Case Western Reserve University

Date: Feb 23 2004
Major: Biology (This Major's Salary over time)
Case (formerly CWRU) is a University that I'm proud to be getting my degree from. I have no scholarship and I'm still willing to say that it's worth the money (as long as the tuition doesn't go up three fold in the next few years). I'm an anthropology/biology double major, with a minor in chemistry (it's practically thrown in your lab as a bio major). Most bio students are pre-med, but a few of us are planning on going to grad school. I've had the chance to participate in a lot of great things, from working and taking classes at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Cleveland Museum of Art, to studying in labs at the Med School. I've met famous evolutionary biologists and participated in lectures concerning the Ohio creationism/evolution debate. The Biology Department certainly challenges you to your fullest potential, but if you have the patience to persevere it pays off. Case is a name that looks good on any internship application. And while we may study a lot (and there are our fair share of anti-social nerds) we can still have a good time. I can find a party or somewhere to hang out every weekend, and a number of days during the week if I want to. You just have to go out and get to know people, look around the Case social life, and while it's not the big name party school, the social life is very chill and very entertaining. The dynamic is starting to change from the academic-stay-at-home kids to the well-rounded-work-hard-play-hard students. And the University is preparing for that change through the student groups and programming board. We get musicians like Ben Folds and Rusted Root (to name a couple of the half dozen that I've seen). The Board of Trustees seems to like being in charge and running the show, but even they're learning that the old-fashioned university is out and the forthcoming advanced university is what people want. Case can certainly give a student technology advancement and it's academically excellent, and the social life (as I've seen in the past 2.5 years) is rapidly catching up. Some students get downtrodden pretty quickly, but it's those that make the best of all they have that keep going. Case tries hard to wean out the students that just don't cut it, but a majority survive, and while we may all complain a bit, many of the professors are very encouraging, and all the friends I've made here have helped a lot as well. Oh, and while Cleveland winters are horrible (and something any Case student is happy to complain about), the fall and spring (despite some rain) ends up making up for it all.