<p>Yeah, John Wesley has it about right. I’ve been pretty pleased with the quality of the science classes. I’m on the campus tour guide staff too (they’re really trying to get science people to do it) and I can tell you that the science departments and the Dean of the Sciences are extremely concerned with making sure the tour guide staff tells people the info about undergrad research and med school admissions.</p>
<p>I am not pre-med, but there are a lot of departments where they bend over backwards to get undergrads involved in research. I had some friends who were here over the summer just pas (after their freshman year) on the Hughes Grant program doing work that would eventually be published partially under their names.</p>
<p>I think the deal is basically that while we don’t have anywhere near the sheer breadth of research interests that a mecca like an MIT or a Stanford does, by any stretch of the imagination, what we do have is sometimes more accessible to undergrads than it might be at some of those schools. But John also has a good point in that our programs are a lot more mature than what a lot of LACs have to offer. I like to think we have a balance between well-developed research programs and the sort of collegial, cooperative atmosphere that LACs are known for.</p>
<p>And about TAs: they don’t teach any of the classes, though they do oversee the lab sections for some intro classes. Frankly, I like the TAs. They’re usually very good at relating to the experience of students just assimilating the material (often better than profs who are 40 years removed from that experience) and I feel that having a handful grad students as part of the science community is a real boon for us.</p>
<p>It is unfortunate that some people at Wesleyan still recite the tiresome tripe about how “I never have to take science again!” (they kind of do…) The administration is working hard to change this perception, but you definitely shouldn’t worry that the sciences are lacking in quality - they are quite good.</p>