<p>Arcadia, I don’t think your comment added any value to this discussion. </p>
<p>C-Dad, I think you have to ask your D why she feels biochemistry, molecular/ bio-med, chemistry doesn’t appeal to her. Is she not into these fields or could it be because how it’s taught in HS isn’t very applicable to one’s life, is more theoretical and harder to grasp? </p>
<p>HC’s bio is molecular/bio-med and, among LACs and even some universities, HC really does own this for the reasons I’ve listed in past posts. If she’s interested in environmental issues, the new wave of science and environmental science is really molecular bio and bio-med. The greatest impact on the environment is <strong>us</strong>. There’s a class taught on tropical/infectious diseases where the kids (non-science) actually had their work published in a peer reviewed journal. By addressing the deaths associated to infectious diseases (mostly children), developing countries may improve their environmental status cause less kids will need to be born per family because more kids will be able to survive into adulthood. Famine and deforestation can be improved through genetic modification of plants. We had a sophomore bio-lab 10 years ago where we introduced foreign genes into plants using viral vectors and learned how new crops of modified rice rich in vitamin A can be grown to prevent blindness and also the potential pitfalls with this type of genetic manipulation. If your daughter is interested in the environment, these topics, along with bio-fuels, environmental chemistry, HIV, how DNA works and how it can be damaged by toxins and UV light/ozone… all this is HC’s specialty. BMC’s bio is organism and systems based and they are excellent. </p>
<p>If she’s interested in med school, I don’t think there are any LACs better at preparing students for this. HC’s former pre-med advisor (my advisor) use to be a clinical professor at Penn and she was also the daughter of the chair of medicine at Johns Hopkins. She and the strings she could pull were awesome but she recently retired. The current pre-med advisor, now like other pre-med advisors, is a PhD but she was one of the senior career counselors at Penn before HC. HC also has 2 physicians on faculty (one being the current president and alum Steve Emerson who was the head of Heme/Onc at Penn and the other being a pediatrician and alum who has headed numerous vaccine trials and teaches a class on, well, vaccines). Hc’s location is also great for pre-med students because of the opportunities it allows for visiting physicians and scientists to come onto campus… in the last year, stem cell researchers, neuro-radiologists teaching about PET scans, public health physicians, ect… not to be had if you’re not close to a major city. Also, being close to a city allows easier access to volunteer opportunities that are important for personal development and med school as well. </p>
<p>Finally, even if HC’s academics were an ideal match for your daughter, I wouldn’t encourage her or anyone else to apply if HC’s particular campus culture as expressed in the honor code didn’t resonate on some level. If she is interested, I’d recommend in addition to taking the HC tour also taking the Blue Bus over to BMC as you can then appreciate the resources available to a HC student.</p>