Help me edit my list : Bio/Chem/Enviro Science, small classes, safe, collaborative and nerdy [MA resident, 3.8 GPA, 1490 SAT]

College Search & Lists
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Hi,
I am a current 11th grade female, varsity lacrosse athlete. I have a 3.8 UW gpa with 4 APs (physics, AB Calc, Lang and Bio) and 3 next year (stats, Spanish, Chem). 1490 SAT. I have summer intern research experience and I know I want to study biology.

I live in MA and have visited almost all the NESCACs. I want small class sizes and a collaborative feel. I would like to stay within a seven hour drive of home, if possible. Money not the biggest factor but might make a difference if schools are equal.

On my list:
Hamilton
Haverford
Middlebury (very reach)
Colby
Cornell (unlikely?)
Bowdoin (unlikely?)

I know this isn’t a balanced list. I need more targets and safety schools where I can get research experience as an undergrad in an environment that feels small and collaborative. Any suggestions?

Thank you so much!

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Bates?
Would you consider woman’s colleges?

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Thank you for the response. When I visited Bates, every door was locked. It made me feel the campus wasn’t safe if they felt they needed to lock all the doors (not just dorms but every building). Is Bates strong in the sciences?

I am open to women’s colleges.

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I should also say that had been recruiting for lacrosse, which is why my list was such a reach list. I have since decided I do not want to play and so I need to find schools that I can attend without sports helping me to get in.

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My nephew is a Bates and (other than when there was a lunatic with a gun loose in Lewiston) I have not heard of any security issues. I think many colleges have cardkey access to buildings.

For woman’s colleges you might consider Smith, Mt Holyoke, Bryn Mawr.

Some other LAC ideas offhand – Lafayette, Union, Franklin & Marshall, Dickinson, Skidmore.

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Given my stats, would I be competitive at Lafayette?

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Do you recommend these schools because they are small or because you feel they offer good choices for Bio/ES?

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Best to check tools like Naviance (if your HS has available),the college website (some provide admission data), and/or common data set for each college.

For many LACs demonstrated interest is a factor (with ED being the strongest form of demonstrated interest).

In terms of the major you should do your research including checking course catalogs online, looking at professors on staff, etc.

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Do you know of any medium sized schools that are known for undergraduate research opportunities? I just want to make sure my list has a little variety.

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Would William & Mary be too far away for you? It is a medium sized school that checks a lot of your boxes in terms of excellent undergraduate research opportunities, safe environment and nerdy collaborative student body.

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This all sounds very familiar. One daughter could have almost written your post. She had the stats for the highly ranked New England LACs (such as Bowdoin, which we toured twice) but we did not have the budget for them. Also, of course the top ranked New England LACs are reaches for pretty much every student.

However, we had the unusual feature that my daughters and I have dual citizenship, which caused us to look at the small universities in Eastern Canada. There are a few that would fit most of your criteria, although only one (Bishop’s University, in Quebec) would be less than a seven hour drive for you (probably closer to four hours). Another (Mount Allison University in New Brunswick) is very good and would be more like 8 or 9 hours depending upon where in Massachusetts you live. The other two that we considered were Acadia University and St. Francis Xavier University, both in Nova Scotia, but both somewhat further away for you. All of these are very good for biology and chemistry and environmental sciences. These are all in relatively safe areas (I do not know if local residents even bother to lock their doors for some of them), and are welcoming and mostly reasonably priced for international students.

I think that these are close to safeties with your stats. Our daughter did find small class sizes, a collaborative environment, very good research opportunities, and did get to know her professors quite well. All of this was very helpful in her getting accepted to a very good PhD program down here in the US.

I do think that you will also find many very good choices more nearby in the northeast of the USA.

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It may be a good starting point to get your hands on a college guide book (ex. Fiske, Princeton Review, etc.) and read up on different schools.

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Is Wesleyan University too small for you? Amherst, Tufts and Wesleyan probably have the most externally funded research per student within NESCAC.

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Definitely check out Muhlenberg. They seem to have everything you’re looking for.

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As your list is currently made up entirely of reaches, I’ve focused on possibilities for some sure things for you. The SUNY schools would cost no more in tuition than at UMass-Amherst, as nearly all the campuses have a flagship match program.

