<p>Some personal experience… My D is a soph at HC and a physics major. She absolutely loves it. She also plays a varsity sport, has some significant volunteer responsibilities and works two campus jobs (she’s really busy). For her that’s great. Regarding the program, we discovered that the HC physics program packs so much “grad school” level instruction into four years, that there are very few “junior year abroad” options that will allow her to keep up with her major. The only realistic one discussed was Oxford, but they required a full year, and she would miss her junior sports season so she will stay in Philly. She also had the opportunity to get right into a summer research internship after Freshman year which continues this summer. While we miss her, we know she’ll come out of HC extremely well prepared for grad school options. I have heard similar comments from parents of other science majors. Our science-minded son (17) has HC on the top of his list (which includes also Swarthmore and Hamilton). So far his grades and SATs put him solidly in the top half of the current freshman class, so we may have two Fords in the family. I was in a conversation with Steve Emerson (President) last Fall who was reeling off the list of last year’s graduates now in top PhD programs at schools like the Ivies, MIT, Stanford, etc. Needless to say, we’re fans! The cost has crept up and the student population is small but the overall experience can be tremendous for the right kid.</p>