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Message |
PJ
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2004 3:13 am
Post subject: Biology Programs |
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My son has applied to the following six schools with the goal of
majoring in Biology, but not to go the pre-med route....he just enjoys
research and biology, but doesnt care to be a doctor. The schools
are:
* Brown
* Berkeley
* U of Wisconsin
* U of Washington
* Syracuse
* Boston University
Is anyone familiar enough to comment on the strength of the biology
program or can anyone point us in the direction of trying to evaluate
these programs?
Thanks.
Paul |
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Out West
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2004 12:04 pm
Post subject: Re: Biology Programs |
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Wants a big school, does he? Pomona or Reed would have been better choices
for this in my opinion (undergraduates start right out doing research at
those), but his choices are all good for big schools.
Berkeley is probably the strongest in research of his choices. I can't speak
to some of the others, but I am curious how come there are several State
Universities that are in different States? The savings of going public would
be pretty much washed out by the out of State expenses. I think for
undergraduate any of these schools should serve him well for a biology
major. If he is truely interested in research he should plan on continuing
on to graduate school...THEN he can really search out the best universities
for that.
I think the decision should really lie in where he would be happiest.
Has he seen or visited any of them? He's got choices from New York to
California. That's a big spread. Instead of thinking about the various
biology departments for an undergraduate at these he should really look at
the housing, food, climate, student body he'd be around, part of the
country, cost, etc. At this point these should be the deciding factor, not
whether they have a terrific grad. program or something. A happy student
having a good time and enjoying his friends and surroundings is usually a
successful student.
My opinion only,
-B
"PJ" <pjmsj21@aol.com> wrote in message
news:5d884f5a.0401191213.4587a9d2@posting.google.com...
| Quote: | My son has applied to the following six schools with the goal of
majoring in Biology, but not to go the pre-med route....he just enjoys
research and biology, but doesnt care to be a doctor. The schools
are:
* Brown
* Berkeley
* U of Wisconsin
* U of Washington
* Syracuse
* Boston University
Is anyone familiar enough to comment on the strength of the biology
program or can anyone point us in the direction of trying to evaluate
these programs?
Thanks.
Paul |
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PJ
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 3:19 am
Post subject: Re: Biology Programs |
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"Out West" <byer5@nospamearthlink.net> wrote in message news:<GF2Pb.20258$zj7.16561@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net>...
| Quote: | Wants a big school, does he? Pomona or Reed would have been better choices
for this in my opinion (undergraduates start right out doing research at
those), but his choices are all good for big schools.
Berkeley is probably the strongest in research of his choices. I can't speak
to some of the others, but I am curious how come there are several State
Universities that are in different States? The savings of going public would
be pretty much washed out by the out of State expenses. I think for
undergraduate any of these schools should serve him well for a biology
major. If he is truely interested in research he should plan on continuing
on to graduate school...THEN he can really search out the best universities
for that.
I think the decision should really lie in where he would be happiest.
Has he seen or visited any of them? He's got choices from New York to
California. That's a big spread. Instead of thinking about the various
biology departments for an undergraduate at these he should really look at
the housing, food, climate, student body he'd be around, part of the
country, cost, etc. At this point these should be the deciding factor, not
whether they have a terrific grad. program or something. A happy student
having a good time and enjoying his friends and surroundings is usually a
successful student.
My opinion only,
-B
|
B
One of the factors in his decision that I did not include was that he
wants to continue to compete on the crew team, and all of these
schools have mens crew at a divsion one level. While his
participation in crew wont get him any athletic scholarships, crew has
been such a positive aspect of his high school experience that he and
his parents would like to see him continue. He has also applied to
the U of Oregon and Oregon State University as we live in Oregon. OSU
has crew, UofO does not. Any thoughts on OSU or how to assess it's
relative strengths?
Thanks
Paul |
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Karin
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 5:03 am
Post subject: Re: Biology Programs |
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"Out West" <byer5@nospamearthlink.net> wrote in message > I think the decision should really lie in where he would be happiest.
| Quote: | Has he seen or visited any of them? He's got choices from New York to
California. That's a big spread. Instead of thinking about the various
biology departments for an undergraduate at these he should really look at
the housing, food, climate, student body he'd be around, part of the
country, cost, etc. At this point these should be the deciding factor, not
whether they have a terrific grad. program or something. A happy student
having a good time and enjoying his friends and surroundings is usually a
successful student.
My opinion only,
-B
If he is interested in doing research he is probably going to continue |
through post doc work, in shich case you should look at schools that
have a good percentage of students continuing on.
http://www.hhmi.org/BeyondBio101/
Smaller schools generally give the average student much more time in
the lab and with profs than the average university |
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Out West
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 12:21 pm
Post subject: Re: Biology Programs |
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aaahh...crew, that's a great sport. Berkeley has an awesome crew team. It
also is very difficult for out of staters to get in, BUT if he mentioned
crew in his application and if he goes so far as to contact the crew team
and ask questions and if he has stellar grades, etc. he may get in. He
should do the same at all the colleges he applied to. Any of these schools
is going to be fine for an undergradute biology major. Since he enjoys crew
he should also turn his head to look at the crew teams and compare THOSE as
well as the things I mentioned in the above post. I understand now why he
chose large schools although my daughters small LAC (Mills) has a crew team
that frequently beats enormous Berkeley's' women's crew team (well, it COULD
be their 'B' team, I'm not sure ) .  That's great fun!!
-B
"PJ" <pjmsj21@aol.com> wrote in message
news:5d884f5a.0401201219.34f3529@posting.google.com...
| Quote: | "Out West" <byer5@nospamearthlink.net> wrote in message
news:<GF2Pb.20258$zj7.16561@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net>...
Wants a big school, does he? Pomona or Reed would have been better
choices
for this in my opinion (undergraduates start right out doing research at
those), but his choices are all good for big schools.
Berkeley is probably the strongest in research of his choices. I can't
speak
to some of the others, but I am curious how come there are several State
Universities that are in different States? The savings of going public
would
be pretty much washed out by the out of State expenses. I think for
undergraduate any of these schools should serve him well for a biology
major. If he is truely interested in research he should plan on
continuing
on to graduate school...THEN he can really search out the best
universities
for that.
I think the decision should really lie in where he would be
happiest.
Has he seen or visited any of them? He's got choices from New York to
California. That's a big spread. Instead of thinking about the various
biology departments for an undergraduate at these he should really look
at
the housing, food, climate, student body he'd be around, part of the
country, cost, etc. At this point these should be the deciding factor,
not
whether they have a terrific grad. program or something. A happy student
having a good time and enjoying his friends and surroundings is usually
a
successful student.
My opinion only,
-B
B
One of the factors in his decision that I did not include was that he
wants to continue to compete on the crew team, and all of these
schools have mens crew at a divsion one level. While his
participation in crew wont get him any athletic scholarships, crew has
been such a positive aspect of his high school experience that he and
his parents would like to see him continue. He has also applied to
the U of Oregon and Oregon State University as we live in Oregon. OSU
has crew, UofO does not. Any thoughts on OSU or how to assess it's
relative strengths?
Thanks
Paul |
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