Physics Undergraduate College Search Advice

tgrswmr
Sat, 19 Jan 2019 15:11:39 +0000

My S’20 is interested in pursuing an undergraduate degree in Physics. He is beginning the college search process (although he visited UIUC and Purdue last year as a sophomore-thinking STEM) and is looking for advice. He appears to be on track academically ( AP Physics, Calc BC, AP Chinese UW GPA 3.93) and attends our local university’s monthly physics journal club. He lives in Oklahoma. He will be full pay (EFC>100K, budget approx. 50K/yr, siblings '19/'23). His career goals are unclear at this time (terminal BS degree/workforce vs. PhD/research/academia) and he does not have a specific field of interest within physics. Our two flagship institutions( OU/OSU) have physics programs, but neither is highly ranked or renowned. Would he be better served to seek a higher quality program ( e.g. UMD, UIUC, UW-Madison, etc.) for his BS or reserve those programs for graduate work? Also, what undergraduate programs would you recommend without a geographical constraint? Thanks for your assistance!