<p>Amherst has an excellent physics department. As others have pointed out, the college is small, so the number of physics courses offered is not as large as at a big state university, such as UMass or UC Berkeley. Nevertheless there are enough courses to provide a strong physics major. For example there are two semesters of classical mechanics (116 or 123, and 343), two semesters of E&M (117 or 124, and 347), a “modern physics” course and a quantum mechanics course (225 and 348), a statistical mechanics and thermodynamics course (230), and an intermediate lab course (226). These courses form the core of any strong undergraduate physics major. I would not worry about the fact that most of these courses are offered once a year, rather than every semester.</p>
<p>Several of the Amherst physics faculty are particularly impressive. Both David Hall and Larry Hunter have won the APS award for research at an undergraduate institution. See for example the website for Hall’s research lab.
[Hall</a> Labs](<a href=“http://www3.amherst.edu/~halllab/]Hall”>Hall Labs - Amherst Physics)
Undergraduate students can work closely with the physics faculty, receiving outstanding research training.</p>
<p>Amherst College makes a special effort to reach out to transfer students from community colleges. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has given the college generous funds to support transfer students. I suspect that Amherst would be more affordable to the OP than UMass.</p>
<p>I also echo momrath’s recommendation for the physics department at Williams College, Amherst’s traditional rival. Apply to both and see what happens.</p>