<p>Most colleges have a physics major but not many have "engineering physics" or "applied and engineering physics". Below is a list of some of the "engineering physics" programs I have identified. How would you rate them (top 10 or 20, separately for undergraduate and graduate)? Are there any other good "engineering physics" programs (especially PhD programs that I might be missing)?</p>
<p>U of Arizona (UG only?)
Caltech (UG only?)
UC Berkeley (UG only?)
UC San Diego (UG and PhD?)
U Colorado Boulder (UG only?)
Yale (UG and PhD?)
U Illinois U-C (UG only?)
U Illinois Chicago (UG only?)
Harvard (UG only?)
Tufts (UG only?)
WPI (UG only?)
U of Michigan (UG only?)
Washington U St Louis (UG and PhD?)
Dartmouth (UG only?)
Columbia (UG and PhD?)
Cornell (UG only?)
RPI (UG and PhD?)
Syracuse (UG?)
NYU (UG only?)
Case Western (UG only?)
Lehigh (UG?)
U Pitt (UG?)
Brown (UG?)
U Virginia (UG and PhD?)
Washington and Lee (UG only?)</p>
<p>Engineering physics is a rather rare field. Only a dozen or so top programs offer it. If I had to name the top 5 or 6 programs, they would be:</p>
<p>California Institute of Technology
Cornell University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of California-Berkeley
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.</p>
<p>Other decent programs include:
Harvard University
Princeton University
University of Wisconsin-Madison</p>
<p>I graduated with an EP degree from Cornell. Of those that you listed, there are UG programs at Cornell, Columbia (i think), RPI, and Boulder (i think). Other schools include the Colorado School of Mines and Princeton (but only as a subfield or minor of EE).</p>
<p>This is going off my memory so do not take that list as fact. Look around school websites and try to find out what's available. It will be listed under Engineering.</p>
<p>The top program in Applied and Engineering Physics for UG is at Cornell. For PhD, the top programs are at Cornell, Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, and basically any other top science school that offers it.</p>
<p>EP programs vary VERY WIDELY from school to school. It's not ABET accredited everywhere so schools have a lot of flexibility in designing the curriculum. For example, the EP program at Cornell is extremely physics heavy. You will basically be majoring in physics then required to take a bunch of technical electives, usually in engineering although I personally chose not to. At a school like RPI and Mines, the program is more engineering heavy with a smaller emphasis on the physics.</p>
<p>Thank you both for the very, very helpful replies. I really appreciate it. I was surprised at how rare this major is. I did not know it wasn't an ABET accredited field. I did not know that Princeton and Colorado Mines had programs. There are no rankings of it anywhere that I could find. </p>
<p>It is sometimes called "applied physics", too. That is what the PhD program at Cornell is called and I just found an "Applied Physics" PhD program at Michigan. The Applied Physics PhD core curriculum at Michigan is also mostly physics.</p>
<p>Perhaps the quality of "engineering physics" programs (and similar) corresponds to the quality of the Physics Department or to the quality of the engineering school.</p>
<p>ABET accreditation is dependent on the school. Cornell chose to drop it because the department felt it was too restrictive for them. Students go on to top graduate schools in both physics and engineering so it's not really a hindrance.</p>
<p>Also, Yale has a very strong PhD program in Applied Physics. I think it has a UG program but I'm not sure how good it is. </p>
<p><em>cheap plug</em> The top ranked UG department for EP is at Cornell <em>cheap plug</em> but I recommend you contact faculty at schools you are interested in and ask them about their UG curriculums. In my opinion that is more important than some type of subjective ranking.</p>
<p>Oh and just to clear something up: the UNDERGRADUATE degree is called Engineering Physics. The GRADUATE degree is called Applied Physics.</p>
<p>Actually Collegehelp, there is a ranking. The USNWR this year for the first time published rankings of the top undergraduate programs for Engineering Physics. </p>
<h1>1 Cornell University</h1>
<h1>2 California Institute of Technology</h1>
<h1>2 University of California-Berkeley</h1>
<h1>4 University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign</h1>
<p>shizz, you are to be congratulated for making it through that outstanding but highly demanding program at obviously a high level of performance. For those that don't know, this is no trivial accomplishment.</p>
<p>Alexandre-that USNWR ranking was a great find. Awesome. Thanks so much. What luck. I had heard a rumor that Cornell was ranked first by someone but had no idea where it was coming from.</p>
<p>lkf725-I did not know about Pitt's undergrad engineering physics program. I checked to see if they have a PhD program but could not find one. I really love U Pitt and the city of Pittsburg. Thanks.</p>
<p>shizz-Your first-hand information and insights were really useful! Thanks for the clarification about engineering physics/applied physics. I was having trouble identifying PhD programs because I was searching under the wrong names. I knew that the undergrad at Cornell was called "Applied and Engineering Physics" but my College Board Index of Majors and Graduate Degrees lists both undergrad and graduate under "engineering physics" and does not include the heading "applied physics".</p>