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Carolyn, you have been very helpful in this board. I have a question pertaining to physics and astronomy? In your opinion, what schools do you think have the best departments in both. Also mathematics/world culture? Do you know a school that has a diverse body and is also a good pre-med, a high percentage of students who go into med school? I am looking into all those criteria. Thank you and seasons greetings!

By Calidan (Calidan) on Thursday, December 04, 2003 - 09:03 pm: Edit

Hey- I'm not Carolyn (obviously), but I know that the University of Arizona has the best Astronomy department in the US.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Thursday, December 04, 2003 - 09:29 pm: Edit

I have two close friends who are both Ivy-educated professors of astrophysics. I've asked them both this question before. Here's a list of the schools they recommend for people who want to study physics and astronomy:

Most selective:
Princeton
Carleton
Cal Tech
UC Berkeley
Cornell
Harvard
Haverford
MIT
U Penn
Williams
UChicago

Less selective schools that that they recommend for students who can't make it into the above schools:
Boston U
Purdue
U of Wisconsin at Madison
Whitman College (Washington)
UC Santa Cruz
University of Arizona
Arizona State U
Earlham College
University of Pittsburgh
Indiana U
U of Maryland College Park
Vassar
Villanova
U of Illinois - Urbana Champaign
University of Hawaii
Case Western Reserve

Both of them speak most highly of Carleton. One attended as an undergraduate and one taught there. The one who attended went on to get his doctorate at Princeton and then did post-grad work at Cal Tech. The other one did her undergraduate work at Harvard, got her Phd. from Princeton and has taught at Cornell, Carleton, Princeton, and UCSC. She says for undergraduate work, she'd take Carleton any day. However, she and her husband really thought about this list and told me that they have been personally impressed with the faculty and programs at these schools (both are very well-known in astrophysics circles). By the way, they currently both teach at UC Santa Cruz, a top ranked school for astrophysics and they report the department is growing.

Of the above schools, all of the ones on the first list are excellent for math. On the second list, Whitman, Case Western, Vassar and the University of Arizona are probably the top choices for math.

I hope this helps.