I am an Asian female who wants to major in chemistry, and I don’t know where should I go. I am a rising senior at a boarding school in MA. I took three years of chemistry: HChem, APChem and OrgChem (college level but completely offered by my high school cuz we have a great chem teacher). I am planning on taking Organic Chemistry II in summer school, and do an independent study on synthetic organic chemistry in my senior year.
I have A- for both HChem and APChem, A for OrgChem, but only a 3 on my APChem exam (I did not really study for the exam). Honors Preclac in freshman year, got a C+ due to family issues. C+ for APCalc AB in 10th grade, but a 5 on the AP exam. B for APCalc BC in 11th grade and likely a 5 on the AP exam. Regular English classes all the way through, Honors USH (with the highest average in the class) in 10th grade and APEUH for senior year. Took Honros Bio in junior year (probably have an A), and planning to take AP Physics C in senior year. I am not sure about my uw GPA, but I have around 3.85 for weighted GPA.
Not much for extra curriculum… Robotics team and music portfolio (I play guitar) in 10th and 11th grade, OrgChem research lab (isolating natural products compound from a specific plant) in 10th grade (did not have the activity in junior year), JV Volleyball and skiing in 9th grade, and pottery workshop in 11th grade. Planning to do OrgChem research lab in senior year, and thinking about starting a Chem club (not really my thing, but my parents are asking me to do this). Not a big fan of volunteering work.
Not sure about my class rank, but probably top 10%. 1500 for SAT I, but 680 on SAT II math and chem…
Daughter of first generation immigrants; my parent both did not attend four-year colleges, but they attended a two-year community college kind of school.
I asked my OrgChem teacher and junior year English teacher to write my letters of recommendation. They both love me since I have one of the highest average in class, and the chem teacher gave me this year’s chem award.
I am thinking about applying to Williams College for ED1, but not sure about if it would be a good fit for me… Also thinking about U of Chicago for ED2, but not sure about my chance… I live in the Seattle area, so definitely going to apply UW Seattle. Nobody in my school got admitted to any Ivy schools in the past five years, so not even thinking about applying to any ivy schools.
My parents are paying full tuition for me, so I don’t have to worry about scholarship.
Bowdoin, Hamilton, Haverford/Bryn Mawr, Williams. These colleges may offer first-year chem courses designed for students with advanced HS preparation in chemistry. If you’d prefer a different environment, then an application to the extremely selective UChicago – or similar, but perhaps less selective, schools, such as others in the UAA – should be considered.
Note, however, that you would not be avoiding Ivy level selectivity with the majority of the aforementioned colleges: http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/college-profiles-new-sat/
Reed might also suit you academically.
You may also want to look into Swarthmore and College of the Holy Cross - both strong in chemistry with research opportunities. Holy Cross in particular has a large program for a school of its size
@LutatiumSodium, Vassar has invested significantly in a new, state-of-the-art chemistry building and laboratories.
Should you be considering graduate school, I know of chemistry majors who were accepted at top Ph.D programs.
You’l be able to conduct independent research as a freshman.
Thank you! Will take a closer look of these schools! I’m a little bit worrying about my GPA is too low for Williams and UChicago… and humanity is not my strength since I did not take any AP or Honors english classes…
The link is very useful, thank you so much for that!
@wisteria100 Thank you!!! I don’t know a lot about these two schools but they are on my list now! I heard that Swarthmore is super competitive to get in, so it might be a reach for me. I have a friend majoring classics in Holy Cross and he loves the school! On the other hand I am worrying about if LACs are good fit for me… Humanity is not my strength, and I did not take any AP or honors English classes.
@CrewDad Thank you! Will take a closer look at Vassar! I am considering graduate school, and doing research in freshman year sounds so compelling to me!
Though humanities should ultimately be important to your education, note that colleges with flexible curricula, particularly Amherst, Hamilton, Smith, Grinnell, Brown and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Vassar and URochester, would allow you to choose them at your discretion with guidance from an academic advisor. Hypothetically, you could arrange to take all, or nearly all, of your courses in chemistry, math and physics at some of these colleges. Your current aversion to humanities, therefore, should not lead you automatically toward a technical institute (though you may want to consider some).
Research opportunities would be available at most of these schools through 1) for-credit courses (check respective catalogs) and 2) summer positions, and would be maximally available to you once you have completed a two-semester sequence of college level organic chemistry.
@merc81 Thank you for the advices. Generally, I don’t hate my humanities classes, but I don’t love them at the same time. I do have the highest average, and that is why I am considering LACs in the first place. At the same time, I worry that if the chemistry program at a technical institute would have more research opportunities and pay more attention on students who major in the sciences. I might be wrong, but I heard that the chemistry program in Amherst and Hamilton are not as strong as University of Washington. However, I do prefer smaller class size and a closer community. I think Williams will fulfill all my expectations of an “ideal college”, but I think my chance of getting in is fairly low.
Plenty of research opportunities at Amherst, especially in summer - they run their own SURF program. https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/support/funding/students/amherst-student-research-funding-opportunities/summer-research-opportunities-at-amherst/surf-program
The Chem department is relatively small, so you will get a lot of professor attention, though the intro Chem courses are some of the largest at Amherst, mainly because of pre-meds and some other majors that require those courses (neuro, biochem, etc). However, you have a professor teaching the lecture and the discussion sections (actually 2 or 3, they rotate). Sounds like you might be able to place out of the early Chem courses, maybe. If you somehow run out of advanced courses, you can take classes at the 4 other colleges in the consortium, including UMass.
There is a science center being built right now that will replace the current one. It opens in Fall of 2018 and is pretty amazing looking. https://www.amherst.edu/offices/facilities/depts/designconst/capital_project/current_projects/science-center
@LutatiumSodium : The reason I’ve recommended certain colleges to you would be because of their strengths in STEM, as well as for their research opportunities. Hamilton, for example, enrolls math majors at ten times the national average and graduates 38% of their students with a STEM major of some type. Along similar lines, Amherst recently graduated both more math and physics majors then the (also superb) Williams. I’ve nothing against UW, but it would be hard to see how the up to ~15 chemistry classes you might take there would be more engaging for you than those available at some of the purely undergraduate-focused LACs mentioned on this thread.
The above said, whichever direction you choose, your interests would lead you to a degree certified by the American Chemical Society.
@LutatiumSodium, While long in coming for a number of reasons, Amherst’s new science center will be extraordinary. Only Vassar’s science center will be comparable. 
Ohiomom makes a valid point. It would behoove you to research each college’s course catalog with your current chem teacher.
Amherst has another distinction. Many measure how high the water is on the Connecticut River by how far up it is on the Amherst ‘A’ on the Cooley Bridge supports.
The A was painted by the Amherst crew. Similar to the college logos that are painted by crew teams in the cut at UW, aka, UDub
then->than (#11).
In terms of the percentage of female students who major in STEM fields, top LACs rank as follows:
- Harvey Mudd College
- United State Naval Academy
- Haverford College
- Carleton College
- Pomona College
- Bryn Mawr College
- United State Military Academy
- Swarthmore College
- Bowdoin College
- Grinnell College
- Hamilton College
- Amherst College
- Bates College
- Wellesley College
- Colorado College
- Colby College
- Williams College
- Smith College
- Oberlin College
- Middlebury College
- Colgate University
- Wesleyan University
- Macalester College
- Vassar College
- Washington and Lee University
http://www.bestcolleges.com/resources/where-women-study-stem/
Check out the departments at Tufts and Brandeis.