Yale vs. UC Berkeley vs. UPenn for Molecular Biology/Biochemistry

45_Percenter
Tue, 15 Apr 2014 12:50:43 +0000

Penn has one of the largest–if not THE largest–biomedical research complexes on any university campus in the world. Its top-ranked Medical, Nursing, Dental, and Veterinary Schools are awash in research funds and programs related to human health and biology, as are the top-ranked University of Pennsylvania Hospitals (main HUP and Penn Presbyterian) and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia also located right on campus, not to mention the world-renowned Wistar Institute, the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, and the University City Science Center located on or within a couple of blocks of campus. As a result, Penn is perennially one of the top 3 or so recipients of NIH (National Institutes of Health) research funding in the country.

Additionally, Penn makes undergraduate involvement in all of this research a top priority. Accordingly, Penn’s Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (CURF) maintains an active directory of campus research positions available to undergraduates.

Further, my understanding is that Vagelos Scholars are granted unique research opportunities–including paid summer positions if I’m not mistaken–that are unsurpassed at any other undergraduate institution, as the core of the program. In fact, the Vagelos Program maintains this listing of the research topics of all students who have been in the program:

Biochemistry | Penn Arts & Sciences;

And note this introductory language:



Penn is unique in that the Schools of Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Applied Sciences, Medicine, Dental Medicine, and Veterinary Medicine are on one contiguous campus. In addition, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (Penn Pediatrics), Monell Chemical Senses Center, the University City Science Center, a Veterans Administration hospital, and The Wistar Institute for Anatomy and Biology are on adjacent city blocks. Together there are in excess of 700 faculty-led laboratories to choose from.



Not to mention that Penn also has many top-ranked humanities and liberal arts departments to explore (as, of course, do the other two schools), but also allows you to take courses in Wharton, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the Nursing School, as well as most of Penn’s graduate and professional schools (including, e.g., the School of Design, the Annenberg School for Communication, the Graduate School of Education, and even the Law School!). Penn has long been known for its “One University” policy that encourages undergrads to take courses in all of these various schools within the university.

But to conclude, I encourage you to look carefully at the Vagelos Program and what it has to offer, because my understanding is that is really offers undergrads an unparalleled opportunity to be involved in molecular life sciences and research at an extraordinary level.