<p>Not an official ranking,, just a general view
(not including LAC)</p>
<p>Top 10</p>
<p>MIT
Stanford
Harvard
Princeton
Caltech
Columbia
Duke
U Chicago
Northwestern
Cornell</p>
<p>Comments?</p>
<p>Add Cal-Berkeley to your list.</p>
<p>For Physics, Cornell should be above Princeton. I think Cornell is generally recognized to be in the top 5 for physics, including applied physics.</p>
<p>Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Caltech, Cornell, UChic...</p>
<p>All are neck-and-neck in physics.</p>
<p>Michigan State.</p>
<p>Number 1 in Nuclear Physics Y'all!</p>
<p>I'd say add Harvey Mudd to that list somewhere. </p>
<p>Oh sorry I just read you said no LAC's. In that case add berkeley.</p>
<p>Cornell and Princeton physics grad programs are absolutely droolworthy. Don't know about undergrad.</p>
<p>As for most of the schools on here, they'll all be great, but they'll all have a different feel to them. What kind of physics do you want? And do you want to be in a place where not many people are studying what you're studying (Duke, Cornell) or do you want to be in a place where everybody is required to do lots of physics(CalTech)? Do you want to do physics alongside a core curriculum grounded in the liberal arts? (Chicago, Columbia). Does physics include engineering for you? If so, Chicago is a no-no, but most of the other schools have prominent engineering programs. And how big do you want your school to be?</p>
<p>These are all considerations alongside a host of stellar physics programs.</p>
<p>Dartmouth is quite good in physics, and it would be a great place to do physics alongside a liberal arts curriculum like amykins mentions, to broaden your horrizons...</p>
<p>To amykins:</p>
<p>I think I don't want to go to school where everybody studies physics, but then I don't want to go to school (even if prestigious, etc.) that has (for example) a brilliant liberal arts departments but comparable way worse physics department. Because to attend a university in which your department is one of the weakest wouldn't be good. O and I'm not so in engineering, but may minor in either computer science or economics. Ideally, best place would be a university where every department is (not necessaryily best) but at least superior to most other colleges. </p>
<p>In this case, which ones do you suggest?</p>
<p>Most of the "top" schools are going to be pretty good places to study physics as an undergraduate.</p>
<p>You sound very Chicago. Then again, I'm horribly biased, as I'm a current student there, but maybe some reasons as to why you should consider it quite seriously:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Chicago is great in everything it offers. Physics and economics are two of its more famous departments, simply because both have a lot of history attached to them, but I'm an English major/Art History minor here in departments that, although not as popular as others, are far from overlooked.</p></li>
<li><p>The Core Curriculum (<a href="http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level2.asp?id=7%5B/url%5D">http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level2.asp?id=7</a>) grounds every person, regardless of major, in a liberal arts mindset. You'll learn how to read, write, think, and ask questions. Even though Kant and Aristotle don't relate to high-energy physics topically, you're learning how to learn.</p></li>
<li><p>Physics is a popular major here-- everybody I know in the program is happy with it. As an undergrad, there's a lot of communication with faculty and a lot of research being done, both here and at Fermilab, which the University owns? maybe? Anyway, I have two physics major friends interning there this summer: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermilab%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermilab</a></p></li>
</ol>
<p>(the University's physics website: <a href="http://physics.uchicago.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://physics.uchicago.edu/</a>)</p>
<p>That said, though, any of the schools you listed would be great, save for CalTech if you're looking for humanities (my friend says humanities is somewhat of a joke at CalTech, that might be contested). You might also consider Vassar... it has strong liberal arts, a great physics program, and is slightly less selective than most of the schools you've listed.</p>
<p>why do people always hate on Chicago?</p>
<p>are you asking me? if you are, the answer is I don't know.</p>
<p>People be hatin' on UChic? Bah, they're stupid.</p>
<p>Though I'm not fond of the core, UChic has one of the best ling departments evar. D:</p>
<p>Chicago....</p>
<p>the world's first self-sustained nuclear reaction was achieved at Chicago under the direction of the world's greatest and most famous nuclear physicist, professor Enrico Fermi. </p>
<p>That said physics is not a <em>very</em> popular major. Only about 30 physics majors in each class.</p>
<p>I would say
1) Princeton
2) Chicago
3) the others on kyledavid's list</p>