Applied / Engineering Physics (UG) recommendations

College Search & Lists
1

Hi all, Looking for college recommendations with a good Applied / Engineering Physics program in the US. Okay to receive a mix of Reach + Target colleges. Not looking for safety options (as maximising safety in UK application). Thanks

2

Lots of great schools - these are from the ABET website for General Engineering, Engineering Physics and Engineering Science. ABET is the accreditation standard you want.

To help you more, you need to give more info - what you seek - budget, environment (rural, urban), size, religious or not, etc., weather, location, etc.

But here’s schools to research.

Good luck.

Grand Canyon University Phoenix Arizona
Arizona State University Tempe Arizona
Henderson State University Arkadelphia Arkansas
The University of Central Arkansas Conway Arkansas
Southern Arkansas University Magnolia Arkansas
John Brown University Siloam Springs Arkansas
Azusa Pacific University Azusa California
California State University, Bakersfield Bakersfield California
Harvey Mudd College Claremont California
University of San Diego San Diego California
University of the Pacific Stockton California
University of Colorado Boulder Boulder Colorado
Fort Lewis College Durango Colorado
Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado
Colorado School of Mines Golden Colorado
Colorado State University Pueblo Pueblo Colorado
Trinity College Hartford Connecticut
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Daytona Beach Daytona Beach Florida
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Worldwide Daytona Beach Florida
Nova Southeastern University Fort Lauderdale Florida
Florida International University Miami Florida
Pensacola Christian College Pensacola Florida
Mercer University Macon Georgia
Boise State University Boise Idaho
Northwest Nazarene University Nampa Idaho
Olivet Nazarene University Bourbonnais Illinois
The University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago Illinois
Loyola University Chicago Chicago Illinois
Greenville University Greenville Illinois
Western Illinois University Macomb Illinois
University of Southern Indiana Evansville Indiana
Hanover College Hanover Indiana
Indiana State University Terre Haute Indiana
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Terre Haute Indiana
Taylor University Upland Indiana
Purdue University at West Lafayette West Lafayette Indiana
Loras College Dubuque Iowa
Cornell College Mount Vernon Iowa
Central College Pella Iowa
Dordt University Sioux Center Iowa
The University of Kansas Lawrence Kansas
Murray State University Murray Kentucky
McNeese State University Lake Charles Louisiana
Tulane University New Orleans Louisiana
University of Maine Orono Maine
Loyola University Maryland Baltimore Maryland
Frostburg State University Frostburg Maryland
University of Maryland Eastern Shore Princess Anne Maryland
Endicott College Beverly Massachusetts
Wentworth Institute of Technology Boston Massachusetts
Harvard University Cambridge Massachusetts
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge Massachusetts
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering Needham Massachusetts
Smith College Northampton Massachusetts
Grand Valley State University Allendale Michigan
Andrews University Berrien Springs Michigan
Kettering University Flint Michigan
Calvin University Grand Rapids Michigan
Hope College Holland Michigan
Michigan Technological University Houghton Michigan
University of Minnesota Duluth Duluth Minnesota
Minnesota State University, Mankato Mankato Minnesota
