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Hey, I recently decided to change my intended major from MechE to physics/astrophysics and now I am at a loss at to what schools to apply to. As you can imagine, I am sort of in a bind for time now. I really can't find anything online that ranks schools for physics, so its going to have to be based on secondhand advice. So, if you know good physics schools, please give me a list of 'em of you can

If some of my stats help you guys, here they are:
sat: 1400 (retaking 10/9)
gpa: 4.0 UW
sat ii: 750 iic, 730 physics, 700 writing
aps: 8 taken

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 11:37 am: Edit

you might look on this site if interested in LAC
and search for physics
http://www.collegenews.org/prebuilt/site_search.asp?sstring=physics

By C0nfusion (C0nfusion) on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 01:04 pm: Edit

Better yet, can anyone give me information regarding the strenght of the physics program at these colleges, as I was already going to apply to them for engineering:

Bucknell
Cornell
Villanova
Lehigh
Penn State
Tufts
MIT

What about Swarthmore and princeton? Thanks, guys.

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 02:27 pm: Edit

The top percentage producers of students who go on to recieve Ph.ds in physics are
Caltech
harvey Mudd
MIT
NM Insitute
Reed
UChicago
Princeton
Carleton
Marlboro
Rice

By C0nfusion (C0nfusion) on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 10:13 pm: Edit

thanks....any other opinions?

By Garland (Garland) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 10:53 am: Edit

Of the ones you mentioned, I know Swarthmore and Cornell have e xcellent reps in physics (we were looking at this subject last year.) We looked at those two only out of your list. I think it's safe to say that MIT is a top school for that.

Others my S had on his list were UMIch, Columbia, Wesleyan, Carleton, and Rochester.

By C0nfusion (C0nfusion) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 01:19 pm: Edit

Thank you. I have another question..perhaps you will know as your son went into the field. What is a physics degree really worth? How does it compare to an engineering degree in terms of job availability and salary? Thanks

By Garland (Garland) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 03:23 pm: Edit

Okay, full disclosure: after he got into his ED school, he developed a dislike for physics (he had been more interested in astro, but really hated his AP physics class). We never compared job prospects with engineering, since he had no interest in that, sorry.

By Joshjmgs (Joshjmgs) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 07:53 pm: Edit

What about Columbia's Applied Physics?

By Piman3141 (Piman3141) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 09:16 pm: Edit

confusion, seriously consider Caltech and Princeton (along with Cornell, UChicago, and MIT)- these are, without a doubt, the best astrophysics/theoretical physics schools in the country. Especially UChicago and Princeton. Like you, I also thought about switching my intended major from MechE to astrophysics, but eventually I decided that MechE had better job prospects. You know the rest. Anyway, good luck in your college search.