<p>Rochester is a small research university. Its biological sciences and physics depts have the highest amount of NIH/NSF funding for any university of its size (6000 undergrads) in the US. This means that there are plentiful opportunities for students to get involved in research if they want to pursue that course. Rochester does not have a core curriculum–which allows for significant latitude in course selection. The med school & hospital is literally across the street from the main campus. Rochester is a medium sized town and the UR campus is in a low density urban setting. Approx 40-45% of all incoming freshman are pre-meds. Lecture classes tend to run around 200-300 students for intro level courses. Upper level courses are smaller–typically anywhere from 5-100 students.</p>
<p>Bucknell is basically a liberal arts college with an engineering program. Bucknell is acknowledged to have a strong bio/pre med program, but is not close to any major medical centers. (The nearest would be Geisinger in Danville which is 30 miles away. You’ll need a car to get there as there is no public transportation.) Undergrad research is available, but it’s been a while since I was a student there so I am not familiar with its current funding situation. The Bio Bldg is 20 years old and the university has kept its labs state of the art. Bucknell has a more traditional curriculum and has distribution requirements. Lecture classes tend to run around 200-250 student fro intro level classes. Upper level courses can be anywhere from 8-40. The university is located in a small town in a rural location. Campus is very pretty. (And used to smell like chocolate in the spring because the grounds staff used cocoa hulls from the Hershey’s plant to mulch all the scrubbery.)</p>