I would like to get into a great Chemistry grad school (Caltech, Harvard, Berkeley) so please take that into consideration as well. I know the school you come from isn’t everything but I would like a great Chemistry education.
NCF would be essentially grad-school-lite, so they send a lot in to PhD programs.
So do Caltech and Harvey Mudd. They lead everyone by far, in fact, in percentage of grads placed in to PhD programs.
How focused do you want to be? In Canadian unis, essentially your last 3 years would be all chemistry. In England, all three years would be chemistry.
This is what Carleton says:
“The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a professional society for chemists that has provided guidelines to baccalaureate institutions on best practices for teaching chemistry to undergraduate students. An ACS certified chemistry major requires more breadth and advanced study than the regular Carleton chemistry major. Students interested in continuing in chemistry after graduation in either graduate school or industry should consider the guidelines of the ACS certified chemistry major when planning their studies.”
https://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/chem/curriculum/
Are costs a concern? What can you afford?
@PurpleTitan Costs are definitely a concern, I forgot to mention that. That is why I am mostly looking a Reaches and Safeties as these are the only colleges I can afford. While I am certainly not opposed to foreign universities, my parents want me closer and I will even struggle to convince them about Pomona if I chose to go there.
So what can your parents afford and have you run NPC’s?
I’ve run NPC’s on all of the colleges on my list except Wooster and Kenyon and can afford them. I’m using the college board estimator. My parents have about $15,000 total that they will let me use for college and I can save more as I will probably work senior year and during college. I am completely opposed to debt.
@ArdaMelamar Colorado College is solid in Chemistry about the same ranking as Oberlin and the Claremont Colleges. The big difference is they run a block schedule, which means you concentrate on one class at a time for three weeks in a block.
Just over 20 LACs appear in this ranking of the top 100 chemistry programs:
https://www.niche.com/colleges/rankings/best-colleges-for-chemistry/
I’d recommend, however, that you review the site’s methodology before weighting it in your screening process.
Kindof highjacking my own thread but, how receptive would these colleges be of a centrist, Christian, male? Could I find groups of Christians to be with, how well would my views be received by the general student body?
I’m an ultra runner who has lived in Chicago for 10 years. There are a lot of paved trails and places to run particularly in the western and northern suburbs. No mountains but you can always set the treadmill to a 10 percent grade. Picking a college based on a sport you might get into does not seem prudent to me.
@Wje9164be Thanks, I did go out for a short run in Chicago and it was nice, though a severely limited access to singletrack for four years may drive me crazy. I have not trained extensively on trails yet but am planning my first ultra and have completed a marathon. Are there groups that train in Chicago that I could be a part of? I may not have a car but I will keep my bike, so they would have to be reasonably close to the campus.
Chicago is a major city and has dozens of running clubs. Google tells me that there are at least two official student running clubs on campus (maybe more) and at least one club in Hyde Park.
Folks with more financial aid experience can check this, but I figured we should try to figure out if you can afford the schools you like.
So – your parents can pay $15,000 per year and you might make $3,000-$4,000 at a summer job after taxes. That’s $18-19k.
If you are still short of the COA, you could take out up to $5500 in federal loans your first year, and like $7000-$7500 each year thereafter. (obviously, doing it without loans would be best… but they are there if you have to use them to attend the right fit)
So I think you can afford a COA of about $23,500-$24,500 the first year, and a bit more after that.
@ArdaMelamar, I’m a UChicago graduate and Colorado College parent.
IMO the two “match” at least as well (for the features you mention) as most other LACs on your current list. You do need to be on board with the block plan. However, in terms of intensity, “learning for the sake of learning”, political balance, and STEM/arts balance, it’s about as good a match as Carleton and maybe a bit better than the others (which are all good). You’d really need to investigate for yourself, with an overnight visit if possible, but I think it’s at least worth a look (as long as the block plan isn’t a turn-off). The location/setting is terrific. Another characteristic that might appeal to you is its approach and attitude towards athletics. It’s not a big rah-rah football/basketball powerhouse, but it does have 2 D1 sports (men’s hockey and women’s soccer) and the students tend to be very athletic, in a laid-back outdoorsy way. It’s a good place for hippie-jocks (and other such hybrids) … but maybe not so good for the intensely nerdy kids you’d find in greater numbers at UChicago, Reed, Cal Tech, or Swarthmore.
https://www.coloradocollege.edu/basics/welcome/overview/classprofile/
CARA is an organization that sponsors races, training groups throughout the Chicago area. There are also running clubs in many of the western suburbs with weekly group runs and interval sessions on the weekends