Haverford vs. UChicago

HC_Alum
Thu, 03 Jan 2008 20:39:22 +0000

While the research is great at a large institution like Chicago, that doesn’t necessarily trickle down to the undergrad level. Many times, such resources are only made available to seniors or those few lucky enough to land a summer research spot. At a place like HC, which is focused on undergrad education 100%, the resources are there for students 100%. Although HC may have less equipment and research resources, availability is what makes the difference. That’s why, for example, a junior chemistry major uses a $1 million NMR machine in a required class, a junior physics major can tinker with an atomic force microscope and biology majors learn PCR, electron microscopy, fluoroscopy, mono-clonal anti-body production, ect… as part of a required lab experience. Don’t assume that just because a prestigious university has such capacity that it is available for undergrad use as it usually isn’t (grad students are higher on the totem pole).

Among LACs, as I wrote, HC’s sciences are remarkable. Only at HC, you will find a National Academy of Science member (Gollub in physics), a lab funded by the NIH (HC has 2) and students working on human stem cells in biology research. Only with Williams, HC has received maximum funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute over the last 2 funding cycles and the total cash amounts were the same and HC is ½ the size. In addition, HC’s location allows many scientists to visit the campus and it allows students to conduct research off campus as well and, in the last 2 years, a student did physics research with the chair of physics at Penn, another conducted Hep C research at Penn, another worked on HIV, and now there is the new Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Penn that I linked before. We’re not talking about undergrads washing glassware here either…

For professional and grad schools, HC carries its weight with the best. Fortunately, people on admissions boards are academics in their fields and are savvy enough to recognize a quality undergraduate experience and are not so easily impressed or swayed by “name recognition” as some on CC.

If you want to procrastinate, why not apply to both, see where you get in, which has the better $$$ offer and do one more visit in the springtime?