I don’t know whether the Oxy physics department would fit what he’s looking for or not, but maybe worth noting that they do have a cross-registration agreement with Caltech.
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I either didn’t know or have forgotten that Mines is that size. Very interesting option I would think.
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When we looked at Oxy they had surprisingly few physics majors (like <5, maybe?)
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Yes, I really wasn’t sure enough to suggest Oxy, which was why I didn’t bring it up myself; but since it was mentioned, I thought the Caltech connection should be noted.
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Based on currently available IPEDS information, Occidental graduated nine physics majors in a recent year: College Navigator - Occidental College.
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My son is entering UCSC this fall as a physics major and applied to many of the schools on your list and mentioned in this thread. Our learnings:
Background: He had a lower GPA (3.82 UW / 4.03 weighted UC) and truly almost zero ECs in high school (Covid quashed his EC interests and they didn’t come back in any sort of organized way). So you are already starting from a better position. As others have said, he has strong ECs, even if its not at the “insane” level that others have.
In the end, he was accepted for Physics at UCSC, UC Riverside, CU Boulder, Cal Poly Pomona and San Jose State. Declined at every other UC (didn’t apply to Merced) and waitlisted at Cal Poly SLO, SDSU, Oxy and U of Washington [no admits to date]. All other reaches declined as well.
Given your sons stats, I’d say he’s got a very good chance at UCSC, Riverside and Cal Poly Pomona. Boulder accepts 70-80% of applicants, so he’ll have a good shot there too. Note that my son was offered a $6.25K scholarship for 4 years, but this leaves the total cost still around $60K/year.
U of AZ and ASU are rolling admits, so he’ll know within about 4-6 weeks of applying if he got in, so that might help as a safety confidence.
The only thing I would change doing it all again would be to apply to at least one or two safety/target private schools. Oxy was the only one that met that criteria and all others were reaches, which was a bit of an ego blow to get a steady stream of rejections throughout the second half of April, even though he’d been admitted to some good places.
It came down to UCSC vs. CU Boulder for my son. We were very impressed with the Physics programs at both places and it really came down to campus environment and location for him. He’s a NorCal kid, so UCSC won out in the end. We are really excited for him and the more we learn about the school and program, the more we like it, even with the housing challenges. UCSC is also about half the size of the other UCs, so it still is a bit smaller than the truly massive like Berkeley and UCLA.
We also have learned to check our stereotypes and memories of what schools were like when we were attending and really find out the enivronment today. UCSC is now over 50% STEM majors and as I’ve seen on reddit, plenty of kids there now don’t fit the traditional UCSC cultural stereotype. My kid definitely doesn’t, but I’ve got little concern about him being able to find his people there.
Finally, I’d really encourage you to find out what type of campus your son wants to attend. Does he prefer either large or small? (Mine didn’t want to go to a place with less than 5K undergrads). City vs suburban vs remote? True college town vs. integrated into a larger community? etc. I think he’s got good shots at lots of places, but knowing if he has any environment preferences could really narrow things down. This may change even over the course of the application process, but at least having the conversation now can help. He’s going to be the one living there for four years.
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Thank you! This is good to know, and congrats to your son! Of all the campuses we have been to so far mine likes UCSC best. He loves the walking through the woods aspect of going to class.
He is really politically and socially moderate, and already finds his progressive private school to be too liberal. Do you think he would find people at SC? As I said upthread, I went there. It was the late 90’s so a different era. But we were all VERY progressive. My nephew graduated from there two years ago and have some friends with kids there. But they fit the SC stereotype.
I would also look at Rose Hulman for physics and Case Western. Both are expensive but both give plenty of merit.
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There have been some unfortunate incidents at UCSC over the last few months related to anti-Israel protests, with the knock-on effect of grad student instructors going on strike (so class discussion sections and some exams were disrupted).
https://apnews.com/article/campus-protests-gaza-05-31-2024-c635922c49a91e0c9d7c918ff07ce007
I think it’s all got out of hand, but this doesn’t seem notably worse than other UCs. My S23 has zero interest in politics and I don’t think that is uncommon amongst the STEM students.
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Why only the Western half of country? Leaving a lot of good physics programs on the table, including some good targets.
You noted UCSB bot not their specific CCS Physics program. I would strongly suggest he apply to their Center for Creative Studies. It is like a school-within-a-school with only a handful of majors one of which is physics. The essay on the application for it is a perfect place for him to really express his specific passion for nuclear fusion. And if he has impressed any of his science teachers this is a place where they can be very specific about his passion for physics too. Perfect from what you describe. If he gets into CCS (which required first being accepted to UCSB then separately to this program which admits by major), he would get VIP treatment on campus – housing priority, course selection priority, the ability to sign up for and audition as many courses as he wants, etc. And the program has a very strong track record for matriculating students into top grad schools.
OP already responded that the student’s father is a CCS alum and he does plan to apply.
Yes, this is why we are applying to UCSB. Dad is an alumni of the CCS program!
We live in CA and want him closer to home for now. We can drive or have a short flight to all the schools he is applying to. Partially because he is the cohort that missed middle school to Covid and I think he is a little less ready to be on the other side of the country than we were at his age.
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He is really politically and socially moderate, and already finds his progressive private school to be too liberal. Do you think he would find people at SC?
Mine is also on the politically moderate side, so we’ll see. I’m encouraging him and hopeful that he will get experience actually being in respectful dialog with people who have different opinions and views from him. I have no doubt there will be extremely liberal classmates and professors. But most university campuses these days tend to skew to the liberal side of the spectrum.
If he wants to be on a campus with minimal political discussions, then I’d encourage him to explore STEM schools, which tend to be less overtly political.
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That seems to be most prevalent among premeds (and other biology majors get to experience that due to premed course overlap) and pre business students chasing highly competitive secondary admission to the business major. But physics major courses are not really shared with these groups of students.
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