The Best Colleges for Specific Studies

By: Evan Kerzner and Austin Lermayer, Staff Writers

College. One of the biggest steps a high schooler takes to reach the next chapter in their life. It can be a rigorous and stressful process, for choosing a college that best fits a person, and one that most guarantees their success and graduation can be difficult. Either or, students are going to want to get into the top schools of the area that they are going to want to study in.

    With that being said, here is a compilation of the top colleges across the nation for various types of studies.

    Business is one of the most common majors that a student will take when starting college. According to educationcorner.com, the top ten business schools (ranked from one to ten) are Stanford University, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California-Berkeley, and Cornell University. While all of these colleges are fairly expensive and significantly difficult to get into, they are well worth the money as students get some of the best business education in the world.

    Ms. Pamela Procyk, the new College and Career Center Aide at Foran, has extensive knowledge on the college process and how colleges get their reputations for being the top education institutes in the country.

    Procyk states, “It depends on the school. Roger Williams has a very strong architecture program and construction management program. Somewhere like Bryant, has a strong business department and it also depends on their foundation.”

    What makes these colleges the top schools for specific studies is a question in itself, which Procyk can answer.

    Procyk continues, “I think your return on investment. So you have to look at what you’re spending to go to the school, and then what the graduates are making when they come out.” Another very common major that students take throughout the United States is health professions and medicine. The top ten health profession/medical schools in the United States according to usnews.com, which does rankings of colleges of specific majors, are Harvard University, New York University, Columbia University, John Hopkins University, University of California San Francisco, Duke University, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, University of Washington, and Yale University.

    With getting into these top notch schools, the process of applying and getting admitted into them can be a stressful process.

    Jakob Rosengrant, head of the guidance department here at Foran, has helped students go through the rigorous process of applying to colleges and universities, including some of the top schools in America.

    Rosengrant states, “As a school counselor, I’m here to be a resource for students for anything they’re planning to do after graduation. The most popular plan is college, but it’s not the only option. Our department is here to educate students and families about the college search, visiting schools, the application process, deciphering financial award letters, etc.”

    When Rosengrant helps students, he lets them make independent choices, but provides them with information to ensure they take the right path.

    Rosengrant continues, “I try not to give students advice on where to go, it should be their decision. Having said that, over the years we as counselors learn more and more about certain schools and what they offer and knowing some of the needs and wants of our students we’re able to make suggestions of schools or programs that they may not have thought about.”

    Political science is another common major that is taken across the country in which students study the government from a theoretical and practical standpoint. The top political science schools in the United States according to usnews.com are Stanford University, Harvard University, Princeton University, University of California, University of Michigan, Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, University of California, and Duke University.

    Another popular major amongst college students as this major challenges students’ brains is engineering, as they have to be creative to create or to improve something. According to usnews.com, the top engineering schools in the country are Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of California, Carnegie Mellon University, Purdue University, University of Texas – Austin, California Institute of Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Michigan, and Texas A&M University.

    Psychology is a common major amongst college students as it goes over a lot of different topics about the mind and the way it thinks. The top psychology schools in the country according to usnews.com are Stanford University, University of California, Harvard University, University of California Los Angeles, University of Michigan, Princeton University, University of Illinois, Yale University, Cornell University, and Northwestern University.

    The final major on this list is biology. Biology is one of the more challenging majors as it combines science with math a lot, making this major needing students to study a lot, just like a healthcare or nursing major. The top biology schools according to usnews.com are Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of California, University of California, University of Cambridge, University of Washington, University of Oxford, and John Hopkins University.

    The common theme with these top schools for specific majors is that a lot of them are the same, meaning that these schools are not just the best for specific majors, but are the best in the country and even the best in the world. Getting into any of these schools is a prestigious honor, showing that students’ hard work pays off.