<p>After reviewing some of the posts here I have been once again reminded that someone such as myself has no place at Caltech. Because I live in Podunk, Nebraska, there are not too many [read: zero] clubs for astronomy; and I'm not too sure what 100 hours of community service have to do with college education.</p>
<p>Anyway, enough of my sob story. What other colleges have an Astrophysics program like Caltech? I'm looking for more out-of-the-way schools (i.e., not Yale, Harvard, Columbia etc). I've looked through CollegeBoard already, but I've heard of Astrophysics programs from other schools that were not listed there.</p>
<p>My List So Far:
-Rice
-and the other ivies that offer an Astrophysics program (Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton)</p>
<p>College Concerns:</p>
<p>-I would really like a college away from the Midwest; however, colleges in a highly populated city or nearby one would do just fine.
-The school has to have a somewhat adequate financial aid programmy mother makes roughly 26,000/year.</p>
<p>Thanks to everybody that helps.</p>
<p>(The reason I posted here instead of College Search & Admissions; well, I don't know why.)</p>
<p>Not that I know anything, but I doubt you're being quite fair to yourself saying you have no chance at Caltech. (These boards are pretty biased/intimidating, that way.) A demonstrated interest in a specific field is definitely a good thing, even if there aren't any clubs to do with it (and anyways, do you think there are astronomy clubs in <em>most</em> areas?) Reading a lot, playing around with or building a telescope just for the heck of it, teaching a summer class for younger children on astronomy, etc. might turn out to be more important than you think... And besides, who says there are no research opportunities? Nebraska isn't <em>that</em> cloudy, is it?</p>
<p>hypernovae: That's not the spirit... set up a telescope in your yard and do some real research. Most clubs are absolutely useless anyways.</p>
<p>Then apply to the institution you want to get into and cross your fingers like everyone else. It's not about being from podunk, it's about doing good work. Admissions officers attempt to make sure that good students can come in from anywhere, they sometimes seem to take this task too seriously if anything...</p>
<p>Figure out what you want to do and do it, don't be limited by mere geographical location.</p>
<p>So in other words: I don't think anyone can help you answer your question until you've truely considered where you want to go in life and why.</p>
<p>"So in other words: I don't think anyone can help you answer your question until you've truely considered where you want to go in life and why."</p>
<p>I think that's a pretty unfair statement.</p>
<p>I've though plenty about what I want to do in lifego into Astrophysics. I'm completely fascinated by everything concerning it. Do you think because I have not built a telescope that I am completely uninterested in Astrophysics? I'm not as interested in building a telescope in my backyard because the view of the stars is only minimially different than that from the naked eye. What's fascinating to me is the mystery and intrigue surrounding such things as Black Holes, Neutron Stars, Quasars, Pulsars, etc. and other theories such as superstring theory. Do you think building a telescope offers me insight into any of those subjects? Not really.</p>
<p>About my pessimism surrounding Caltech; it's just very disheartening to see such stats being posted everywhere. It seems as if I haven't been in Key Club for the past 4 years or learning the piano for the last 15 years that I won't be accepted anywhere prestigious. I know it's a very negative trait of mine and I hate it, but for some reason I just can't get over it. Pessimists such as myself like to call themselves realists, even though that might not be the case.</p>
<p>Really, all I'm asking is for alternatives that offer rigorous courses in Astrophysics such as Caltech. I am not very well informed about "lower-tier" schools and would appreciate some insight to them.</p>
<p>i know rankings aren't the best way to look at things, but they do provide a nice listing of good schools. problem with this ranking is that it just calculates citations/faculty, but...well...again it gives a nice list =p</p>
<p>University of Chicago is a great private school that actually is good in the sciences. It has a 40% acceptance rate and top-notch faculty. It is one of the few schools on my list and I have similar ambitions as yours. (the others are a couple of Ivies and MIT, both of which I have almost 0% chances, and the local university).</p>
<p>Someone want to explain to me what Key Club is? I'm guessing it's one of those public-key trading circles the GNUs do.</p>
<p>In any case, clubs and extracurriculars are useful only to list-padders unless you can use said club as a springboard to something concrete. President of the math club? Who cares? Trained with the math club and got ${whatever a good score on some significant math competition is} on ${some significant math competition}? That means something. I personally never got much past "Mr. Frog is Full of Hops" on the 88-string guitar, but I am here regardless.</p>
<p>Plus, being from Podunk, Nebraska, you can probably qualify for what I like to call the Dubious Background Adjustment. If Caltech wanted to, they could fill their applicant pool entirely with New Yorkers and victims of SoCal who went to expensive private schools, but they don't want to miss candidates who may be a really good fit for Tech but don't immediately stand out due to lack of opportunity to do so. It ensures that people from from Middle Of ****ing Nowhere, Texas and people with irregular educational backgrounds such as my own get equal footing with the preppies. It's very much a good thing.</p>
<p>Just try to find something you can do to demonstrate that passion for astrophysics. Ignore the telescope crap, help code some researcher's black-hole detector software. If you can somehow make it clear that you are hardcore astrophysicist material, even in a small way, it will greatly help your chances and you have nothing to lose but the application fee.</p>
<p>other subjects should probably have rankings as well. i wouldn't use the rankings for solid listing, but instead, for ballpark ratings, especially since methodology varies so much.:)</p>
<p>Jeremy could actually replace me on the admissions committee, since what he said was exactly accurate. Boo yah. Don't lose hope. I like Nebraska because you have cows. (I'm sure you love to hear that sort of thing, <em>snark snark</em>). Seriously though, even unsophisticated seeming research says something about you when you're from nowhere, because you're competing with kids from uber-rich places who've had research questions (and often answers) fed to them since childhood; and we know that.</p>
<p>So don't lose hope. If you do, Chicago's pretty good.</p>
<p>I'm a dad from oklahoma. My kid was into astronomy, so I got us a telescope. She said I was dumb taking pictures of stars, not knowing what they are made of. So we bought a $75 grating and a $25 camera lens. She and some friends worked really hard for a long time.
I'm just a dumb technician, but I I don't see how it benefits you to refuse to do experimental science. The awe I feel at looking at 50 million year old light enables insights. We may be able to see the relativistic jet from M87s black hole with the mirror she bought with prize money.</p>
<p>Steel: Key Club does public service. I'm not involved, but I gather they do stuff like Habitat for Humanity, volunteer at a retirement home, that kind of thing. From the people I know who are in it, about half are for real (the kind of people who will join the Peace Corps after college, or work pro bono for a non-profit for 20+ years) and about half are just trying to pump their resume.</p>
<p>I come from a small town in Michigan and was accepted and happy at Caltech. The admissions committee evaluates you in the context of what you have to work with. </p>
<p>That means that if you went to Stuy in NY and didn't do very much with science, you're in bad shape--but from Podunk High, if you were active in the only science club, maxed out all of your school's offered math/science/AP classes, etc., you certainly would have a chance.</p>