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Alma College is a great place to start for careers in:
- Medicine, dentistry or veterinary science
- Biotechnology
- Biological research
- Environmental biology
- High school biology teaching
Courses of Study
General offerings include genetics, physiology, microbiology, botany and ecology. More advanced courses are in animal behavior, aquatic biology, immunology and evolution, to name a few.
Preparation for Medical, Dentistry or Veterinary Schools
Students first need to choose a major that interests them and that they can work in happily. The most popular majors to prepare for advanced medical training are Biology, Exercise and Health Science, Biochemistry and Chemistry.
Alma College provides an excellent transition to medical schools in these ways:
- Biochemistry and human anatomy classes use the same terminology as medical schools.
- An excellent medical ethics class introduces students to making difficult decisions.
- The human cadaver class offers dissection experience that in many cases is superior to medical school laboratories.
Faculty-Student Research
Lab experiences accompany almost all Biology courses. Alma practices individualized education; professors help apply classroom learning to lab situations.
Lab sections are kept small, no more than 24 students at a time, and most labs remain open after hours.
Year-round funding is available for research. Students have received stipends from the Edgar Research Endowment, the Angell Fund, the National Science Foundation and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
With faculty support and guidance, Alma students have presented research papers at the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters; American Society of Zoology; Michigan Entomological Society; Mycological Society of America; and Beta Beta Beta conferences.
Facilities
Students do lab work in the modern and spacious Dow Science Center, which provides a greenhouse and impressive array of equipment. Equipment includes an apparatus for developing and working with monoclonal antibodies; sophisticated instruments for measuring oxygen and carbon dioxide gases; a TV-monitor-linked microscope; and a state-of-the-art Zeiss Universal microscope with UV fluorescence capabilities. HybAid Thermocyclers are used to perform Polymerase Chain Reaction analyses for amplifying DNA - the same technique used to catch criminals.
Students have the opportunity to dissect human cadavers - a rarity at the undergraduate level.
Access to the College's 185-acre Ecological Station includes distinct ecological habitats: open fields, upland forests, swamps and a bog lake.
Special Programs
The Environmental Studies minor draws information, ideas and concepts from the natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities to deal with complex and interdisciplinary environmental issues.
Alma's Public Health minor offers an interdisciplinary foundation for students interested in health-related careers. It includes courses such as community health, epidemiology, medical ethics and medical policy. Practicums are available.
Fieldwork and Internships
Students can work as teaching assistants in a first-year lab or help with, and share credit in, a faculty member's research. Off-campus work is available with professionals in dentistry, environmental science, medicine, medical technology, veterinary medicine, criminology or other related areas.
Career Possibilities
Alma's Biology program prepares students for more than 200 careers such as cancer research, pharmaceutical sales, natural resource management, allied health positions and teaching. Alma alumni are working as environmental consultants, epidemiologists, naturalists, physicians, cancer researchers, botanists and teachers, among others.
