Hello !
I got in as an Astrophysics/Physics major in the following universities:
University of Wisconsin-Madison
UT Austin
University of Arizona
University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign
University of California - Los Angeles
I wish to pursue a PhD in Physics in future. Which of these colleges would offer a placement in good graduate schools for MA/PhD ? Please help me decide which one would be the best. Cost is not a problem.
Thank You!
Wisconsin, Illinois, and UCLA are all excellent programs. Arizona is perhaps a notch lower but still a fine program. The point is that a bachelors degree with good grades from any of these colleges can get you into a good PhD program.
Thanks!
One more thing.
In virtually all websites I have seen that UCLA ranks a lot higher than the rest of the universities. Does that mean UCLA is the best among them ?
UCLA, UIUC, Texas-Austin and Wisconsin-Madison are all peers. Arizona is a notch below.
In Physics, they are all excellent, although I would give UIUC and Texas-Austin a slight edge over UCLA and Wisconsin, but all four are truly exceptional. And since Physics is a major that attracts very few students, you are going to have tiny classes throughout, taught by world authorities on their respective subfields. And you will have access to state-of-the-art facilities and cutting edge research too.
If you want a PhD then probably one of the best undergrad programs in the country is the college of creative studies at UC Santa Barbara. They call it grad school for undergrads. You have the freedom to take any course in the university that you feel ready to take, you work closely with a faculty advisor.
One of my majors at UIUC is Physics, so I can tell you that the program is excellent. The faculty are great and once you get past the introductory physics sequence (engineers also take this), the class sizes are pretty small. I believe we are also #1 for condensed matter physics if that’s of interest to you. If you have any questions I’m happy to answer.
However I dont think you can go wrong with any of your choices. Are you in-state for any of them?
I am an international student.