Franklin and Marshall College

Date: Apr 16 2011
Major: Chemistry (This Major's Salary over time)
I selected F&M because:

I knew I wanted a Ph.D. in Chemistry and this chemistry department sent as many students to chem grad school as top universities (for instance, UC Berkley)

I wanted small class size

I did not want to be taught by grad students

I wanted to do undergraduate lab research (and at schools with graduate departments doing real research is pretty much not available to undergrads)

The low tuition (at the time!) was a plus. Boy have times changed

It was only an hour or so from my family home and the campus was really pretty. F&M had a solid, stable feel about it that appealed to me right away. I applied and was accepted early decision.

I have many close friends who attended college with me. All of them have done well since graduation, not just in science, but in liberal arts as well. All of us look back fondly at our time at F&M. None of us were into the party scene AT ALL and that was no problem. We made our own scene and never drank or did drugs. I liked Lancaster then, and I still like it now (though the Farmers' Market doesn't feel as authentic as in my day). The Div 3 sports are great because the participants are scholars & athletes (I volunteered as a statistician with the Men's team when they went to the national finals and got to go to all the away games with the team, which was pretty cool) If it is still like it was when my friends and I went there, F&M is a great school and if you are someone who "marches to the beat of a different drummer" it is likely that you will find lifelong friends here. I have a problem with the sticker price, but that goes for pretty much every school similar to F&M. I will try to steer my kids to good schools that are cheaper, but I'm sure if they did go here, they would enjoy the experience and get a great education.