Applied Math and Physics Undergraduate Programs

College Search & Selection
1

<p>My son is interested in majoring in Applied Math, Applied Physics or Traditional Physics. We would like a school that is strong in at least two of these areas in case he changes his major once he arrives. We live in the northeast but are open to attending different geographic areas. He is a strong student but we are concerned about how competitive the colleges he is interested in are and need more safety schools. We are concerned about the low admission rate at most of these schools. Can anyone recommend schools additional schools with strong math and physics programs?</p>

<p>Top Choices:
1. MIT
2. Cal Tech
3. Brown
4. Columbia
5. Georgia Tech
6. Stanford
6. Chicago
7. University of Maryland</p>

2

<p>Are you in-state for MD? Can you afford GTech OOS costs? Are those two considered safeties? Otherwise those are very select schools. Most large flagships will have good math and physics programs. Possibly Rutgers as a safety if you can afford it? Alabama?</p>

3

<p>Please read <a href=“Before you ask which colleges to apply to, please consider - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1621234-before-you-ask-which-colleges-to-apply-to-please-consider.html&lt;/a&gt; , particularly point 1.</p>

<p>If you are in-state for NY or NJ, consider Stony Brook or Rutgers respectively. Actually, Stony Brook is not that expensive for out-of-state students also. Minnesota is another relatively low cost flagship for out of state students.</p>

4

<p>You may find this program at Univerity of Wisc interesting. Barrons might have further insight.
<a href=“Guide < University of Wisconsin-Madison”>Guide < University of Wisconsin-Madison;

5

<p>Not a recommendation, but FWIW schools not mentioned yet that have high NRC rankings in both physics and Applied Math (based on low S scores)
include:
Princeton, Harvard, Cornell, U Colorado- Boulder, UCLA, Rice, U Washington.
Note though that these are grad rankings, and moreover are considered to be somewhat screwy.</p>

6

<p>I’d suggest Reed College. One advantage, however, that the larger than Reed schools have is that they will have more course offerings and some exposure to grad courses. I concur that the in-state flagships can also be excellent choices. But give Reed a look. S’s friend had a very good math (and otherwise) experience there.</p>

7

<p>Thank you for the quick replies. I did not know about the program in Applied Math, Engineering and Physics at The University of Wisconsin – great lead. I’ve already contacted the school for more information. I also noticed Columbia has a Department of Applied Math and Applied Physics that includes both degrees. We live near Stony Brook but we’d like to look at schools out of state. Thanks for the help!</p>

8

<p>Williams has an excellent math department and a smaller, but still respected, physics department. Still quite selective, though.</p>

<p><a href=“http://communications.williams.edu/news-releases/4_10_2014_amsaward/”>http://communications.williams.edu/news-releases/4_10_2014_amsaward/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

9

<p>Most of the [url=“&lt;a href=“http://theaitu.org%22%5DAITU%5B/url”&gt;http://theaitu.org”]AITU[/url</a>] schools would be a reasonable choice as well.</p>

10

<p>Carnegie Mellon has a strong math department. I do not know about their physics department.</p>