<p>I hope for this post be useful for any prospective physics majors. Please suggest good physics undergraduate physics programs.</p>
<p>Alright so, this post is basically just as the title says. However, try to place emphasis on schools that would be match schools as well as reach schools. For example, HYPSM, Caltech, UChicago, etc. are all obvious and there really is no reason to suggest them UNLESS specific, helpful information is given to substantiate the suggestion.</p>
<p>Actually, please try to give some reasoning behind any suggestion(s) that you have for good physics programs. If that isn't possible because you may not actually go to the school, that's fine. Comparing different programs would be great as well.</p>
<p>I understand "match" and "reach" are relative, so just for the sake of understanding, pretend that the student is a competitive applicant for the top colleges and universities.</p>
<p>I'll start things off. Since I'm only a junior in high school, I will just suggest these first two match schools, but maybe someone that has more knowledge can expand upon them:</p>
<p>Case Western Reserve University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute</p>
<p>Good “match” schools for physics will often be flagship state universities. Relatively few students major in physics, so once you get out of the intro courses in freshman and sophomore years (which are mostly filled with engineers), the upper level classes in physics will be quite small, even at a big public university.</p>
<p>The following public universities are all major flagship universities… if you live in one of these states, you get an excellent education for a relatively cheap price (for in-state).
All of these schools have graduate programs in the top 25. As I said, the classes in the first two years will be very large because of all the engineering students, but in your junior/senior year, your classes will most likely be under 20.</p>
<p>UC Berkeley
U Illinois UC
UC Santa Barbara
U Michigan
UC San Diego
U Maryland CP
U Texas
U Wisconsin
UCLA
U Colorado
U Washington
Ohio State
Penn State
Stony Brook
Rutgers</p>
<p>There are also many small liberal arts colleges that have solid physics programs despite not having graduate programs…</p>
<p>Reed College
Carleton College
Haverford College
Swarthmore College
Union College
Pomona College
Occidental College
Earlham College
Wesleyan U.
Vassar College
Smith College
Colgate U.
Lafayette College
Franklin & Marshall College
Gettysburg College</p>
<p>Do not overlook Trinity University in San Antonio. Physics was great already, but they are now in the final stages of the 100M Integrated Science Center.</p>
<p>Beautiful campus in a pretty city, and no winter to speak of. Visit the website.</p>
<p>Many of the smaller <a href=“http://www.theaitu.org%5B/url%5D”>http://www.theaitu.org</a> schools have excellent physics programs which provide good preparation for competitive graduate programs. I am leaving out the obvious ones like MIT, Cal Tech and those already mentioned. A number of these are undergradaute only but some are Research universities with Ph.D. programs in physics.</p>
<p>Clarkson University
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
Drexel University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
Harvey Mudd College
Illinois Institute of Technology
Keck Graduate Institute
Kettering University
Lawrence Technological University
Milwaukee School of Engineering
Polytechnic Institute of NYU
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Stevens Institute of Technology
Webb Institute
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)</p>
<p>Trinity in San Antonio might be of particular interest to someone wanting to do research in astronomy – of the six professors in the physics department, three are astronomers. They also showed us a cool physics experiment in which a fiber optic line is used to send a Pink Floyd CD being played in one room to speakers that are set up in another.</p>
<p>Grinnell has a three-hour physics experiment in which first-year physics students determine the age of the universe based on the red shift of hydrogen atoms. Very elegant and cool. Grinnell also has an observatory with a 24-inch telescope.</p>
<p>Austin College will have a brand new science building in Fall 2013 with an 24-inch custom-built telescope capable of monitoring the weather on Mars. AC planetary astronomer David Baker is a standout educator who has received nationwide recognition for quality and creativity, and is the author of The 50 Most Extreme Places in Our Solar System. Students who are trained in the operation of the telescope will have full access to it.</p>