University of Northwestern St Paul Minnesota
University of Mississippi University Mississippi
Southeast Missouri State University Cape Girardeau Missouri
College of the Ozarks Point Lookout Missouri
Saint Louis University Saint Louis Missouri
Carroll College Helena Montana
Doane University Crete Nebraska
Dartmouth College Hanover New Hampshire
The College of New Jersey Ewing New Jersey
Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken New Jersey
New Mexico State University Las Cruces New Mexico
New York University Tandon School of Engineering Brooklyn New York
Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology Flushing New York
Hofstra University Hempstead New York
City University of New York, College of Staten Island Staten Island New York
Stony Brook University Stony Brook New York
Campbell University Buies Creek North Carolina
Western Carolina University Cullowhee North Carolina
Elon University Elon North Carolina
Methodist University Fayetteville North Carolina
East Carolina University Greenville North Carolina
Wake Forest University Winston-Salem North Carolina
Baldwin Wallace University Berea Ohio
Xavier University Cincinnati Ohio
Case Western Reserve University Cleveland Ohio
Kent State University Kent Ohio
Mount Vernon Nazarene University Mount Vernon Ohio
Muskingum University New Concord Ohio
University of Central Oklahoma Edmond Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma Norman Oklahoma
Oral Roberts University Tulsa Oklahoma
The University of Tulsa Tulsa Oklahoma
George Fox University Newberg Oregon
Geneva College Beaver Falls Pennsylvania
Elizabethtown College Elizabethtown Pennsylvania
Saint Vincent College Latrobe Pennsylvania
Saint Francis University Loretto Pennsylvania
Messiah University Mechanicsburg Pennsylvania
Robert Morris University Moon Township Pennsylvania
Thomas Jefferson University Philadelphia Pennsylvania
Temple University Philadelphia Pennsylvania
Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pennsylvania
Swarthmore College Swarthmore Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania State University University Park Pennsylvania
Roger Williams University Bristol Rhode Island
Coastal Carolina University Conway South Carolina
Bob Jones University Greenville South Carolina
Austin Peay State University Clarksville Tennessee
Tennessee Technological University Cookeville Tennessee
Bryan College Dayton Tennessee
Union University Jackson Tennessee
East Tennessee State University Johnson City Tennessee
University of Tennessee at Martin Martin Tennessee
Abilene Christian University Abilene Texas
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Belton Texas
Texas A&M University College Station Texas
Texas Christian University Fort Worth Texas
LeTourneau University Longview Texas
Stephen F. Austin State University Nacogdoches Texas
Trinity University San Antonio Texas
Baylor University Waco Texas
Southern Utah University Cedar City Utah
Eastern Mennonite University Harrisonburg Virginia
James Madison University Harrisonburg Virginia
Sweet Briar College Sweet Briar Virginia
Walla Walla University College Place Washington
Seattle Pacific University Seattle Washington
Whitworth University Spokane Washington
Marshall University Huntington West Virginia
Viterbo University La Crosse Wisconsin
Milwaukee School of Engineering Milwaukee Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin - Platteville Platteville Wisconsin
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Great list! Thanks so much for a starting point. Is ABET really critical though? I have heard otherwise


