Anonymous
04/11/2026 13:23
Subject: If not pursuing IB, finance, MBB, are Ivies undergrad really that much better than schools like Rice, Swarthmore, CMU?
Pomona sent 5 students to MD PhD programs last year including 4 top ones- Hopkins, Penn, UCSF, and Caltech-USC. They also had their 9th Churchill scholarship this year (top undergrad stem fellowship comparable to Rhodes and Marshall). For a tiny school, their STEM students are extremely stacked.
Six went to Harvard med school from the class of 2018: https://magazine.pomona.edu/2024/spring/birds-of-a-feather-at-harvard-med/
Six went to Harvard med school from the class of 2018: https://magazine.pomona.edu/2024/spring/birds-of-a-feather-at-harvard-med/
Anonymous
04/11/2026 12:49
Subject: If not pursuing IB, finance, MBB, are Ivies undergrad really that much better than schools like Rice, Swarthmore, CMU?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I get that if you want to be on a CEO track or make big bucks on Wall Street, Ivy names could open more doors. But if you’re pursuing medical research, tech, natural sciences, are Ivies (undergrad) really that much better than schools a tier below?
With AI changing everything, is old-guard Ivy prestige still as important as it has been before?
Rice CMU and Swat (and a couple others) are effectively the same boost as ivy+ schools for pHD MD tech and in some areas CMU and Rice are much better than three of the ivies
How about Amherst and Pomona? Are they as good as the ones mentioned above for PhD MD Tech boost comparable to or even better than some Ivies?
We looked at one of those, so the answer is no. I guess those kids get the experience later in their academic careers, over summer, or just aren’t hard core basic science researchers. Plenty of funded researchers are not, although outcomes medical research seems to be hit harder by the NIH cuts.
Are you talking about undergrad or still talking about your PhD husband?
Why are you being obtuse? Less sophisticated bench science at slacs, by a good margin. For undergrads and everyone else.
Nonsense
Point us to some of the cutting edge basic science research coming out of Williams and Swarthmore. We’re all ears.
Point us to some cutting edge research coming out of R1s that undergraduates are meaningfully participating in….we’re all ears.
It’s not about how cutting edge it is. It’s about your role in it and your development of thinking skills. If a professor trusts you with running large parts of it and listens while you think through research and set directions, you’re better off than running PCRs like a lab tech are an Ivy. Add that the professors are well-connected at SLACs and provide deep, personalized recommendations, and it turns out SLACs provide excellent research training.
Anonymous
04/11/2026 11:02
Subject: If not pursuing IB, finance, MBB, are Ivies undergrad really that much better than schools like Rice, Swarthmore, CMU?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:There's a a MD-PhD from a SLAC to top programs almost every year.
MIT/Harvard:
2025- Colby, Wesleyan
2024- Pomona
2023- Swarthmore, Wesleyan, University of Richmond
Yale:
2025- Bowdoin, Pitzer
2024- Middlebury
2023- Pomona, Rhodes
Stanford:
2025- Skidmore
2023- Wellesley
Mayo (just has a directory of all current students):
St. Olaf, Carleton, Davidson
NYU (same thing as above):
Union, Vassar, Amherst, Middlebury, Wellesley
You don't need to go to a R1 university to be able to gain the research experiences that make you a competitive candidate for these programs.
But that wasn’t what I said. There is plenty of research that isn’t basic science or bench research. There just isnt much high quality basic science research outside of R1 colleges.
I think that you mean there isn’t much research of any type at R1s. Ow that the blithering fools in office gutted R1 budgets. What is left will all be directed to supporting the grad students to the extent possible.
Anonymous
04/11/2026 10:41
Subject: If not pursuing IB, finance, MBB, are Ivies undergrad really that much better than schools like Rice, Swarthmore, CMU?
Anonymous wrote:There's a a MD-PhD from a SLAC to top programs almost every year.
