Carleton Vs. Colby – Biology, Research Opportunities + Pre-Health

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I’m a San Francisco high school senior trying to determine whether to deposit at Carleton or Colby.

It seems that for every one thing I like about Colby, there’s an equally relevant thing I don’t care for as much, and the same goes for Carleton. For context, I originally EDed to Middlebury, which still remains, in my mind, a much better fit than either of these schools.

Here is my dilemma: Colby checks more boxes for me, but the boxes that Carleton checks hold so much weight that I’m not sure I should ignore them.

A bit more about me: I am very outdoorsy, and growing up near the coast has been a large part of my upbringing; I love to swim and sail just as much as I love challenging hikes. I hope to study Molecular Biology and Data Science (Colby has both, Carleton has neither) but would settle for Biology and Computer Science if I had to. It seems like Colby has more robust options within their Biology and Mathematical Sciences departments, but I know that the quality of education I would receive at Carleton would be pretty unbeatable.

I would prefer trimesters, but I’ve heard from Carleton students that it makes it very challenging to study abroad (a non-negotiable for me) and there are fewer programs I would be able to choose from in order to comply with the Carleton schedule. With that, I know there comes the benefit of the externship program, but they also mentioned that overachieving students (like myself) tend not to do as well in externship placement because they want to give other students opportunities to fill out their resumes, too. This is worrisome to me. In Colby’s case the 4-1-4 acts nearly the same as the extended winter break at Carleton, minus the 3-week externship program.

I’m also not a big partier, and am concerned about that being a barrier to entry into the Colby social scenes, but I have wanted to be in New England since I began touring colleges my junior year. I LOVE Colby’s campus and the teachers seemed very knowledgeable when I spoke to them. Boston and SF are both hubs for development in the STEM I am interested in, so it would be great to gain access to both networks since I hear a lot of Colby families come from Massachusetts. In terms of location, I love the idea of being rural and would prefer a 45-minute drive to a coastal town over a 45-minute drive to the Twin Cities.

There are about a million and one more things I could say about both schools, but I’m super curious to know if any of you have thoughts on how I should proceed!

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Paging Colby expert @gardenstategal

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I don’t think you’d go wrong with either choice. They are both fine schools and you’d get an outstanding education at either one. Colby does have a long history of study abroad and a significant number of students participate in study abroad programs if that is critical to you. I’m not really familiar with Carleton, but in my view Colby and Middlebury are more alike than different - both rural and outdoorsy. Given its location, I think Carleton is probably somewhat easier to get to if that is a consideration. Good luck!

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You lost me at Carleton does not have my major.

You can study abroad in the summer, even if through another school. Mine is doing that this summer. They all have affiliates.

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Yes, but sometimes it’s not all that easy to find a program that has enough registered students. Or the dates don’t align well.

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It sounds like Colby is a great fit for you for many reasons. But to allay your concerns about study abroad at Carleton, a majority of students do study abroad. Carleton runs many of its own programs, with Carleton professors and filled with all or mostly Carleton students. These courses run during the terms and during breaks. Because they are on the trimester system, it’s actually easier to fit one into a busy schedule because you are missing only one term, and still have 2 terms on campus, rather than missing half of an academic year. Here is their Off Campus Studies program: https://www.carleton.edu/ocs/programs/carleton/

Carleton does work with students who want to study through a different school. Because most of those are semester programs, it does work better to do fall semester so you miss only fall term at Carleton. A spring semester would cover two terms and would make scheduling classes harder.

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Sounds like Colby is the right choice for you. It has your major and better study abroad options. My daughter has it near the top of her list and she is definitely not a partier. I think the outing club is very popular.

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I really sounds as if Colby is what resonates for you. I am always quick to point out the merits of Carleton, which is a fantastic school… but Colby is great too, and it sounds like a better fit for what you want. I don’t see anything in what you’ve written that tells me you should override your gut and talk yourself into Carleton. You can only go to one school, and there are always “road not taken” aspects, but passing up Colby feels like it would cost you more that you care about, than passing up Carleton will. There is no overriding reason why you should choose one or the other - they’re both terrific, so choose the best fit, which sounds like Colby, and not even ambiguously so. Congrats and enjoy!

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It seems to me that you prefer Colby. You can’t go wrong with either, but Colby seems to offer all you want. There will be non-partiers at Colby so I wouldn’t choose based on that.

FWIW, plenty of Carleton students study abroad, but I believe for many, it is easier to manage in the fall. When my D studied in Japan in Jan of 2019, there were several Carleton students in the previous session. Carleton should be able to give you information about this so please call them and ask.

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To be honest, I didn’t really see the serious negatives with Colby! Seems like a great fit for you. I personally would not worry about the partying–everything I have heard suggests there will be plenty of people at Colby into different sorts of social activities.

I do agree with others that Carls seem to have no problem doing study abroad, and apparently many do it twice. This is a pretty comprehensive explanation of how that works:

But that strikes me as kinda a moot point, because it seemed to me like everything really pointed to Colby anyway.

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Molecular Biology & Data Science majors.

A bit surprised that your focus is on LACs in light of your desire to major in Data Science.

https://news.colby.edu/story/new-data-science-major-sets-the-college-apart/

https://Colby.edu/academics/departments-and-programs/biology/academic-program/

I think that your concern about social life at Colby College is well founded.

