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Is there a ranked listing of the top biology schools for undergraduate degrees?

By Brownalum (Brownalum) on Monday, December 15, 2003 - 07:11 pm: Edit

Gourman's ranking was 1. Caltech, 2. MIT, 3. Yale, 4. Harvard, 5. JHU, 6. Amherst, 7. Princeton, 8. Swarthmore, 9. Columbia, 10. Stanford, but that's not very well respected as a ranking.

If you look at the schools with the highest rate of NSF placements in biology, the top tier (all roughly tied, with about 5% of biology majors receiving this incredibly prestigious award) are Swarthmore, Williams, MIT, Yale, Harvard, Caltech, Reed, and Princeton.

By Jay12602 (Jay12602) on Monday, December 15, 2003 - 07:56 pm: Edit

Thank you. I was mainly curious how colleges like University of Washington and University of Wisconsin would rank on the list, but since it's only 10 schools they're not even on that list.

Any lists with more colleges?

By Barrons (Barrons) on Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 12:17 pm: Edit

Wisconsin has one of the largest and best bio programs. They do more bio research than anyone else in the US. The facilities and depth are amazing. The UW website has lots of info on biosciences at UW.

Biotechnology facts and figuresThe biological sciences community at UW-Madison includes approximately 800 faculty and 2,000 graduate students, and spans more than 60 different departments and research centers.
Several UW-Madison biotechnology-related departments are ranked among the nation’s best. Graduate programs in biochemistry, molecular biology, molecular and general genetics, chemistry, computer science and biostatistics all are ranked in the top 10 by the National Research Council.
In 1998, UW-Madison conferred the most doctorate degrees in science and engineering in the nation. The total number for that year was 537 degrees awarded.
Interest in the biological sciences is strong among incoming students. Approximately 30 percent of 1999 incoming freshmen reported they intended to major in a biology-related department.
In 1998-99, nearly 70 percent of all faculty in the biological sciences were receiving either federal or non-federal extramural funding support for their research.
More than half of UW-Madison’s $417 million in extramural research support in 1998-99 went to faculty affiliated with the biological sciences. Total research grants in genetics and genomics topped $57 million in 1999.
New initiatives are under way in genetics research, starting with the formation of the Genome Center of Wisconsin last year. The center will draw together faculty from diverse fields to participate in national-scale genetics research.
A strategic hiring initiative in genetics has attracted four new, highly accomplished faculty to Madison. They include experts on mapping of genomes, cereal crop genetics, the evolution of corn and the genetics of vertebrate development.

By Jay12602 (Jay12602) on Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 04:58 pm: Edit

How does Case Western compare to it for bio?

By Chrisy (Chrisy) on Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 05:42 pm: Edit

brownalum- i'm soooo confused what edition of the gourman report do you have? i have the 9th edition and schools like amherst and swarthmore weren't even on the list! i think you were the one who listed the "best for premed" schools too.

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 08:50 pm: Edit

If you look at Swarthmore be sure and visit to see if you like the atmosphere
I have heard stories like this before.

My friend took a tour of the school with the president and she was really annoyed when he just went on and on about how swarthmore were the greatest school in the world.

and then when they passed a bunch of kids taking a regular tour, the guy laughed and said, "funny how we'll reject 85% of those kids, huh"

she disliked him so much that she didn't even apply.

http://www.guilford.k12.ct.us/~faitschb/college.html
http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/press/pr9854.html

By Chrisy (Chrisy) on Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 11:28 pm: Edit

why are there words underlined yellow? is collegeboard desperate for money?

By Jay12602 (Jay12602) on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - 07:27 pm: Edit

I know these are from 1997, but I saw University of Colorado - Boulder was ranked EIGHTH for biology!!!

Is it's biology program still as good/highly ranked?

By Kwyjibo86 (Kwyjibo86) on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 - 08:46 pm: Edit

holy cross