MIT/Harvard:
2025- Colby, Wesleyan
2024- Pomona
2023- Swarthmore, Wesleyan, University of Richmond
Yale:
2025- Bowdoin, Pitzer
2024- Middlebury
2023- Pomona, Rhodes
Stanford:
2025- Skidmore
2023- Wellesley
Mayo (just has a directory of all current students):
St. Olaf, Carleton, Davidson
NYU (same thing as above):
Union, Vassar, Amherst, Middlebury, Wellesley
You don't need to go to a R1 university to be able to gain the research experiences that make you a competitive candidate for these programs.
But that wasn’t what I said. There is plenty of research that isn’t basic science or bench research. There just isnt much high quality basic science research outside of R1 colleges.
Anonymous
04/11/2026 09:19
Subject: If not pursuing IB, finance, MBB, are Ivies undergrad really that much better than schools like Rice, Swarthmore, CMU?
I still don’t understand this thread.
OP is basically saying the Ivy schools are better (which I don’t agree BTW, but that’s the thesis) because it gives you a boost for everything, but then asks why you just wouldn’t spend the same $90k on an inferior school that is the same for many things but not everything.
OP is basically saying the Ivy schools are better (which I don’t agree BTW, but that’s the thesis) because it gives you a boost for everything, but then asks why you just wouldn’t spend the same $90k on an inferior school that is the same for many things but not everything.
Anonymous
04/11/2026 08:23
Subject: If not pursuing IB, finance, MBB, are Ivies undergrad really that much better than schools like Rice, Swarthmore, CMU?
There's a a MD-PhD from a SLAC to top programs almost every year.
MIT/Harvard:
2025- Colby, Wesleyan
2024- Pomona
2023- Swarthmore, Wesleyan, University of Richmond
Yale:
2025- Bowdoin, Pitzer
2024- Middlebury
2023- Pomona, Rhodes
Stanford:
2025- Skidmore
2023- Wellesley
Mayo (just has a directory of all current students):
St. Olaf, Carleton, Davidson
NYU (same thing as above):
Union, Vassar, Amherst, Middlebury, Wellesley
You don't need to go to a R1 university to be able to gain the research experiences that make you a competitive candidate for these programs.
MIT/Harvard:
2025- Colby, Wesleyan
2024- Pomona
2023- Swarthmore, Wesleyan, University of Richmond
Yale:
2025- Bowdoin, Pitzer
2024- Middlebury
2023- Pomona, Rhodes
Stanford:
2025- Skidmore
2023- Wellesley
Mayo (just has a directory of all current students):
St. Olaf, Carleton, Davidson
NYU (same thing as above):
Union, Vassar, Amherst, Middlebury, Wellesley
You don't need to go to a R1 university to be able to gain the research experiences that make you a competitive candidate for these programs.
Anonymous
04/11/2026 08:17
Subject: If not pursuing IB, finance, MBB, are Ivies undergrad really that much better than schools like Rice, Swarthmore, CMU?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I get that if you want to be on a CEO track or make big bucks on Wall Street, Ivy names could open more doors. But if you’re pursuing medical research, tech, natural sciences, are Ivies (undergrad) really that much better than schools a tier below?
With AI changing everything, is old-guard Ivy prestige still as important as it has been before?
Rice CMU and Swat (and a couple others) are effectively the same boost as ivy+ schools for pHD MD tech and in some areas CMU and Rice are much better than three of the ivies
How about Amherst and Pomona? Are they as good as the ones mentioned above for PhD MD Tech boost comparable to or even better than some Ivies?
We looked at one of those, so the answer is no. I guess those kids get the experience later in their academic careers, over summer, or just aren’t hard core basic science researchers. Plenty of funded researchers are not, although outcomes medical research seems to be hit harder by the NIH cuts.
Are you talking about undergrad or still talking about your PhD husband?
Why are you being obtuse? Less sophisticated bench science at slacs, by a good margin. For undergrads and everyone else.
Undergrads everywhere are doing less sophisticated science. A freshman at a R1 university might be working on a cutting edge project, but the things they themselves will be doing will not be sophisticated or advanced. So it actually doesn't matter very much.