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • Ithaca (NY): About 4600 undergrads and can take classes at Cornell

  • Juniata (PA ): About 1200 undergrads

  • Keene State (NH): About 2700 undergrads

  • Saint Michael’s (VT): About 1200 undergrads

  • Salisbury (MD): About 6400 undergrads

  • St. Lawrence (NY): About 2100 undergrads

  • St. Mary’s College of Maryland: About 1500 undergrads at this public liberal arts college

  • SUNY Brockport (NY): About 5100 undergrads

  • SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry: About 1600 undergrads and students can take classes at the adjacent Syracuse, which adds about 15k undergrads to the immediate vicininty

  • Susquehanna (PA ): About 2200 undergrads

  • Westfield State (MA): About 3900 undergrads

Likely (60-79%)

  • Clark (MA): About 2400 undergrads and can cross-register for classes at College of the Holy Cross & WPI

  • Hobart William Smith (NY): About 1600 undergrads

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • Brandeis (MA): About 3700 undergrads and students can cross-register at Babson, Bentley, Wellesley, Olin, and the arts and sciences classes at BC, BU, and Tufts

  • Dickinson (PA ): About 2100 undergrads

  • Mount Holyoke (MA): Women’s college of about 2200 undergrads and part of the 5-college consortium with UMass, Smith, Amherst, and Hampshire

Lower Probability (20-39%)

  • Skidmore (NY): About 2800 undergrads

  • Smith (MA): Women’s college of about 2500 undergrads and part of the 5-college consortium with UMass, Mount Holyoke, Amherst, and Hampshire

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • Bowdoin

  • Colby

  • Cornell

  • Hamilton

  • Haverford

  • Middlebury

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I note if you want the option to do an actual major in Environmental Science, rather than Environmental Studies, that is a more select list of colleges.

This tool may help you find some such colleges of interest–you can filter by Environmental Science (by default it includes both primary and secondary majors, which is probably the right setting for you), and also by region, overall size of undergrad program, and so on:

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/jonboeckenstedt/viz/BachelorsDegreesAwardedin2022/Dashboard1

So, like, in New England, smaller colleges like Colby, Trinity (Hartford), and Wheaton stood out to me as colleges to investigate. If you are willing to consider some more medium-sized universities in addition to Cornell, maybe Brown (although that would be very reachy too).

In the Mid Atlantic, some names that stood out to me include SUNY ES and Forest (although that might be TOO specialized for you), Barnard, Dickinson, Skidmore, Washington, and Franklin and Marshall (I think those should all be within 7 hours). Again, if you are willing to look at more universities, maybe Rochester and Villanova.

I would note that my first thought for you was Rochester. They are a full R1 university, but they put a lot of emphasis on undergrads getting lots of research opportunities, and they have strong departments in your areas of interest, and they have a really cool scalable curriculum structure that lets you combine different interests at whatever level of intensity you like, from what they call clusters through minors up to second majors. They are a bit bigger than most of your list, but smaller than Cornell, and my experience is the sorts of kids who find Brown or Cornell appealing often like Rochester as well. But obviously it is a somewhat easier admit and in fact has a pretty robust merit program.

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Have you thought about a STEM school? WPI has Bio/Biotech, Chem, Environmental & Sustainability Studies. I think the class sizes would meet your goal and the project based nature of the school/programs lead to what seem to be really supportive and collaborative student groups - my son is about to finish his sophomore year and he’s always been able to find other students to study with in the class currently, or who have taken it in the not too recent past and students seem eager to support each other. It won’t be far for you, but if you choose one of the abroad locations for the junior year project you can do 7 weeks in a different country to get some time outside of MA.

Historically, women got much higher merit aid then men, but I understand part of the funding source for that has gone away, which seems to have led to fewer women the last two years. I believe they are trying to balance that back out, so you may get some decent money.

Also, in case relevant, you have to have four PE credits, which many kids get by playing club sports - there is a club lacrosse team if you want to keep up with that. My guy was on a D3 team first (rowing) and loved it, but found the time commitment really challenging. This year he switched to a club team (rugby) and has found a lot of the same support and fun team environment without the same level of time demands.

Edited because I forgot to add the “and nerdy” part of your title… I think you will find them sufficiently nerdy. :slight_smile: No seriously, they are a bunch of smart people who get excited by nerdy things, but also know how to have a good time and carry on a solid conversation with non-nerds. They really seem like a fun bunch of students who also happen to enjoy school.

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I am so grateful for all this feedback and all the suggestions! Rochester, WPI and schools in CAN- all schools that I wouldn’t have thought of on my own. I will go over everything again tonight, do some research and report back. Thank you!

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I hear environmental science at Colby mentioned some but it isn’t listed on their website.

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I never put Wesleyan on my list. I thought of it as a humanities school, but maybe I am wrong?