I am going to be a senior in high school and I am wanting to know what major and school to attended. I am very interested in physics and have recently been researching both Applied physics and engineering physics. These majors seem to be a little more applicable to post college and finding a job. My first question is would you recommend applied or engineering physics over just a regular degree in physics? However, these majors are pretty hard to find. What schools would you recommend looking at for these majors?
This is my academic profile and resume
4.7 GPA Weighted
4.0 unweighted
10th in class out of 550
29 ACT composite (waiting on most recent score)
Waiting on most recent SAT
taken 4 AP classes so far and will take 5 my senior year. Gotten A’s in all so far
Strong course strength. only AP I have not taken that my school offers so far is APUSH
Resume:
Student body Vice President
NHS
Provide care for an autistic boy
Miracle League class representative (Baseball game for kids with special needs)
Bronze community service award.
Currently an intern at the University of Kansas Research Lab. It is in the Physics department and we are research Nanotechnology and more specifically UV photodetectors. Have some good connections.
Academically, RPI would be an example of a school that offers everything you’ve indicated as of now.
@jbut84
Yes, RPI has both Engineering Physics and Applied Physics majors. Their facilities and curriculum would make them an ideal choice for your interest.
WPI, Lehigh, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Purdue, UIUC, University of Michigan, UC Berkeley, Cornell University, Caltech, Stanford, Brown, McMaster University in Canada, and many many lower tier schools such as Elon, Illinois Tech, Kettering, Gordon, Ohio State, NM State, University of Alberta, and others
Wisconsin has a good Applied Math, Engineering and Physics degree. Of course, being an OOS likely makes the cost prohibitive.
In case you have not seen it, here is the physics department posting for WPI: https://www.wpi.edu/academics/departments/physics.
The recently retired CEO of SRI International is a physics graduate of WPI. Thought you might like to see him in action at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkVqvbMhTuU.
Have fun and a bright future! :bz