I’ve narrowed my list down to UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSB CCS for Physics and I really have no idea where I should go. Here’s my thoughts at the moment: I like physics but I’m not sure if my interests will change. They might but I’m not foreseeing that. I’m not sure what I want to do with physics so I’m thinking grad school but who knows. And I might want to do premed which isn’t exactly possible if I want to do CCS physics just because of the course load. And obviously I want to go to the best grad school possible if I choose that route over med school. Any input is welcome and sorry if I’m confusing. I’m mostly worried that if I choose Berkeley or LA I won’t get into good grad schools.
UCSB’s College of Creative Studies offers amazing programs that you will have a hard time finding at UCLA or UCB. Just the undergrad research opportunities alone are really awesome. CCS also offers a biology major. Or you could double major in CCS. Or switch out of CCS and go to the College of Letters & Science instead if the CCS Physics route doesn’t work out.
You will get a LOT more 1-on-1 attention in CCS than anywhere else. I graduated from UCSB, but not from the College of Creative Studies. All of us who were NOT in CCS were pretty much in awe of the undergrads in CCS. At graduation, the “valedictorian” was a guy who was a triple major in the College of Creative Studies and he was going to grad school after graduation at an Ivy League university.
Even doing Biology in CCS would set you up well for med school or grad school.
Bump
Former Berkeley grad student in physics here, but my info is from over 15 years ago so take it with a grain of salt or listen to people who have more recent info. Berkeley is one of the top physics graduate departments in the country. If you go there your first year or two will be in large lecture classes. The focus there is definitely on research (although there are some very good teachers, too). If you do well there you will get into good grad programs. (We regularly had grad students there who had also done undergrad at Berkeley). At the time I was there Berkeley definitely outranked UCLA.
I’ve heard very good things about CCS but have no personal knowledge. Personally I would knock out UCLA and think about whether you’d do better with a more personalized education with a big undergrad focus (UCSB CCS) or if you’d like the big name department with maybe less hand-holding. Good luck.