<p>Which colleges have the best chemistry departments along with good student/faculty contact? Some Ivy League schools (Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Columbia) immediately come to mind, but they are all quite large and I’ve heard that Harvard, even with all its prestige, has students who receive sub-par attention from professors. What colleges have good chemistry departments with good student-faculty interaction? Any experiences with UVA, UMich, Rice, or any of the Ivies I mentioned above? Relative difficulty levels compared to quality of education?</p>
<p>Rose-Hulman is great for both ChemEng and Chem and I can attest to the fact that you get a good deal of student/faculty interaction.</p>
<p>Rose is project heavy compared to many other schools so its not harder or easier than other good schools (like UT or UVA) but just a bit different. I have yet to hear an alum say they didn’t like it and I have talked to a good number alumni that came out of RHIT other than those that they bring back to talk to you.</p>
<p>Guess I should post the link for you.</p>
<p><a href=“404 | Rose-Hulman”>404 | Rose-Hulman;
<p>My daughter is a sophomore studying physics at Harvard. They generally have more undergrads than the chemistry department, so perhaps her experience is relevant. She has found all of her professors in the physics department to be very responsive and interested in seeing their students succeed. However, it is up to the student to seek them out. They are always available during their office hours and she often communicates with them via e-mail. She was able to to join a lab to do research beginning in the spring of her freshman year just by contacting the prof and expressing interest. The coursework is very challenging. Students put a lot of hours in for their p-sets, but they form study groups and work collaboratively. She has been able to continue to be successful academically while still maintaining a high commitment to her extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>I’m not sure that just because the program is big there is less chance for faculty interaction. Berkeley for example has a huge number of faculty in its chemistry department, housed as a stand alone college, so it’s really up to the student to tap into all that knowledge and research. Columbia on the other hand has a relatively small faculty so I would think that you have a tougher time getting the professor’s attention.</p>
<p>I think what you need to look at are the programs the university supports to allow undergraduate research, and the number of undergrads working as part of professor’s research groups.</p>
<p>Furman University is a liberal arts college that has an excellent Chemistry department.</p>
<p>W&M has an excellent Chem dept. Research opportunities for undergrads are readily available. Not competing against grad students for space or attention. Looks really good on grad/med school app to already have been published as an undergrad.</p>
<p>If great mentoring is important to you, then check out the LACs. </p>
<p>S is a chem major at Grinnell and loves it. Not only are the facilities state-of-the-art, no class (including intro chem classes) is larger than 25 students, there are no distribution requirements, and the science faculty are great. (Tenure is based heavily on teaching evaluations.) S has a personal relationship with nearly all of his science profs because it’s so easy to drop by. Grinnell’s huge endowment also means there’s lots of money to fund student research and internships, and very generous financial and merit aid.</p>
<p>Middlebury is great for sciences----wonderful facilities— and students get lots of attention and research opportunities.</p>
<p>Berkeley’s College of Chemistry.</p>
<p>Great chem mentoring at some small schools (less than 2,001 undergrads):</p>
<p>CalTech, Carleton, Harvey Mudd, Kalamazoo, NM Inst. Mining, Reed, Transylvania, Wabash, Wooster</p>
<p>Holy Cross-strong chemistry and science majors in general.</p>
<p>What about Brown and Swarthmore? Those seem to be two colleges that are much more concentrated on undergraduate education.</p>
<p>Swarthmore is strong across the sciences and like most top LACs will offer lots of individualized attention. </p>
<p>I’ll also second a look at Carleton which, along with Reed, consistently has the highest PhD productivity in the Physical Sciences in general and in Chemistry in particular among non-tech colleges (LACs or universities). The number of students majoring in these fields is also possibly the highest outside of focused places like Mudd and Caltech (which have great departments as well). Other schools to consider: Rice, Pomona, Grinnell, Williams, Haverford, Wesleyan.</p>
<p>Holy Cross is one of the nation’s top producers of chemistry graduates certified by the American Chemical Society and the school is only 2900 undergrads with faculty to student ratio of 10:1. Exclusively undergrad so no competition with grad students for access to professors.</p>
<p>Chemistry is a pretty uncommon major. For example, at the University of Michigan, which graduates roughly 5,500 students annually, fewer than 30 undergrads per class major in Chemistry. With a faculty of over 50 professors (so a student to faculty ratio of 4:1), it is safe to say that student to faculty interaction is excellent. I would assume the same goes for any university with a strong faculty and respected department in Chemistry.</p>
<p>^ agree about #'s of majors but not how that extends to individualized attention.</p>
<p>Even a place like Johns Hopkins produces fewer than 1/2 the number of chemistry graduates than Carleton will, but I don’t think anyone will argue that very few kids at Hopkins take chemistry courses. Chemistry coursework is integral to bio majors, all pre-meds and many engineering fields. Even at schools that produce few chem majors, departmental courses in the lower-mid level tiers can be jammed to the rafters with lots of profs needed to handle the load. Cornell has intro classes in chem with enrollments that can run into the 800’s.</p>
<p>Does anyone doubt that chem profs favor chem majors over others when distributing individual attention?</p>