4

If you are working here, many jobs require it.

I don’t know about England.

You’ll see job listings like these below I just pulled from indeed.

If you’re getting a degree, I would personally want it accredited vs. not being allowed to apply for some jobs - which would be the issue at the non accredited. But not everyone is looking to be an engineer - even with the degree - and if you aren’t, then not a big deal I’d assume.

If you give us what you’re looking for - as I noted - we can narrow down that list for you quickly.

  • Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Math or Physics preferably from an ABET accredited program or 5-7 years of experience with a Master’s degree

  • Bachelor’s degree or higher in Engineering (ABET accredited), Computer Science, Information Systems, or related technical degree.

  • Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from ABET accredited curriculum. 2+year’s relevant engineering experience.

5

If you want to work in civil engineering, yes.

In other kinds of engineering, it depends.

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6

It’s hard to gauge what would be appropriate Reach and Target colleges for you without knowing anything about your qualifications.

However, I’d say a majority of the schools in the list above are not colleges that attract a ton of international applications; many are more regional schools that would be safeties for many applicants. There are some highly-competitive schools on the list as well, and a number of well-regarded state flagships and other strong schools.

Do you have any GPA and standardized test information that could help narrow down what is recommended?

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7

Fair point.
Here are key stats:

  • Male, Indian origin living outside India.
  • Not US citizen / resident

UW GPA, Rank, and Test Scores (also weighted GPA for systems like UC/CSU)

  • Test scores: ACT (composite) - 36
  • Grades - consistently in the top 2-5% of the class. Final GPA likely to be 4

Awards

  • Gold in Physics and Maths Olympiad organised by UK (only one from the school to win Gold in both this year). Silver in Chemistry.
  • Winner (part of a team) in an international Hackathon

Extracurriculars - (keeping things vague here)

  • summer course in Advance collegiate level Math & EPSc from a US college last yr - GPA 4
  • 3 week inter-disciplinary engineering summer course this year with 98.5% marks
  • 2 Research internships (ongoing) - one on Astrophysics, another one using Neural Networks
  • Volunteering for a health focussed organisation (motivation being I suffered from the same health issue as a child)
  • Advanced diving certified
  • Have significant experience and expertise in Indian classical music / part of various Western choirs
  • Certified proficiency in “Intermediate level” of German
8

Here’s the link to the pervious match me.

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9

And OP should be aware he will need a sponsoring employer for long term employment in the US (plus he has to win the H1B lottery).

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10

What interests you - size wise, environment wise, weather wise, and more.

Help us narrow down for you. I don’t want to say Rose Hulman is a nice school for you if you don’t like tiny and rural. Or Oral Roberts a good safety - if you don’t want ultra religious or religious at all. So tell us what your comfort is in size, location and environment etc.

And you have no cost constraints - so $90,000+ US a year is ok? Or are you seeking less expensive?

11

Cost isn’t a constraint.
Need to have access / connectivity to an international airport (okay with travelling for 2-3 hours to reach major airport).
Looking for school with diversity.
Prefer to avoid ‘party schools’
Looking for a strong academic program with a good pipeline to graduate schools and strong employment oppty’s
Don’t care about big city vs. rural

12

From the list above, I see these as possible for you - to review. If the major was, MechE, for example, there’d be more.

Anyway, a few for you to review of different sizes, locations and admissions chances but hopefully meeting your criteria. A&M and Purdue are farthest from an Intl Airport but within your distance. They’re also the two large institutions I left. A&M will have a party vibe but will have a ton of serious and smart as well. You get 50K kids together and it can be a bit crazy
but you have partiers at all schools.

Harvey Mudd College Claremont California
Colorado School of Mines Golden Colorado
Purdue University at West Lafayette West Lafayette Indiana
Harvard University Cambridge Massachusetts
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge Massachusetts
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering Needham Massachusetts
New York University Tandon School of Engineering Brooklyn New York
Case Western Reserve University Cleveland Ohio
Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pennsylvania
Swarthmore College Swarthmore Pennsylvania
Texas A&M University College Station Texas
13

@kiasuamma, can you share your thoughts as to what appealed/didn’t appeal with the schools mentioned in your previous thread? That can help posters with more targeted recommendations.

Also, your interest has switched from physics to applied/engineering physics. Can you explain the evolution of your thinking and what it is you’re hoping to do with your degree? Your answer may not fully help me, but it might help others who are much more aware of the details of U.S. programs and what might best fit what you want.

Also tagging @hebegebe who may not have seen your response on the last thread with the clarification about your Olympiad participation.

Also, looking at this list, two schools come to mind that I didn’t mention in the last thread:

The first school I thought of was Stevens Institute of Technology. It’d be a likely admit, as I don’t think they do much in the way of yield protection. It’s a very strong school and literally across the river from New York City. It’s 51% white, 19% Asian, 15% Hispanic, and then a small assortment of other races/ethnicities identifies (3% nonresidents of the U.S.).

The next school would also be a likely admit for you due to your strong background and their lack of yield protection, and that is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. It’s just outside of Albany, NY. It’s within a 3-hour drive of the NYC international airports, but I don’t know if there are shuttles, and it might mean a longer travel time if using public transportation. Albany does have its own airport with some direct “puddle-jumper” flights to Newark and Laguardia, and that airport is 13m from RPI, so easily accessible via an Uber or similar. It’s 43% white, 19% Asian, 12% U.S. nonresidents, 11% Hispanic, and then several categories with 5%.

Both schools are generally considered “targets” for strong applicants, but I think they would be likely admits for you.

