Top Biochemistry Schools Anyone?

Boofer
Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:30:44 +0000

I was an undergraduate biochemistry major in the 1990s. The schools I considered were Bowdoin, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, and MIT. I had read in a book that Bowdoin was the best undergrad biochem program. But I didn’t want to stick my folks with a $20,500 (seems cheap now, huh?) tuition bill, nor did I want to go to such a small school. I didn’t like the representatives from MIT because they came across as very snobbish - as if I was privileged just to talk to someone from MIT. Wisconsin was a medically-oriented program with a great reputation and was a very large program. Virginia Tech’s program was not oriented toward a med school and was (at least at the time) the largest undergrad biochem program in the nation. I ended up at VT for many reasons, but mostly it was a combination of the school’s size, the scope of elective courses available, and the good reputation it had for promoting undergraduate research opportunities while not pushing students into doctoral programs. In short, the program fit me. It really shouldn’t matter so much what ranking a program has - after all, that’s always someone’s opinion. VT is regarded very highly among academics and industry professionals alike, but so are Wisconsin and Bowdoin, and of course MIT is too. A prospective student should consider what he or she might want to do with a B.S. in Biochem - med school, vet school, PhD program, industry, etc., and try to choose a program that will prepare him or her best for that outcome. Equally important is the fit for the student - large/small school, large/small program, opportunities for elective study and undergrad research, etc.