Trimester system/quarter systems with 3 course per term expectations are fine and, in my view, far superior to 5 course semester systems.

It would be interesting to see the list of schools to which you applied and would also be interesting to know more about your reasons for wanting to study abroad.

Might be of interest to examine a list of courses required for a major in Data Science (I just randomly picked WashUStL):

https://artsci.wustl.edu/explore-academics/biology-major-molecular-biology-and-biochemistry

OP: Have you examined the required curriculum at major universities for your desired majors ? If so, can you piece together a self-designed major at Carleton College based on your interests ?

Lots of helpful information about Data Science curriculum can be found here:

Other school websites to examine for one interested in Molecular Biology and Data Science are: WashUStL, Northwestern, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Rice, Vanderbilt, U Michigan, and many more.

There can be a substantial difference between the study of Data Science versus Data Analytics. Looking over the curriculum offerings in the relevant majors at these universities might help you to decide based on specific course offerings at Carleton College & Colby College.

Bluntly speaking, this may help you to arrange your priorities and preferences since Carleton is not in New England and even Middlebury does not really have a Data science major from what I found online.

P.S. Any career objective ? Bioinformatics ?

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I know that some CC members have a strong preference for research universities over LAC’s, but I don’t think a thread where a student is excited about their final two LAC choices, and just needing to choose between them, is a productive place to dump on LAC’s-generally. These are both fantastic schools, and the OP has been consistent in wanting an LAC environment. (And increasing numbers of LAC’s are developing robust data science programs. I don’t see why a school has to be large to have good data science - it isn’t as if massive, scale-dependent physical infrastructure is required.)

Colby and Carleton are both excellent in life sciences, and both can supply the computational piece… but it sounds as if the way the latter is “packaged” fits better at Colby, as do the geography and “vibe.” If Carleton “felt” better, and the only barrier were the lack of a structured data science program, then I’d agree that it might well be workable to self-design the desired program; but in this case, Colby feels like the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” option!

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LACs with data science programs may be advantageous with respect to this, in that interdisciplinary pursuits — such as would be represented by data science — tend to align well with the mission of LACs in general.

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No wrong choice here OP!

However I thought it might be of interest to know that Carleton will be offering a Data Science minor starting next fall.

It might also be useful to compare the actual courses offered that seem most pertinent to data science. A rough and dirty first pass approach might be to search how many courses mention “data science” in each college’s course descriptions from their respective Statistics departments. Please check my work, but I counted two for Carleton and three for Colby.

You could also search for “molecular biology” in their bio depts. I count two for Colby and four for Carleton.

I certainly wouldn’t take such counts as the final word, they are mere data points. Both data science and molecular biology are very broad fields and some of the most useful courses for each won’t include either phrase. The larger point is that such programs often are mostly based on core courses that are common across most schools with only a couple courses that might be specific to the target sub-discipline. That’s usually not a bad thing. A grad program in data science or molecular biology probably is fine with only a couple classes actually specific to those subjects and more likely interested in a strong command of the underlying fundamentals plus some research exposure.

What might be more telling is grad school placement. Here’s one useful resource if interested in grad study:

The category in this report most relevant to molecular bio would be ”Life Sciences” and possibly ”Physical Sciences” (which includes chemistry.) You can see that Carleton ranks 5th and 3rd while Colby is 30th and 40th, respectively. For data science, the most relevant table would be “Math and CS” where Carleton is 9th and Colby is unranked (up to 100). Please don’t read too much into this, even if you are interested in grad school (a big assumption!).

I thought I would report that Colby offered club sailing while Carleton did not, but apparently it’s the other way around.
https://colbyathletics.com/sports/2021/1/15/club-sports.aspx

As for studying abroad, it turns out USNWR has a ranking (who knew!) of schools with most students to do so:

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/most-study-abroad

As you can see, Carleton appears 25th while Colby did not make the top 100 according to that publication.

None of the above means one school is better than the other (whatever that means!) or that you would be happier at one or the other. I was curious how they compared on some of the things you mentioned, and thought these might be useful data points. They are both amazing schools— well done! Good luck with your decision!

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If Midd was your first choice, I don’t think you would be unhappy at Colby. There’s a huge overlap there. The outdoor activity opportunities are endless. There are externships galore through Davis Connects. There are lots of different kinds of people in the community, and people move through numerous groups. And no, you don’t have to be a big partier! There are tons of study abroad opportunities in both semesters. This sounds like a great choice for you.

If, as you read this, you’re pushing back and feeling more love for Carleton, you have your answer!

The great news is that these are both great options - you can’t make a bad decision.

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Hopefully, the OP understands and appreciates my post for the information offered and doesn’t have a reaction that misses the point of my post. OP is deciding between 2 LACs and I wanted to help him decide by showing how other schools construct the major of data science to allow OP to see whether or not he could piece together appropriate courses at Carleton College to achieve something close to a data science major.

With all programs, I examine structure and course offerings at many other universities to gain a better understanding of the subject matter area in terms of breadth, depth, and learning objectives.

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Colby has that AI initiative as well. Were you able to attend the admitted student weekend?