It’s me adding it to the list - we will be in NC and I added it to the itinerary and to this list bc of its proximity. It’s a different vibe than any other school we’ve seen but if he sees it and hates it, hey that’s a data point. I have family in NC and is a possible retirement location.
Wake has a new bldg downtown that opened in 2017 that houses the biochem. It looks like a cool program.
Will have to delve deeper into the SLACs. Grinnell looks interesting bc of its social justice.
To my uneducated eyes they kind of all look the same - that typical small LAC with interesting architecture and beautiful landscaping. Something you’d see in a movie! The polar opposite of what we have here.
Check academic offerings. Small size means that some departments may be too small to offer a full range of upper level courses in some subjects.
If your son is willing to take on the additional essays and interviews, I encourage him to consider competitive merit scholarships (in addition to a balanced application list).
Duke/UNC Robertson
UNC Morehead Cain
UVA Jefferson
Davidson Belk and James B Duke
W&L Johnson
WashU
Vanderbilt… etc
Those are examples but not at all inclusive of the merit opportunities available. But most of these require extra effort on top of all the applications. If you want suggestions more targeted to your kid, let us know. 
This poster is correct. The expected postdoctoral training period ballooned to the point of ridiculousness a few years back. Doing 2+ different postdocs over a period of 5-10 years was the trend while I was doing my training, but there’s thankfully been backlash and the trend is reversing, at least in biomedicine. Now the NIH wants to constrain the postdoctoral period and get people into faculty positions more quickly. That’s great, but now postdocs who don’t secure independent federal funding (!!) by year 4-5 are freaking out because they can be viewed as old maids who aren’t desirable for faculty positions. There’s some problems that I don’t want to get into here, but there is a game that you gotta know how to play correctly.
Your kid can get an excellent biology education at a variety of institutions to launch him into an academic career. For example, I wouldn’t hesitate to send my kid with such aspirations to St. Olaf. They have an excellent bio department. If he does research with a prof for several years and gets to know them well, he’ll be competitive for great grad programs. The name of his undergrad school does’t matter much, and all of the ones mentioned on this thread would be fine. What matters is that he can shine in his program, get a research position, maintain a high GPA, and get stellar recommendations.
Unfortunately, elitism is alive and well in academic science, and it’s probably best for him to shoot for big names for grad school. But big names for scientists don’t exactly correlate with what the general public thinks. For example, if you go to Utah for your genetics PhD, that’s considered prestigious. If you want to study the auditory cortex, a PhD at Pitt will open tons of doors. He’d be rubbing noses with world-renowned ecologists at the University of Idaho or Colorado State. Of course the schools like Harvard and Michigan etc. carry cachet regardless of niche, but he’s not limited to shooting for those overall elite schools.
Regardless of his undergrad choice, he should apply for one or both of these summer programs each year, starting in his first year. If he wants biomed stuff, apply to the NIH progam. Anything else in bio will go through the NSF. Some disciplines have overlap and he could apply for both (e.g., behavioral neuroscience).
https://www.training.nih.gov/research-training/pb/sip/
https://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/
As long as he has good mentors, and is savvy about seeking out practical advice and applying it, he’ll have a great future ahead in academic science!
A bit random but my S24 with a strong Bio interest liked Wake Forest after visiting and it made his final application list. I think he mostly liked the campus, although of course he also knew it was good academically. I was personally most impressed how much emphasis they put on the quality of their teaching and relationships with professors, which sounds like something your kid would also respond to.
That said, there were some apparent vibe differences there, as opposed to most of the other colleges my S24 ended up liking (many of those other colleges we have discussed here already). But I definitely think a visit is worth it, and it could emerge as a solid contender. Or not . . . as you say, either result is good information.
Yeah, it is interesting how the SLAC format is particularly popular in the Northeast and Upper Midwest. A little bit West Coast too, but generally much less popular in the South or interior West and Southwest. I’ve heard it suggested there is some relationship between the Golden Era of SLAC foundings and air conditioning not yet being available–maybe! But in any event it is definitely a pattern.
By the way, I think the more you look into them, the more you realize that personal customization is really the strong suit of SLACs. Obviously some are similar to others, but the more you learn the more you can start seeing how they are really on different branches of a diverse family tree, and you can start focusing on the branch or two that really most appeals to you. A strong, specific academic interest can certainly be part of that, but so can location, setting, style of campus . . . .
Anyway, I had a lot of fun exploring SLACs with my S24. I would not necessarily have done a good job predicting which he ended up liking the most, and indeed probably would have had a different list for myself. But it is cool he learned what he liked, which is obviously what really matters.
