<p>I am an instate high school senior in Colorado and I'm currently applying for schools in hopes of being a physcist. I really like the theoretical stuff, high energy, nuclear, etc. I have UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, CU Boulder, and Possibly University of Michigan on my list in addition to my reach schools: MIT and Stanford. I am wondering if CU Boulder is still a good undergrad on par with the UC's and Michigan, or whether I should consider paying the insane amount of OOS tuition for a better education. I know it doesn't matter TOO much where you get an undergrad, but is the presitge, opportunity, and acedemic environment at the UC's and possibly Michigan worth the extra 20+ grand per year? Thanks in advance for any insights.</p>
<p>bump please</p>
<p>CU Boulder is definitely not on par with UMich or UCB (not to say that it isn’t a good school). I would think its on par with UCSB maybe slightly worse.</p>
<p>But if you want to be a physicist don’t worry too too much about school rank. To have any real career in physics you’ll at least need a master’s degree, which means you will have to attend graduate school. No matter where you go to undergrad, study hard and strive for that 4.0. Get involved in research and EC’s that you love and/or are related to your field. Do these things and you’ll have a great shot at getting into any top tier graduate school.</p>
<p>Don’t fall into the the collegeconfidential trap. Most of the posters here are overly obsessed with rank. I recently had a friend who got into UCLA medical school with a degree in game design from The Art Institute of Chicago.</p>
<p>remember, it’s not where you went; it’s who you are!</p>
<p>Finally, go to the school that you can afford best. Going to a marginally or moderately better school is not worth taking 30k of loans a year if you can go to CU Boulder for cheap. Unfortunately, there really isn’t a lot of good paying work for theoretical physicists. It’s not uncommon to see someone with a PhD in theoretical physics doing postdoctoral work at universities for no pay at all, so those college loans will probably be difficult to pay off if you go to a UC as an OOS’er.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>GoodDoc, UCSB has one of the finest physics departments in the US (top 10) and is ranked higher than Boulder’s. Top students at UCSB also have greater access to research through its College of Creative Studies, in which undergrads can do graduate-level work pretty much from the get go. </p>
<p>That said, I do agree that it’s not a good idea to pay over $50K a year for an undergraduate degree at a public school. Unless of course, money is absolutely no object.</p>