Coed Colleges like Mount Holyoke or Smith with strong science: nurturing vs cut throat?

[Anonymous]

Are there any liberal arts colleges that have a strong science or biology tradition, (like Mount Holyoke has a great history of getting women into grad school in the sciences, or medical school) that have students who are genuinely interested in learning biology, not ONLY interested in getting into med school? Coed suggestions? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Bryn Mawr is all women, but has a very close relationship with coed Haverford (and also with Swarthmore). So you get a good number of men studying and even living on campus, without diluting the strong tradition of women achieving in the sciences.

[Anonymous]

Carleton College sends large numbers of students to graduate schools, including in the sciences.

But wouldn't that be the case at most selective liberal arts colleges?

[Anonymous]

While not as selective as the schools you have mentioned, I wanted to throw St. Mary's College of Maryland into the mix. It has a wonderful Biology department where classes are actually taught by the professors. There are a lot of students who are interested in marine biology as the school is on the St. Mary's River and they do a lot of research there. They also send a number of students on to medical school but it is not what everyone is interested in. The school is a very nurturing environment in a beautiful setting. In fact, Princeton Review (2009) said "St. Mary's College of Maryland... has all of the intellectual stimulation of a private liberal arts school with none of the academic rivalry." It is also a public school so it is cheaper than many of the private liberal arts colleges. It may not be what you are looking for - but it is a coed liberal arts school with a strong emphasis on the sciences - particularly biology.

Here is a link to the SMCM biology department in case you are interested: http://www.smcm.edu/biology/index.html

[Anonymous]

Reed College has a strong tradition of sending lots of students to grad school in biology. NSF has statistics on this on their website if you feel like wading through the numbers. You would look at the Survey of earned doctorates and see people got their undergrad degrees.

[Anonymous]

I went to Smith ages ago. There were lots of women sincerely interested in biology for its own sake, as well as lots of pre-med women. Smith is very nurturing - the women (never say "girls"!) live in houses with dining rooms. I think some of the dining rooms may have been eliminated since I was there, so for some houses you need to walk to another house nearby to eat. But still, it's very homey. Some people won't look at the school because it has a reputation for lesbianism and they think they won't fit in - in my experience, it was fine being straight, as long as you're open-minded straight.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all suggestions. I said coed because I am asking on behalf of a friend's son, not because I am opposed to women's colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Carleton College sends large numbers of students to graduate schools, including in the sciences.

But wouldn't that be the case at most selective liberal arts colleges?

Maybe, but not all liberal arts colleges are equally nurturing. Haverford is much more hand-holdy than Swarthmore, for example.

[Anonymous]

I have read that Oberlin has a wonderful Biology department.

[Anonymous]

Haverford (president is an active physician-scientist) and Wesleyan put the most emphasis on the sciences and have more active funded researchers on faculty than most other LACs. Amherst has the advantage of the 5 school system and thus the ability to do research at a larger research university if desired (U Mass).

[Anonymous]

Oberlin

[Anonymous]

Bates has a strong reputation with med school admissions - very competitive but not cut throat at all.

[Anonymous]

You might look into Vassar. Its a Seven Sisters but is now coed. I heard it has a similar feel to a women's college (nuturing, small, etc.) but has male students too. I don't know how it does at science though.

[Anonymous]

Davidson College (co-ed) in North Carolina is stroing in the sciences

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haverford (president is an active physician-scientist) and Wesleyan put the most emphasis on the sciences and have more active funded researchers on faculty than most other LACs. Amherst has the advantage of the 5 school system and thus the ability to do research at a larger research university if desired (U Mass).

When I was at Amherst, most of the biology majors that I knew were on the pre-med track. The college is very supportive and a great place, imo, but I think you'll definitely find a high concentration of pre-med students in the biology program.