Physics Programs

College Search & Lists
1

<p>Does anyone know which schools have the strongest physics programs at the undergraduate level in general? And in specific, which of the following has the strongest physics program: Northwestern, Carnegie-Mellon, UC Berkeley, UChicago, WUSTL. Also, which of the above colleges are held in high prestige by graduate schools nationwide? Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>Berkeley and Carnegie-Mellon… As far as I know. Berkeley is one of the best science schools in the world and I know that they have a really good physics program but for Carnegie it depends on your area of interest. If you’re interested in electronics or robotics or something, Carnegie is the best choice but otherwise I’d say Berkeley</p>

3

<p>I have degrees in physics from Harvard & Berkeley…
At the UNDERGRAD level, all those schools are equally good in physics…
so pick based on best personal fit, environment, financial aid, etc…
they are all excellent choices, and you can’t go wrong with any of them.
Out of your list, Berkeley and Chicago have top 10 PhD programs in physics,
so they will have the best graduate students…</p>

4

<p>A school that is very very well known for its graduate program is not nessecarily the best one to go to for undergrad, particularly in something like physics. I don’t think that would matter very much for the schools you’ve listed however… here’s what I know about the ones you listed:
CMU- good program for sure, especially if you are more interested in “applied” physics so to speak
Berkeley- really awesome school most definetely, but not really known for astro if that interests you… so if you really care about something like that you might be better off with other schools
Chicago- also awesome and you can’t go wrong, unless you’re not interested in their liberal arts core (which you wouldn’t really run into at the other schools you listed)
WUSTL- in my personal realm, this is arguably the weakest of the ones you listed, but I’m sure someone’d debate me on that! :)</p>

5

<p>stargirl,</p>

<p>Sorry, but you are very misinformed. Berkeley is in the top 3 for astrophysics (along with Harvard & Caltech).</p>

6

<p>Whoops, my appologies! I confused them for a second there with another school in the area which will go unmentioned…</p>

7

<p>top physics programs according to the Gourman Report, listed in rank order:
Caltech
Harvard
Cornell
Princeton
MIT
UC Berkeley
Stanford
U Chicago
U Illinois UC
Columbia
Yale
Georgia Tech
UC San Diego
UCLA
U Pennsylvania
U Wisconsin Madison
U Washington
U Michigan AA
U Maryland CP
UC Santa Barbara
U Texas Austin
Carnegie Mellon
U Minnesota
RPI
Brown
JHU
Michigan St
Notre Dame
SUNY Stony Brook
Case Western
Northwestern
U Rochester
U Pittsburgh
Penn State
U Colorado Boulder</p>

8

<p>NRC rankings of graduate programs based on effectiveness in educating researchers and scholarly quality of faculty from PhDs.org:
school, total score, educational effectiveness, faculty quality

  1. Harvard University 21.78 4.71 4.91<br>
  2. Princeton University 21.56 4.69 4.89<br>
  3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 21.17 4.64 4.87<br>
  4. California Institute Technology 20.68 4.61 4.81<br>
  5. University of California - Berkeley 20.35 4.49 4.87<br>
  6. Cornell University 19.97 4.54 4.75<br>
  7. University of Chicago 19.70 4.55 4.69<br>
  8. University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign 18.65 4.39 4.66<br>
  9. Stanford University 17.72 4.35 4.53<br>
  10. University of California - Santa Barbara 14.76 3.91 4.43<br>
  11. Yale University 14.21 4.03 4.21<br>
  12. University of Texas at Austin 13.83 3.84 4.33<br>
  13. Columbia University 13.56 3.87 4.25<br>
  14. University of Washington 12.95 3.81 4.20<br>
  15. University of California - Los Angeles 12.62 3.77 4.18<br>
  16. University of California - San Diego 12.46 3.82 4.10<br>
  17. University of Pennsylvania 12.13 3.77 4.09<br>
  18. University of Michigan 11.25 3.74 3.96<br>
  19. University of Maryland College Park 11.14 3.66 4.02<br>
  20. University of Wisconsin - Madison 10.71 3.81 3.79<br>
    Rank Department Your Score Ed Eff Fac Qual<br>
  21. University of Rochester (Program in Optics) 10.49 3.91 3.65<br>
  22. State University of New York - Stony Brook 10.00 3.71 3.76<br>
  23. Ohio State University 9.89 3.70 3.75<br>
  24. University of Minnesota 9.06 3.54 3.76<br>
  25. Brown University 8.74 3.64 3.60<br>
  26. University of Rochester 8.68 3.63 3.60<br>
  27. Johns Hopkins University 8.30 3.65 3.51<br>
  28. Rutgers State University - New Brunswick 8.24 3.33 3.82<br>
  29. Purdue University 7.09 3.50 3.44<br>
  30. Carnegie Mellon University 6.93 3.35 3.56</p>
9

<p>They’re all held in extremely high regard. I’m not sure how strong WUSTL is. ou really can’t go wrong with any of those schools. If you are paying out of state tuition, Berkeley is not worth it in my opinion. It has ridiculously huge classes compared to the others on that list and suffers from many pitfalls of an underfunded school</p>

10

<p>Whoa, looks like the replies at cc come in droves. All very helpful, thanks everyone! Shizz: can you tell me any specific pitfalls that Berkeley suffers from? I am in-state, so do you think the half-price tuition outweighs most of these shortcomings? Any help in comparing these schools would be extremely appreciated.</p>

11

<p>Gigantic classes, courses taught by TAs, tons of administrative red tape, etc etc. This is what a couple friends of mine complain about Berkeley undergrad. These are problems that are specific not to just Berkeley but to large public schools in general. harvard<em>and</em>berkeley probably has better insight about the school so your question would be better directed towards him. The cheap tuition is worth it depending on your financial aid packages that you received at the other schools. That’s really a judgment call that only you can make.</p>

<p>The rankings posted by collegehelp are pretty useless and I wouldn’t give them much weight. You’re better off talking to the physics departments at each school. Ask them if you can talk with current undergrads in the major. Try to get a flavor of each school. If possible, visit each school. Since all those schools are strong, you should consider which place you would like to live in 4 years. A school can have the best physics program in the world but life is more than physics and you should enjoy it :)</p>

12

<p>At Berkeley, ALL physics classes are taught by PhDs. The intro classes are broken down into smaller groups for homework problem sessions, and these are lead by graduate students (as is true at almost all research universities). I did my undergrad at Harvard and my PhD at Berkeley, and can confidently say that undergrad physics at Berkeley is just as good as undergrad physics at Harvard. Physics at Berkeley is NOT one of the overcrowded, impacted majors.</p>

13

<p>Shizz, please do the smallest amount of research before giving advise to someone who is about to make the biggest decision of his/her life.</p>

14

<p>Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Cal Berkeley, Cal Tech, Cornell , Chicago, Illinois,<br>
Stanford, Cal Santa Barbara</p>

15

<p>I have been accepted to BU’s physics program with reasonable Fin Aid.</p>

<p>I’m on Carnegie Mellon’s Priority-Wait-List for physics. Fin Aid still unknown (waiting to hear).</p>

<p>Any opinions on BU’s physics program? Carnegie’s program?</p>

<p>How does they compare against each other?</p>

<p>Any and all opinions are welcome.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

16

<p>The best undergraduate programs in physics are Caltech, Princeton, UChicago, Harvard, Yale and MIT, hands-down. Cornell is also good, and I hesitate not to include it in the list of the top schools, but it is significantly larger and more competitive. Several smaller schools also have very strong programs, such as Harvey Mudd and Wellesley.</p>

17

<p>Caltech has been #1 in physics for many years.</p>