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September 11, 2002
A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK. CLICK
HERE FOR BIO.
I suppose you've noticed that many colleges and universities
offer
many different degree programs in many sciences. So I'm wondering
if
your question asks whether a college, as opposed to a
research-oriented university, is a good place to start studying
science. Colleges in fact have a good record of preparing
future
scientists, who go on to earn advanced degrees at universities
and
become faculty or researchers in industry or government labs.
Statistics published some years ago (I can't find them now)
bore out
my claim, though many scientists at research universities
didn't want
to believe it. They think that the opportunities for undergraduates
at universities to get involved in "real" research
projects should
make them want to become scientists themselves. Sometimes
that
happens. But the greater attention that faculty at colleges
tend to
pay to their students may be a bigger factor in encouraging
them to
go on to careers in science. Perhaps faculty at colleges aren't
doing research on the cutting edge; but an undergraduate who
has a
satisfying, stimulating research experience on a project of
less
earth-shaking importance is more likely to go on with science
than
one who has a less satisfying experience surrounded by more
high-powered scientists. Or so the figures seemed to imply.
And
many colleges do have excellent science labs and science teachers.
If by "college for science" you mean a college where
you will be free
to ignore everything but science - well, I can't encourage
you to
look for such a place. There are so many other things to learn,
and
using ones elective courses to become at least minimally educated
in
the arts and social sciences gives one so much more to enjoy
later in
life - even as a practicing scientist.
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