For those who are academically inclined, the choice of college is a hard one. This is especially true for those wanting to pursue a career in the sciences or medicine, where so many universities claim to be the best, and wanting to take in the brightest. Here, we will take a look at the top ten universities in the world for student-scientists. Rankings are based on academic rigor, reputation, research, contributions to society and awards garnered by alumni from the university.
10. Top Science University: University of Washington, United States
Located near Seattle and Redmond- the home city of Microsoft, this university is at the crossroads of technology and the natural sciences. Of all the programs at the University of Washington, Computer Science and Medicine are among the most renowned, the latter focusing on cardiology, infectious disease and public health. University of Washington is also associated with one of the best trauma and research hospitals in the country, Harborview Medical Center. One of the most recent research projects that have brought health and technology together was a pair of gloves dubbed “SignAloud” which actively translates sign language. The two undergraduates won $10,000 as a result of their work, which was awarded by Lemelson-MIT.
9.Top Science University: University of New South Wales, Australia
Recently making press headlines for its role in the development of quantum computing, the University of New South Wales is a haven for engineering and physics students of the southern hemisphere. As of 2015, this university has gained more research grants and funding than any other institute within Australia, and has been rated numerous times as one having one of the best research standards in the world. With a heavy focus on tech development and computer science, this university boasts some of the highest employment statistics as well as the most millionaires as alumni than any other in the Southern Hemisphere.
8. Top Science University: University of California -Los Angles, United States
If for no other reason, UCLA belongs on this list as the university whose students and professors identified the AIDS virus, and has continued to do stellar biomedical research since. Likewise, in terms of engineering, UCLA’s computer science and physics departments have been world renowned, with the online engineering program being the #1 of it’s kind in graduate studies. Likewise, the clinical psychology department is also ranked #1 worldwide, while most of the other sciences rank within the top 20. With 13 Nobel laureates to call alumni, UCLA has solidified its place as a great science university.
7. Top Science University:Trinity College, Ireland
Founded in 1592 as an analog to both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, Trinity College is best known for their massive and beautiful library. Oddly enough, despite having remarkable science programs, especially in Biology, Chemistry, and Pharmacology as well as accompanying research, many undergraduates in these programs get a B.A. as opposed to a Bsc or B.S. degree. With a research facility that covers over 200,000 square feet, Trinity has invested heavily into innovation of all sorts, and will continue to be a destination for the scientifically minded, as it has been for centuries.
6. Top Science University:University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
With a history reaching back to the 1200’s, Cambridge is one of the oldest universities in the world which is still occupied. Cambridge has a long standing reputation for both it’s sciences and mathematics departments which both impart upon their students very unique traditions and world class knowledge. In a partnership with another university, MIT, Cambridge has one of the most prestigious shared research facilities in the world, focusing on everything from medicine to engineering and behavioral research. In 1990, Cambridge began investing in local research labs and has continued expanding their facilities to this day.
5. Top Science University: University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Founded in the 1096, the origins of Oxford are ancient and prestigious with the largest and oldest museums and publication houses in the world as well as 27 Nobel prize winners. With a reputation unparalleled in the sciences of anthropology and archaeology, as well as the number one rated medical school in the world both in clinical and pre-clinical terms, Oxford is a dream school for those who are interested in the human sciences, whether investigating the distant past or the newest admit to a hospital.
4. Top Science University: Stanford University, United States
Initially a totally free university, admitting students without cost until 1920, Stanford has been from the first day dedicated to quality education. With over 9.3 million resources in their library, a particle accelerator used for various research projects on campus, and over 18 research facilities, Stanford has kept their dedication to quality and innovation, though their tuition is now hardly without cost. Among the awards that alumni from Stanford have gathered are 21 Nobel prizes, 20 National Medals of Science, and 155 memberships to the National Academy of Sciences, making it a heavily represented university in the upper crust of academia.
3. Top Science University: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States
One of the two main universities to have founded ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet, MIT is a tech school without equal. Ironically located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT partners with multiple international universities to push technology, science, and business to the outer limits of imagination. Among the most notable inventions from MIT are the GNU projects, which were both a software development campaign and philosophical idea of a “free web” which brought out such major contributions as Linux operating systems and Mozilla Firefox. Almost as famous as their computer science department, their chemistry and physics departments have contributed significantly to quantum theory, subatomic research, and molecular biology.
2.Top Science University: Ludwig Maximillian University of Munich, Germany
Home of some of the greatest names of chemistry and physics, Plank and Heisenberg, LMU Munich is often overlooked despite its premier chemistry and physics programs. One of the brightest moments for LMU was in fact one of the darkest for the rest of the country, in that the White Rose Revolution, a movement for free thought and acceptance, occurred during a time where much of the rest of the country was wound into Nazi ideology. Many of the current research facilities in LMU are multidisciplinary in approach and focus significantly on environmental health and impact, alongside nanotechnology labs. Among the most notable alumni that is currently alive is (while admittedly not scientific in nature) the previous Pope Benedict XVI.
1. Top Science University: Harvard University, United States
Often considered the premier university in the United States, Harvard also is the best science and research university for 2016. With research going on in everything from using artificially created plants to form biofuels from solar energy, to developing programmable DNA, to even using astrophysical data to predict the likelihood of other life between the Big Bang and the heat death of Universe, Harvard attracts the best and brightest to be the cutting edge of academics.