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14

Any reason why RPI and not WPI? I ask because (1) you’re the second person today I’ve seen mention RPI and not WPI, and I think of them as very similar for these general criteria and (2) it’s a quick and cheap commuter rail ride to Boston Logan to catch an international flight, so it seems like WPI might be a good fit in that regard.

15

Neither is on the ABET accreditation list for what OP wants to major in. Of course both have many accredited majors. And physics majors. So certainly fine choices.

I think after the PI in the name - a huge difference is the class time (7 weeks) and more a project based focus.

Interested to hear if OP wants to be an engineer or just have an engineering education.

16

From everything I’ve heard, WPI is a great school. It wasn’t a super conscious choice when I included RPI but not WPI.

But in my quick review of OP’s thread earlier today, it seemed like going for a doctorate was a possibility. And one resource I tend to look at when someone is interested in grad school in a particular specialty is this source that aggregated the undergraduate institution of everyone who earned a PhD (I narrow down between 2000-2018, the last year in this source’s data set). And even though WPI and RPI have similar enrollments, RPI has more than double the number of alums who went on to earn a PhD than WPI.

Undergrad Enrollment Total PhDs Physics PhDs MechE PhDs ECE PhDs
WPI 5246 651 47 33 48
RPI 5902 1,377 107 74 116

So although WPI is very well-reputed and I’m sure produces great engineers and scientists, it appears as though there might be a higher proportion of undergrads at RPI who have more interest in research/academia/topics needing a doctorate, which seemed to align better with OP’s interests.

But WPI is definitely a school that @kiasuamma may want to check out. Please don’t think of any of my suggestions/lists as exhaustive, for they most certainly are not!

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17

Thanks for the explanation! That makes total sense. As you maybe guessed (or know, if you’ve seen some of my other posts) that happened to catch my eye because my S22 goes to WPI (and picked them over RPI, where he had better merit aid, but wasn’t as good a fit). And today or yesterday both you and someone, I think @tsbna44, happened to mention RPI and not WPI in making recommendations. I really like reading, from both of you, why you are recommending things or not, and I tend to catch myself nodding along and agreeing, a lot. So it just made me wonder - is there some really measurable reason? Not that it would change where my son is or our general happiness with his choice, but maybe I don’t want to be pushing WPI as often if there’s something about RPI that is demonstrably better or more desirable and I just don’t know what it is. So basically, thanks for helping me get better informed! (And of course, my S25 has zero interest in the Northeast or engineering, so all the data gathering I did for S22 is useless this second go-round.)

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18

If you’re on a path to grad school, then ABET accreditation for undergrad may not be a priority. This question has come up on other threads before, and commenters have noted that a lot of the best engineering physics programs in the US are not ABET programs, so this doesn’t seem like it should be an absolute first filter.

One program that didn’t come up in your other thread is the physics department at UIUC, which is housed in the engineering school and offers multiple tracks, including astro, nuclear, computational, business, and a graduate study prep. Physics, BS | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign I believe this would be a match program for you.

CWRU’s program is great if you want an ABET program. You choose an area of emphasis from among their engineering discipline, and their “open door” policy re: major changes makes it easy to pivot if you were to decide you wanted to do the full major in that engineering discipline, or conversely to back away from engineering and do the pure physics major. Purdue could be another terrific option, with lots of international students.

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19

Agreed. Didn’t see grad school. If it’s really physics schools like Arizona or Wooster may be good. Really man. Here’s the feeder list (3rd party) that might give ideas.

Even a W&L - not accredited and has the Johnson Scholarship - may come into play if not looking for an engineering job after undergrad.

20

The main motivation was - EP / AP seems more application focussed and is generally housed in the Engineering Dept. Core requirements in several Colleges of Arts and Sciences (where Physics is housed) didn’t seem appealing to me. Was seriously considering the likes of Cornell Uni & Giorgia Tech (not in @tsbna44 list - probably because it’s not ABET certified).