Physics: Chicago vs. Columbia vs. Cornell

ihaveabunni
Fri, 07 Apr 2006 14:28:16 +0000

They are all great physics schools. All have/had nobel laureates on their faculties.

If you are planning to go to grad school afterwards, one thing to consider is what areas of research they are strongest in. It’s important to be a slave in someone’s lab for a summer or two to see what you like. (Also helps with recommendations.) Cornell is strongest in solid state, materials science, astrophysics, particle physics, nonlinear physics, and biophysics. But it’s so huge that there’s a little of everything, really. There are actually two physics departments. One in CAS (Phys) and one in the Engineering School (AEP) - plus the nanotech center and theory center. I was CAS physics, but two of my freshman year roommates were AEP. You can take classes in both departments. We all went on to grad school.

Another thing to consider are the options in case you decide halfway through that physics isn’t for you. Here Cornell is great too, because it is so huge, and excellent across the board.

As for quality of life, I think Cornell wins that one easily. Especially for physics dorks like us who don’t require a wild big-city club scene, hehe. Ithaca is low-crime and very pretty. The large number of other students your age (13,000) makes up for the smallness of Ithaca.