<p>Actually, that is not true. </p>
<p>PhD productivity in the sciences for LACs is not higher than top private universities. The productivity number for some LACs also masks teh fact that in quite a few cases, the ACTUAL number of PhDs is extremely small. Some years, there are no students pursuing PhDs in some disciplines like math or physics at many LACs. With an average of 2% to 3% PhD students per year, you are talking minuscule numbers on average. </p>
<p>If you seriously want to pursue a PhD in the sciences, outside of the obvious outlier of Harvey Mudd, no LAC really stands out with the possible exceptions of Carleton and Swarthmore. In general, you are better off attending a top research university. </p>
<p>California Institute of Technology 28.24%
Harvey Mudd College 18.42%
MIT 15.40%
Rice University 7.41%
Carleton College 7.25%
Harvard University 6.61%
University of California-Berkeley 6.27%
Princeton University 5.88%
Swarthmore College 5.52%
Cornell University, All Campuses 5.35%
Carnegie Mellon University 5.00%
Williams College 4.44%
Johns Hopkins University 4.39%
Duke University 4.33%
Stanford University 4.30%
Brown University 4.24%
Reed College 4.01%
Columbia University 3.99%
Yale University 3.85%
Oberlin College 3.84%
Georgia Institute of Technology, 3.58%
Dartmouth College 3.39%
University of California-Davis 3.38%
University of California-San Diego 3.33%
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities 2.86%
Pennsylvania State U, Main Campus 2.38%
University of Virginia, Main Campus 2.33%
Smith College 2.31%
University of Pennsylvania 2.31%
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor 2.24%</p>
<p>Another major factor, whioch is not accounted for in the PhD productivity statistics is that WHERE you go for grad school is heavily influenced by your undegrad college or university. In that category LACs do not perform particularly well. This is major concern as attendance at a top program is often a prerequiste to a tenure track career. </p>
<p>When ranking schools by the proportion of PhD students going to top PhD programs in the sciences the percentages ranged from 62% at Harvard to around 25% at Amherst. Only Swarthmore competed well in that category. It is somewaht worrisome that only about 25% of Amherst students going for a PhD in the sciences enroll at a top program, compared to twice that at Berkeley, a state institution. </p>
<p>Harvard 62%
MIT 57%
Princeton 52 %
Yale 52 %
Berkeley 48 %
Swarthmore 44 %
Michigan 39 %
Williams 39%
Carleton 28 %
Amherst 25 %</p>