggestions not on this list would be more than welcome!!</p>

<p>Oh, also, I think I may decide to do a neuroscience concentration within Biology. Just something that might factor in. I would really like to go somewhere where I can explore my interests for the first two years; somewhere with the feel of a LAC but with 3000+ students.</p>

<p>Thanks again!</p>

2

<p>This is a good list, but I’d add one more real safety (U of Maryland College Park is not a safety school with an average 3.98 accepted GPA). With an applicant with super high stats, the lines begin to get blurred btw. reaches & targets so you can look at the entire list as mostly reaches (based on GWU and NYU accept rates). </p>

<p>You may want to consider Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Rice, Brown (I know, more reaches, lol! but strong in English and Bio). </p>

<p>I’m assuming you are instate for Maryland? Safety…UMB or St. Mary’s…just want you to have a good safety net. I know I don’t know any of your stats, hooks, etc., but it’s a good idea to include a school with higher accept rates than UMC and BU.</p>

3

<p>I would highly recommend you look at adding Kenyon to your list. It has less than the 3,000 students you would like but it has an outstanding English program and their science programs, particularly Biology, are exceptional. I don’t know your stats but I would put Kenyon in with your target schools. Good luck to you!</p>

4

<p>^agree with Kenyon!</p>

5

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>Some simple stats: 2200 SAT, 4.0 GPA unweighted, 4.5 GPA weighted. Rank is 7/460. ECs are good, if pretty average. Editor-in-Chief of Lit Mag and secretary of environmental club are my biggest in school, with a good deal of community service and horseback riding out of school. I studied abroad in Kenya this summer at the college-junior level and earned a B+. Don’t know if that helps at all.</p>

<p>I had considered Kenyon, but thought it was too small. I may add it because of how strong it is in my areas of interest, though.</p>

6

<p>Based on your current list and interests, you definitely should consider Penn as a Reach/Low Reach. It has a top-10 English Department (top-5 in some rankings), and excellent Bio/Neuroscience programs. For example, check out the Biological Basis of Behavior major (Penn’s undergraduate neuroscience program), one of the oldest and most comprehensive interdisciplinary neuroscience programs in the country:</p>

<p>[Biological</a> Basis of Behavior Program](<a href=“http://www.sas.upenn.edu/bbb/]Biological”>Neuroscience Program - Home | Neuroscience)</p>

<p>Plus, Penn is preparing to build a brand-new neuroscience building:</p>

<p>[The</a> Daily Pennsylvanian :: ‘Huntsman Hall for life-science students’ on its way to Penn](<a href=“http://thedp.com/index.php/article/2011/11/huntsman_hall_for_life_science_students_on_its_way_to_penn]The”>'Huntsman Hall for life-science students' on its way to Penn | The Daily Pennsylvanian)</p>

<p>[The</a> Daily Pennsylvanian :: New life sciences building to bridge gaps between departments](<a href=“http://thedp.com/index.php/article/2011/11/new_life_sciences_building_to_bridge_gaps_between_departments]The”>New life sciences building to bridge gaps between departments | The Daily Pennsylvanian)</p>

<p>And as the perennial recipient of the second-highest amount of NIH research funding in the country (Johns Hopkins is first), Penn offers biological and medical research opportunities for undergrads unmatched on any other undergraduate campus, because of the fact that its Medical School, Nursing School, Hospital, Dental School, Veterinary School, Bioengineering Department, and extensive research and clinical facilities are all located on the same compact campus with the undergraduate programs, within a few short blocks of each other. To get an idea of what that means for undergrads, here is a listing of the 180 undergraduate research positions in Biomedical Science currently available through Penn’s Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships:</p>

<p>[Center</a> for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships](<a href=“Penn CURF”>Penn CURF)</p>

<p>Also, in terms of English, in addition to the English Department itself, you should check out Penn’s Kelly Writers House, a unique facility devoted to both the creation and appreciation of contemporary writing of all sorts:</p>

<p>[Writers</a> Find Haven on an Ivy Campus - NYTimes.com](<a href=“Writers Find Haven on an Ivy Campus - The New York Times”>Writers Find Haven on an Ivy Campus - The New York Times)</p>

