It was on my list. Was worried as very expensive and wasn’t sure if known outside of Cal.
Pomona is elite but forgetting that - what is your goal ? An engineering type job, grad school or unknown ?
If you want to combine huge merit with small size, then look strongly at U Tulsa where 25% of students are NM Scholars. The President posts on this website.
It shares an athletic league with schools like Rice and SMU. It’s very good.
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Grad school
Then you’re not paying just four years of school. You can get a stipend for grad school but maybe not.
Many go to top grad schools from the elites but I pulled up Princeton students. First three I found - Harvard, Michigan State, Pitt.
So you can get to anywhere from anywhere. Makes sense - Harvard Law has 174 colleges represented.
Find the right size school for you and up to you, but saving 300k sounds pretty good to me. But AZ is tops and cheap if you are open to pay.
Good luck.
OK, so this is important. First, if grad school is your goal, it matters less where you go to undergrad. You need a very high GPA to get into grad school (go where you will thrive!) and once you have a graduate degree no one is going to care at all where you went to undergrad. So don’t chase prestige. Second, grad school is EXPENSIVE. And there is much less aid available. Don’t blow the bank on undergrad - think ahead and save what you can for the grad school bill.
Just my two cents.
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To clarify I meant PhD programs for grad school. Not professional grad schools.
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I think you are a very strong student and stand a chance of being accepted to some colleges on your list. Congratulations on your fine achievements.
It is also wonderful if your parents are willing and able to pay the full cost of attendance for you. That is a wonderful gift and one that families choose if they can, and are willing to do so. We did also, because we could, and therefore didn’t limit our kids in terms of cost either. Some families won’t pay higher prices even if they can.
The CA publics give precious little competitive merit aid to OOS students. So…will your family pay the $70,000 or so per year for you to attend any of the UCs on your list…because that’s at least how much it will cost.
I don’t think you will be seeing merit aid at UNC, Michigan, Emory or Duke. It’s highly highly competitive. The Ivies, Stanford and Georgetown don’t even award merit aid…so if this is needed, you need to look carefully at whether these will be affordable for your family.
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That still costs money. Yes, you can usually get a teaching/TA’ing gig which may cover your tuition and provide a stipend, although in many locations this stipend is not what you’d call a “living wage” and will need to be supplemented through other means (such as savings, loans, etc). It is not the same as finishing undergrad and getting a job. There is a good deal of financial sacrifice that comes along with a PhD program, so it is still a good idea to plan for that now, rather than later.
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Based upon that, I would expect a hair less success than I suggested - but you should get into at least a couple total from your mid and upper range.
Good luck!
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In that case Pomona would be an excellent choice.
Run the NPC.
(Note that no PHD program worth doing is unfunded.)
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Arizona sends the 10th most nationwide to Physics PhD.
If adjusted for enrollment, you have schools like New Mexico Mining and Tech, Florida Tech, RHIT and others with great aid near the top.
https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/dataverse/top-feeders-phd-programs#physics
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For a physics Phd Lawrence, WI, is top-notch - express interest and it’s a safety for you.
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I disagree, I think only UCSD and UCSB may be matches and I’m not even entirely confident with those, the others are reaches given their acceptance rates.
There’s a dad on here. I can be wrong of the major but is international and his son is going for a Phd - I want to say Physics but maybe I’m wrong. They settled on Kalamazoo and he was impressed with the interaction with department faculty.
@Andygp are you out there? Was your journey physics? You got into some great schools like Washington and you might have insight for this student.
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I believe andygp’s kid ended up at Wooster. Going from memory so I could be mistaken.
Also, I wouldn’t use the term “settled” because my recollection is they were very impressed with Kalamazoo and it was a top contender to the end.
Either way, it is great bringing up these schools that may not be on the radar of many on CC, especially international families like andy’s. 
As a midwesterner the OP may be familiar, of course.
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Congratulations on building such a strong record while in high school! You are strong enough to be accepted to any university in the U.S.
Since you said that cost is a factor and that ideally you’re seeking merit $$$, it would be helpful for you to share your family’s preferred budget with us. That way, we know what kind of merit money to be shooting for, or can suggest schools that offer limited merit aid but whose sticker costs will come in within budget. Additionally, have your family run the Net Price Calculator (NPC) at Stanford or Duke to see if your family might qualify for any financial aid. It the NPC results come back as affordable, then schools that don’t offer merit aid but are sufficiently generous can still be an option.
For someone interested in merit aid (or costs that are significantly below UC & Top X schools’ sticker prices) in southern states for physics and philosophy, these are some schools that I would consider. Some of the schools listed below are smaller than the ones on your list, but if you’re considering U. of Tulsa, I think they would also be worthy contenders. Your list appeared to be more mid-size to large schools, so I included more of those as well. If you end up letting us know more about your size (and other preferences), then I can tailor some additional suggestions for you. I’ve sorted these schools by my guesses as to what you chances for admission might be.
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
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Texas Tech: About 33k undergrads and I think you’d get a full ride here as a NMF. Don’t get bogged down by the name…it offers through a doctorate in music, history, political science, English, etc, as well as a Master’s in philosophy.
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U. of Denver (CO): About 6200 undergrads, and offers through a PhD in physics and a Master’s in philosophy, so you should have sufficient depth here.
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U. of Houston (TX): About 38k undergrads, and I’m sure they’d be very willing to woo you.
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U. of Texas-Dallas: About 22k undergrads and a very generous NMF package.
