As an aspiring astrophysicist, my college decision is based almost solely on the quality of my bachelors degree. My ultimate dilemma though (as evident in the title) is whether I should choose a liberal arts college or a research university. I have a good understanding of the difference of both as a whole, but what would be the pros and cons for my field of interest particularly? As far as research universities, I’m looking at Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, and Rice and for liberal arts colleges, I’m looking into Colgate, Williams, and Swarthmore. Also, although I’m not particularly interested in one, what are the pros and cons of state universities?
As you are probably aware, all of the above listed schools are excellent places where students go onto top PhD programs. Some of the biggest PhD producers per capita are small liberal arts colleges like Williams, Colgate, and Swarthmore, so you can go to any of these listed schools and get into a great physics/astrophysics PhD program. Really, I think it’s a matter of preference.
There are some generalizable educational and research differences between large research universities and small liberal arts colleges.
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Typically speaking, research universities have a wider breadth of courses you can take in a specific area. All of these schools are going to have good foundational coursework in physics (and math), and most of them will probably also have at least 1-3 elective courses specifically in astrophysics. To be quite honest, that’s all 90% of undergraduates ever really need: most majors have so many core requirements that you won’t really take more than 2-3 electives in one particular area. At research universities with graduate programs, though, there may be more specialized classes in particular areas (like astrophysics), and there’s also the option to take graduate classes. (At Swarthmore, you may be able to take graduate courses at Penn, but I’m not sure how accessible Penn is from Swarthmore.)
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At small LACs, all of your classes will be small - including the introductory courses. At places like Columbia, maybe Princeton, and Cornell, your intro classes and intermediate classes will be pretty large (maybe 150-300 in intro classes, especially accounting for the pre-meds who have to take intro physics, and 50-100 in the intermediate classes). Your upper-level classes will be smaller. At Williams, Swarthmore, and Colgate, even those intro classes are going to be 15-30 students - maybe a bit larger for intro physics, since it is a pre-med requirement. (It’s harder to predict at Rice, but those classes may be quite small because the undergrad population is pretty small at Rice.) At the research universities, your labs and recitation sections will likely be taught by TAs; at the small LACs, they’ll be taught by professors.
I daresay that the quality of teaching will also probably be better at the LACs, since teaching is a much more important component of a professor’s evaluation at a place like Williams than it is at a place like Columbia. The professors at Williams, Colgate, and Swarthmore are hired in part for their ability to teach and connect with undergrads. The professors at Columbia et al. are hired primarily because of their research prowess, and there’s no penalty for being a terrible teacher. (That said, Princeton and Rice are both known for great undergrad teaching.)
- There are trade-offs in research. The top research universities will, have the cutting-edge research in astrophysics - attracting the best doctoral students (who will be your TAs and lab advisors), a lot of grant money, the best equipment, etc. Cornell, Princeton, and Columbia are some of the top doctoral programs for astrophysics in the country. But lab hierarchies are usually such in research universities that your immediate daily supervisor will probably be a doctoral student or maybe a postdoc. You may get some interaction with the PI - and even develop a close relationship with them; such is possible - but it’s likely they won’t be the one doing the most daily oversight of your research. Conversely, at a small LAC, you probably will be working on smaller-scale research. But you will also probably take on tasks that graduate students would do at big university labs - more autonomy and responsibility earlier in your lab career. There will be a lot more one-on-one development and mentoring with the professor/PI of the lab than at a top research university.
In the end, it probably won’t matter much. You can get good research experiences at either, and great quality teaching and academic education at either, and go onto a great PhD program from either. One note, though, is that through REUs and other summer programs you can spend a summer (or two) doing research at a large research university with professors there if you like even if you end up at an LAC. (Honestly, regardless of where you end up, you should do an REU/SROP/SURF/whatever.)
Large public universities are going to have most of the same pros and cons of the top research universities, perhaps magnified. Your intro classes might be even larger, but there will be a large diversity of classes to take and probably more specialized area classes than even at a private research university. Public universities tend to have more concentrations and special majors that students can do. The clubs will be bigger, so you may find more like-minded students. But I will say that what all the elite schools have (both the Princetons and the Williamses of the world) that larger public universities lack to some degree is the level of advising and the resources. At Columbia, for example, you’ll get an advising dean whose job it is to help shepherd you through your four years. I don’t know how many public universities have that - at least, at the level that schools like Cornell and Williams or Rice and Colgate have them.
The main thing to watch out for is that physics is often not a very popular major, so the physics departments at some smaller schools may be too small – meaning that they may offer the usual physics major courses too infrequently due to lack of enrollment. You can check on-line catalogs and schedules to see if all of the usual physics major courses and astrophysics electives are available at reasonable frequency.
The usual junior/senior level physics major courses:
intermediate mechanics
electromagnetism and optics (often two semesters)
quantum mechanics (often two semesters)
statistical and thermal physics
intermediate/advanced lab