<p>[Kelly</a> Writers House - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Writers_House]Kelly”>Kelly Writers House - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>[Kelly</a> Writers House](<a href=“http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/]Kelly”>Kelly Writers House)</p>

7

<p>

Colleges like Dartmouth, Brandeis, and Wake Forest would make much more sense than most of the schools on your list (or Penn, Cornell, and some other suggestions).</p>

<p>Biology and English are cookie cutter majors, and any school worth its salt will have good programs in both. Selecting schools based on the strength of either would be extremely foolish. </p>

<p>Your schools are all over the place – I am struggling to think of anything Chicago and Maryland or BU and Princeton have in common. Do you have any criteria for a college other than size?</p>

8

<p>ANY school that calls itself a college can do bio and English well. While growing in popularity, Neuro requires a little more work. Few small colleges offer it.</p>

9

<p>warblersrule -
GW, Rochester, Maryland, and BU were all schools that were recently rather haphazardly added as targets/safeties. I didn’t have enough ‘match’ schools, and had to quickly come up with some to add, so the process of finding them had more to do with being in or near a city/quality of academics/size, rather than specific programs.</p>

<p>If I got into any of my reaches/high targets, I probably would not consider any of these four.</p>

10

<p>Brandeis does fit your size and subject area criteria. Great English and top ranked neuroscience.</p>

11

<p>45 Percenter - </p>

<p>I had actually been going back and forth btwn. Penn and Princeton. The pre-proffessional feel of Penn had turned me off a bit, but reading the articles that you posted and reading things on CC about the elitist feel at Princeton (plus its lack of proximity to a major city) I think I may switch it for Penn. Thanks!</p>

12

<p>^ You’re welcome! :)</p>

<p>Penn is diverse enough to nurture a wide variety of student perspectives (preprofessional, academic, etc.). There’s really something for everyone and, as I indicated, quite a bit of research activity.</p>

13

<p>[Best</a> English Programs | Top Humanities Schools | US News Best Graduate Schools](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/english-rankings]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/english-rankings)

</p>

<p>[Best</a> Biological Science Programs | Top Science Schools | US News Best Graduate Schools](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/biological-sciences-rankings]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/biological-sciences-rankings)

</p>

<p>Berkeley’s easier to get into as well…;)</p>

<p>But I know I’m gonna be flamed as being “foolish”.</p>

14

<p>^^no flame here, but perhaps you missed the OP’s request for small-ish… :)</p>

<p>

</p>

15

<p>English programs can be very “LAC-ish”. And Berkeley has 3000**+** students.<br>
If the OP wants neuroscience, they can intern at UCSF…and this center has just been dedicated on the Berkeley campus:
[Campus</a> dedicates Li Ka Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences, philanthropist receives Berkeley Medal](<a href=“http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/10/21/campus-dedicates-li-ka-shing-center-for-biomedical-and-health-sciences-philanthropist-receives-berkeley-medal/]Campus”>Campus dedicates Li Ka Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences, philanthropist receives Berkeley Medal | Berkeley News)
[05.17.2007</a> - New teaching, research building gets go-ahead](<a href=“http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/05/17_lks.shtml]05.17.2007”>05.17.2007 - New teaching, research building gets go-ahead)</p>

16

<p>All top schools will more than suffice for these two majors.</p>

17

<p>UChicago and Northwestern are not low reaches for you.</p>

18

<p>

In the sense that the number of English majors at Berkeley is equivalent to the entire undergraduate population of Pomona and Grinnell, yes, I suppose it could indeed be deemed “LAC-ish.”</p>

19

<p>^ You can get small classes. Berkeley can be as large or intimate as you want to make it. Hard to do the same at a LAC.</p>

20

<p>If you only care about the intimacy, that doesn’t really matter.</p>

<p>Also, “Berkeley can be as large or intimate as you want to make it”? Get out of here. I’m in two intro classes at my LAC this year. My poli sci class has 14 people in it, and my foreign language class has 16. No lectures at all, just conference-style class discussion. With an actual professor who’s happy to meet with you one-on-one if you miss class, and go over the material you missed in detail, even if it takes more than an hour. Let me repeat, these are both introductory classes. I don’t think Berkeley can offer anything remotely similar.</p>

<p>Which is not to say there aren’t advantages to going to a big reasearch university, because I’m sure there are many. This, however, is simply not one of them.</p>