<p>From this page [Harvard</a> Physics Department - PhD Theses: 2000 to present](<a href=“http://www.physics.harvard.edu/academics/phds.html]Harvard”>http://www.physics.harvard.edu/academics/phds.html) I looked at the undergraduate origins of Harvard physics PhDs of the last 12 years. I counted 283 students who listed an undergraduate institution of which were 83 were international colleges. Of the 200 who attended US colleges 101 came from 7 colleges (HYPSM + Caltech and Chicago). I also listed the most common colleges (those that produced 4 or more PhDs). I may have made some minor mistakes when collecting the data but it should be approximately accurate.</p>
<p>Actually UMTYMP, Caltech does not “cruch” other schools. Per capita figures are only useful if you look at the number of undergraduate Physics majors. For example, Caltech has more Physics majors than Michigan. Therefore, on a per capita basis. Caltech and Michigan are roughly equally well represented at Harvard Physics PhD.</p>
<p>If you do per capita numbers by number of physics majors you’ll get a different statistic but that doesn’t mean per capita numbers by total graduates are worthless. It seems highly significant that Caltech with 235 students per year has as many physics majors as the University of Michigan which has over 6,000. I suspect that the low number of physics majors at the University of Michigan says something about the quality of the department as well.</p>
<p>UMTYMP, Michigan’s Physics department is excellent. It was ranked 11th in the nation in the most recent USNWR ranking, tied with Columbia and Yale. </p>
<p>Michigan does not have as many Physics majors as Caltech because it does not attract as many students who seek it as a major. Michigan offers over 200 fields of study, compared to 20 at Caltech. Michigan is very popular in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Michigan also has very strong professional programs such as Architecture, Business, Education and Nursing. For this reason, calculating the per capita ratio of Physics PhDs at Harvard to the entire student body does not make sense. Some schools have a much higher percentage of Physics majors than others. Just look at the link and you will understand what I mean.</p>
<p>And Michigan is not unique. The same thing goes for Cal, cornell and several other universities with diverse academic offerings.</p>
<p>There is no denying that Caltech is excellent in Physics, arguably #1 in the World. But its placement per capita into Harvard Physics PhD is not any more impressive than most of the programs on your list above. In fact, when you consider that Michigan graduates ~300 Physics majors in a 12 year period and that only 7% of Michigan undergrads go on to earn PhDs (~25 in a 12 year period), it is amazing that 6 ended up at Harvard. That represents 25% of the Michigan students who pursue PhDs in Physics going to Harvard.</p>
<p>I think Caltech’s focus on sciences and engineering explains much of the difference but necessarily all of it. Caltech offers fewer majors but not 25-30 times fewer. For example, the University of Minnesota Twin Cities which is similar in size to Michigan and has a considerably weaker physics department has about twice as many physics majors. Cal also has twice the number of physics majors Michigan does and Cornell has a similar number to Michigan with roughly half the class size so Michigan definitely is on the lower end for physics majors per capita. My point about the low number of physics majors isn’t that the department was weak or anything but for whatever reason it discouraged a lot of less serious students from majoring in physics.</p>