Keep in mind that if you need merit to attend your target schools…. They turn into reaches.
You should start this process by discussing a budget.
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I just talked to my parents. Our budget is 50k a year, so I will definitely need merit aid and scholarships.
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WUSTL and Case are reaches. In their Case is a target but you need to ED to say that. And you can’t ED if not affordable.
Lots of CA schools will make budget. U of Az is one of the tops in Physics. ASU is good and you have WUE for budget purposes.
Fill out the CWRU net price calculator to see if you’d get need aid. Otherwyse it’s possible but a big reach.
But lots of schools will make budget.
California.
You will need to either run the NPC or have your parents run the NPC for Case and WUSTL. Both will be well over $50,000 per year unless you get some sort of financial aid (and quite a bit of financial aid).
Do you have any connection to Canada, such as Canadian or dual (US/Canada) citizenship? If you have Canadian citizenship then Toronto will be well under US$50,000 per year (and probably under C$50,000 per year). Otherwise it will probably cost a bit more than this in terms of the total cost of attendance (I might guess US$60,000 per year but I haven’t checked for a while). If you do have Canadian or dual citizenship they we can suggest multiple other schools in Canada that are also worth considering.
All of this of course assumes that you will be admitted to any of these schools, which is uncertain (but I think based on the discussion up to now that it is probably worth an application to each, assuming affordability). I agree with another comment that they are most likely reaches.
I just saw that you are from California. You should be considering your excellent in-state public options. Given that California is a WICHE/WUE state then you probably should also consider WUE options.
Two things to thing about:
With a budget that is less than “full pay at $100,000 / year”, both getting admitted and affordability need to be taken into consideration. It does not do much good to get admitted to a school that you cannot afford, or to get rejected from a school that would have been affordable.
You should try to identify two solid safeties. A safety is a school that you are almost certain you will be admitted to, that you are almost certain will be affordable, that you would be willing to attend, and that has a decent program in your major.
Finally, physics is an area where some sort of graduate school is possible. It is very common for students to get their bachelor’s degree at one university, and a graduate degree at a different university. Attending an in-state public university for a bachelor’s, and then a more famous or higher ranked university for a graduate degree, is very common. A lot of universities can be quite good for a bachelor’s degree in a very wide range of subjects, including physics.
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If you are considering schools in Ohio I’d add Ohio State. The footprint of the undergraduate main campus area is very compact and pedestrian friendly. Other campuses with fewer students actually feel much larger and are more difficult to traverse. Physics department is well funded.
No need to visit ahead of applying since they don’t consider demonstrated interest in admission decisions. Apply by EA to be eligible for their merit aid like National Buckeye ($13,500/yr).
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