How important is where you go to undergrad?

warblersrule
Mon, 06 Jun 2022 19:54:21 +0000

merc81:

As a suggestion, when looking out-of-state, consider schools that might offer a qualitative alternative to both UW and Duke. For example, colleges such as Pomona, Reed, Hamilton, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore and Haverford offer excellent programs and research opportunities in fields such as physics and biology while maintaining an exclusive focus on undergraduates.

I couldn’t agree more; LACs are a great place to major in the natural sciences. Personally, I started out majoring in biology at Duke (with a focus on oceanography) but wound up switching to earth & ocean sciences because I found the biology department so large and impersonal.

There are quite a few excellent LACs in the Midwest and elsewhere with strong science programs (Lawrence U, Oberlin, Macalester, Carleton, etc.), many of which offer merit aid.

The New College of Florida is also worth a look, a public LAC with generous merit aid that reduces the cost of attendance for OOS students to a max of about $25K a year.

New College of Florida

New College of Florida

Florida’s public honors college, educating free thinkers, risk takers and trailblazers. Discover a public arts and science education driven by your curiosity, career aspirations, and individual learning style on a beautiful bayfront campus in...