Lyon College

Date: Jan 29 2013
Major: Chemistry (This Major's Salary over time)
I came to Lyon following the common allure of the supposed 100% guaranteed acceptance into Medical School. What the forget to tell you is that of the 60 incooming "pre-med" Freshmen, maybe 2 or 3 of those 60 will actually make it to the point where they will actually apply to medical school and be admitted. The rest drop out of the program, the college, or fail to get the necessary faculty recommendations in order to apply. While I have had no problem being a science major academically, I am extremely disappointed with Lyon. The Chemistry department is shrinking, unfunded, and the college and president could care less. We do not get funding for equipment, no professors have any continuing research grants—through no fault of their own—and the college is making unnecessary cuts. In fact, much of the research once performed has since disappeared because of the college's withdrawal of funding to the sciences in an effort to reorient itself toward Liberal Arts and away from sciences. The Biology department is in a similar situation, except the college wants to maintain this department as cost-effective (cheaply) as possible due to its popularity among the pre-meds in order to encourage new applicants to attend so they are guaranteed to get into medical school. In a rush to replace a professor who left due to questionable administrative policy and action in the past years, a third-rate professor who underestimates her students consistently was hired into a tenure-track position in order to fill the gap. It's an unfortunate situation as the college is definitely not nearly as strong as it one was in the days of expanding and supported science and research. I would not attend Lyon in the future with the intent of studying anything scientific; however, the mathematics department is expanding in order that it may be better able to prepare students to teach mathematics. Ultimately, if you want a college where you can get a solid degree in a humanities or liberal arts type field, go for it. If you want to study science (especially chemistry) flee… flee far far away. Hopefully I can make it through the next 2 years without my program turning to dust. I fear that may be more realistic of a concern than what I would like for it to be. In the meantime, I'll be working closely with my disgruntled professors to hopefully knock some sense into the Lyon College administration.