Michigan vs. Chicago vs. Berkeley vs. Cornell

xraymancs
Wed, 10 Jun 2015 17:33:33 +0000

Your target majors would be physics or astrophysics probably and any one of the universities will be fine for an undergraduate degree. Yes, you will do some research but the specific quality of the faculty in research is not really relevant for an undergraduate degree. Pay more attention to this for a Ph.D.

The basic facts are that physics curricula are more of less the same at any research university and they all prepare you well for graduate school. You should choose your undergraduate university based on other factors, such as overall cost, academic environment and fit, not research.

As for recommendations, just about any university will provide you with the ability to move into a graduate program as long as there is a full physics curriculum. That is one full year of upper division, classical mechanics, electrodynamics, and quantum mechanics.