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U. of Tulsa (OK): About 2600 undergrads, and as others have mentioned, you’d get a full-ride here as a NMF. Offers through a PhD in physics, so plenty of depth here, but small enough of a grad program that you’d likely still get lots of opportunities here.
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U. of Utah: About 26k undergrads. Sunny with lots of outdoors opportunities and a well-reputed honors college. Utah makes it very easy for students to become residents, which can bring your costs for years 2-4 down dramatically (from about $42k for first year to less than $22k for subsequent years).
Likely (60-79%)
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Baylor (TX): About 15k undergrads. Offers through a PhD in both physics and philosophy so there should be sufficient depth for you for any of your interests.
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Furman (SC): About 2300 undergrads. Depending on your area of interest in physics, you might be very excited about its physics facilities funded in part by one of its alums that won a Nobel Prize, Charles Townes who helped develop the laser.
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Rhodes (TN): About 2k undergrads. Its physics department has lots of opportunities, including an $18,500 scholarship just for an incoming physics student.
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Southern Methodist (TX): About 7100 undergrads and offers through a PhD in physics.
Toss-Up (40-59%)
- Virginia Tech: About 30k undergrads here. Don’t overlook this campus because Tech is in its name. In the most recent year of data, at least 34 seniors majored in philosophy and 9 students earned their Master’s in philosophy. It also offers through graduate degrees in English, history, social sciences, drama, etc. Unlikely to get much in the way of merit aid, but sticker is about $48k, well below the UC prices.
Lower Probability (20-39%)
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Colorado College: About 2200 undergrads. This school is moving away from merit aid, but there are some small merit scholarships of $5-10k available. There is also the competitive Margaret T. Barnes scholarship for a student in the natural sciences (including physics) that covers full tuition.
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Davidson (NC): About 1900 undergrads. Its physics department might be very appealing to you. It also offers some substantial merit aid scholarships, including full tuition and full rides.
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U. of Miami (FL): About 12k undergrads and has some generous merit aid programs. Offers through a doctorate in both physics and philosophy.
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U. of Richmond (VA): About 3100 undergrads and offers lots of opportunities for its physics undergrads. Merit aid is also possible here.
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Wake Forest (NC): About 5400 undergrads. Offers through a PhD in physics, but it appears to be a small grad program, so there is likely to be lots of opportunities for undergrads, still. 17 philosophy majors in the most recent graduating class, so you’d have plenty of company with your interests.
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Washington & Lee (VA): About 2k undergrads. Its physics undergrads have made it into top graduate programs. Additionally, the Johnson scholarship is given to about 10% of entering students…providing them with a full ride.
Low Probability (less than 20%)
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Rice (TX): About 4500 undergrads. Also offers some merit aid, though this school is quite competitive for admission, much less a merit scholarship. Great opportunities here.
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Tulane (LA): About 8800 undergrads. Offers through a PhD in both physics and philosophy. Also offers some generous merit aid packages as well. Demonstrated interest is EXTREMELY important here.
Deferring to Others (@gumbymom, @ucbalumnus)
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Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo: About 21k undergrads. Don’t be fooled by it being a Polytechnic…this school also had 32 students in the most recently graduated class major in philosophy. A school with a great reputation, and as it’s part of the Cal State system instead of the UC one, the price is much more affordable (more like $45k rather than $72k). Your test scores won’t count here.
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San Diego State: About 32k undergrads and costs about $40k, rather than the UC’s $72k.
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My D22 was a NMF who went to a similar high school and had a mixed set of interests and extracurriculars — similar to you.
She wanted to stay on the West Coast so went ahead and did the extra UC application. For what it is worth, she was admitted to UCSB and UCD with prestigious merit scholarships— but very SMALL merit scholarships. She was waitlisted at UCLA and rejected at UCB and Stanford.
In the end, she decided all the UC schools were just too expensive considering she did not like them more than large public schools in other states and didn’t offer her more opportunities than she believed she could get elsewhere. Arguably, there might have been more research or internship opportunities, but also more competition, so it didn’t seem to be a real advantage.
If she were to do it again, she probably would not have bothered because none of the UC schools were twice as good as other options in her mind, but they cost twice as much.
Just food for thought. If you still want to aim for California, you might see if you can find an academic match at Cal Poly or another Cal State school or one of the private liberal arts colleges. Some of them provided better aid packages for us.
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Another option…Go to a strong undergrad that will give you excellent merit, do very, very well and then try for a UCB or a UCLA for your PhD. Here’s the thing - if you do grad school at a UC, you will qualify for in state tuition after one year (not the case for undergrad) and that, in turn, will be covered by any TA or RA position they offer you. Cost of living is high in these areas and your stipend will likely not fully cover it - that’s when your savings from going to a high merit award undergrad will come in handy and give you something to live on. A PhD in Physics from UCB or UCLA is pretty top notch, overall more affordable than an undergrad degree, and will carry far more weight than your undergrad degree.
(This is spoken from personal experience…I am an East Coaster who went to UCB for my PhD and did exactly this…California state residence after one year (this was something explicitly built into my financial aid package), tuition funded by TA position, stipend largely insufficient for living expenses, but had some savings in the bank so made it work. And no one ever asks where I did my undergrad degree.)
Thanks for these options. I don’t think we will qualify for any aid.
So merit aid is a consideration but would be willing to consider paying full price if necessary. I really like California and on visits seem to like mid-size or larger universities (but but prefer <25k or honors programs for very large schools).
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well, that’s two!