<p>I'm trying to narrow down my reaches: University of PA, Princeton, Haverford, Cornell, Brown, and Bucknell. I'm going in undecided, but I'm really interested in physics and mathematics..not sure what kind yet. Please contribute anything you can ( good, bad, anything!) even if it's just about one of these schools! Thanks! (:</p>
<p>I will say that if Bucknell is a reach, none of your other choices are realistic reaches.</p>
<p>UPenn: They have a school of engineering and a business school (Wharton)…the latter is often considered more selective than the rest of UPenn</p>
<p>Princeton: Undergrad focus, considered 2nd best Ivy in terms of engineering; pretty much everything here is top-notch.</p>
<p>Cornell: Great engineering program (considered Ivy’s best)</p>
<p>Brown: Tight student body, and some classes can be on a pass/fail system. One of the 2 most liberal-arts Ivies.</p>
<p>I really don’t know much about the other schools, only that Haverford is considered a top liberal-arts college.</p>
<p>That’s a good list of schools of which Bucknell and Haverford will be the easiest to get into. Everyone I’ve known who has gone to either of these schools loved them. Alumni speak very highly of the academics at Haverford, alumni from Bucknell loved the whole college experience there.</p>
<p>“I will say that if Bucknell is a reach, none of your other choices are realistic reaches.”</p>
<p>I have no idea how the Princeton Review works out matches and reaches and such. It will place Bucknell as a reach for me for the “best fit college search”, and when I enter my SAT scores and GPA it says Princeton is a match…which cannot be right if Bucknell is reach, I agree. I’ve been trying to use my own judgment in placing the schools in a certain category now.</p>
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<p>Maybe so, but I think Haverford is closer to Cornell than to Bucknell.</p>
<p>School, Admit Rate, 75th%-ile M+CR
Cornell: 21%, 1500
Haverford: 25%, 1490
Bucknell: 30%, 1400</p>
<p>(from stateuniversity.com)</p>
<p>For physics and math, Princeton is a notch above the other Ivies. Cornell, Penn, and Brown would come next, and Haverford and Bucknell would be below them.</p>
<p>If you went to Haverford, you would be able to take classes at Penn and so take advantage of whatever higher-level esoteric physics classes Penn is offering that Haverford didn’t.</p>
<p>I live about 20 minutes off from Bucknell. Its a <em>very</em> good school for engineering. However- Id like to say that its in the middle of the <em>sticks</em>/rustbelt. There are no jobs available, not even for fast food. I would imagine the internship opportunities arent fantastic. They have a branch/business center in my hometown and its in a careerlink on the second floor in the middle of a pretty bad area- but you probably wouldnt be using that.</p>
<p>Bucknell I also find is a more conservative school, and there happens to be a lot of upper class people that go there. Im not sure if thats a negative, positive or neutral for you.</p>
<p>All are great schools where you would also have a great college experience except for Haverford which is way too small…no fun at all. Can not compare to your other choices.</p>
<p>^^ Small = not fun???</p>
<p>Cornell’s acceptance rate is 19% btw</p>
<p>^^ That may be Cornell’s latest 2009 admit rate, but to make a comparison of relative selectivity we need rates for all compared schools from the same year. I was citing the rates posted on stateuniversity.com, which are the same as the rates currently posted on USNWR’s site (for fall 2007 I believe). A College Confidential poster on another thread has stated that Haverford’s rate this year was 21%; however, I have not been able to confirm that.</p>
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<p>I don’t know how we can confidently state that Haverford or Bucknell is below Brown, Penn and Cornell for physics and math. Maybe that’s true in some respects (or even in every respect), but as far as I know there is no reliable, up-to-date, widely accepted ranking for individual undergraduate departments. </p>
<p>Princeton’s graduate math and physics departments have been highly ranked, and presumably its undergraduate programs are excellent too. But the graduate department rankings are either out-of-date (NRC-95), or they are based on factors such as faculty publication volume, which may or may not translate to quality of undergraduate instruction.</p>
<p>op–you did not tell us anything about yourself other than you interest in physics and math.(Ironically I have two children at two of the schools on your list and a third kid who majored in physics and math at a competing school).</p>
<p>Each of your listed schools are excellent and among the most selective schools in the nation. I believe each would be good for physics and math. But some are more selective than others. Some are bigger, obviously others smaller. Some more urban, etc. </p>
<p>Give us more info to help us suggest schools. Otherwise, all you will get is the above. Basically quotes from USNews rankings or folks marketing for their own schools.</p>
<p>I’ll start to get pickier about which school matches me the most when it comes time to choose in May. Right now I’m just wondering what anyone who has gone to one of these schools or knows about them has to say about it. Like what they would complain about, the downsides, or why they are happy where they are. Thank you to everyone who has posted on here! (:</p>