Your son has a good chance of getting in anywhere, with his superb stats plus his strong, proven interest in molecular bio research. Yes, he’s going to go for a PhD unless his interests change. The 350K that you will pay for an Ivy is not going to give him a leg up in his field, since he will likely get into a top PhD program from anywhere. There will be research labs appropriate for him even at Alabama, which would literally PAY him to attend, and give him a free 5th yr.
Boston University might give him a full merit scholarship, has research labs for him, plus the entire Boston area has very strong biomed research going on.
We love Winston Salem and had a kid who attended grad school. Not WF.
But this is definitely in the south…weather wise for sure.
Reality check. No one has a good chance of getting in everywhere. Single digit acceptance rates are just that, and highly rejective colleges have more suburban 4.0 gpa/1600 sat kids than they want. So by all means apply, and apply to the big name merit scholarships, just as thousands of others do. But recognize the statistical reality and have a plan.
My two cents is it is also just a lot more fun looking outside that set.
Like, anyone can look up colleges at the top few research universities in the US for Bio. All the facts about them will be well-known, they will be broadly discussed all over, and so on. And I am not saying don’t apply, but that to me is not a particularly exciting part of the college search.
To me the fun bits have been identifying other opportunities that are still special in some way, and then watching S24 explore them. I think he has learned a lot about himself during that process, I have certainly learned a lot about him, and so on.
And in the end, he might well end up somewhere obvious, which is fine. But maybe not, and either way the process will have been something I really valued.
He is a very standard strong white male in a suburban neighborhood. I know he’ll be fine anywhere he goes. Unless he gets some kind of hook, we are practical about his odds at anything selective.
Exactly. He will be fine wherever he goes, and he is a talented young man who will have good options. Happy ending.
He will be great anywhere but you said this:
We will not qualify for any need based awards. Full pay schools are fine, but merit would be great and could be deciding factor.
So in the end, you can take your shot at - just throwing out schools - MIT, Brown, JHU, etc.
But in the end if merit rues the day, well there’s a lot of schools upthread that are in ‘non southern’ states, different politically than Texas ,and are urban/suburban within an hour of an airport.
You don’t need to decide that now, of course, but if you truly, in your heart of hearts don’t want to, for example, pay full for Tufts but rather Brandeis at $25K off or Case at $30K off is ok, etc. - you’ll need a varied enough list to have all those choices. when the time comes.
And some great ones do have merit (BU, Northeastern, for example) but doesn’t mean it’s amply provided.
It does sound like, on paper, this young man, will have plenty of possibilities.
You might want to look into UC Santa Barbara’s very unique College of Creative Studies, which provides specialized education and research opportunities to students who are accepted to its very small program. It has only 9 majors — but one is Biology and another is chemistry/biochemistry.
Since you are OOS, it will likely be full-price, but it might be worth a review to see if it appeals. It requires both an application to UCSB and an additional application to CCS.
https://campus.collegeforcreativestudies.edu/student-handbook/
Yes, another vote for Brandeis. They will probably offer a big merit award, they’re strong in research, biomed tech connections in the Boston area.
OP- in case you are wondering about the “vibe” at Brandeis, my kid asked “how well attended are sport events on campus” and the guide said “Hey, I’m not sure we even HAVE sports”.
Yes they do… but your son will find plenty of things to do (and people to do them with) if he’s not into big time athletics! Nice, serious kids; not a big party school but many fun activities on and off campus.
And to your earlier point about all the schools looking the same- Brandeis does not. Not laid out in the “New England aesthetic”, and definitely not rural/out in the middle of nowhere. (and within an hour to Logan airport since that’s your son’s preference).
One school I am surprised to not see here is Mcgill. They are strong in the sciences with lots of lab time for biology. The application is all academic with no essays. It will take you one hour to fill out. Montreal is a wonderful city. As an international school, they aren’t as big on sports or school spirit as big state schools here. I think it would be a great fit. It can be made affordable too.
McGill is great, also U Toronto. Problem is that they’re not going to be cheap.
Brandeis (to me) looks almost like an academic arbitrage opportunity – a review of their common data set shows that they have a smart, diverse (economically and racially) student body that tends to do as well or better across the board in terms of grad rates/etc. as other more selective LACs with similar “stats”. They accept more than twice as many students as Colorado College, which looks slightly worse in most metrics. Is this all about weather and location?
For Toronto there is the Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship. You used to have to be nominated by your high school. I’m not sure if they still do it that way. But if he thinks he’d like to apply and does need a nomination then he needs to let his hs know.
Admission Awards - Future Students. University of Toronto | University of Toronto.
Another place to find merit opportunities is Stamps Scholars. Some of these schools have already been mentioned in the thread. For Ohio State there is a supplemental application to be considered for Stamps as well as meeting the EA deadline and applying for honors.