<p>I'm pretty sure I want to major in physics (if possible with a concentration in astronomy) with a minor/dual major in chemistry. I've searched except I can't find a recent list of the top undergraduate schools in physics.</p>
<p>Shameless plug for my employer: University of Colorado is well regarded in Physics and has connections to the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). I do hope that you realize that a graduate degree will really be necessary to do more than rote data analysis in this area, but that shouldn't scare you since nearly all science phd's are funded (stipend + tuition waiver).</p>
<p>Yep, thanks. I know about the need to attend graduate school before I can do much in physics. The graduate school counts more anyway, right? But for now I just need good recommendations for undergrad eduation.</p>
<p>If you are willing to accept a non-urban school, Grinnell College has an amazing and well-supported science department. Several recent physics students have gone on in astronomy (they have their own observatory and those skies don't have big city lights to contend with)...it is a wonderful place. I only wish my daughter had gone with physics (her second interest) instead of history (her first).</p>
<p>In which state do you live? How did you do on the SATs?</p>
<p>Cornell University is excellent for both physics and astronomy.</p>
<p>Gourman Report Rankings
Physics:
Cal Tech
Harvard
Cornell
Princeton
MIT
Berkeley
Stanford
UChicago
UIUC
Columbia
Yale
Georgia Tech
UCSD
UCLA
Penn
Wisconsin
Washington
UMich
Maryland-College Park
UCSB
Texas
CMU
Minnesota
Rensselaer
Brown
Hopkins
Michigan State
Notre Dame
Stony Brook
Case Western
Northwestern
Rochester
Pitt
Penn State
Colorado</p>
<p>Gourman Report
Chemistry:
Cal Tech
Berkeley
Harvard
MIT
Columbia
Stanford
UIUC
UChicago
UCLA
Wisconsin
Cornell
Northwestern
Princeton
Yale
Purdue
UNC
Ohio State
Texas
Iowa State
Indiana
UCSD
Minnesota
Notre Dame
Penn State
Brown
Rochester
CMU</p>
<p>Gourman Report Rankings
Astrophysics:
MIT
Cal Tech
Princeton
Indiana
Minnesota
Harvard
Purdue
Penn
Virginia
Oklahoma</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Well, the Gourman report you're using is probably from 1995. The new one should be out soon.</p>
<p>In addition to the universities already posted I'd add a number of LACs. They proportionately feed significantly larger numbers of kids than uni's do into grad programs in physics, chemistry and astronomy/astrophysics.</p>
<p>Notable suggestions:</p>
<p>CARLETON (largest percentage of physical science majors among all non-tech LACs and possibly all universities, a top 3 feeder in each of these majors to PhD programs, on-campus observatory)
Carleton</a> College: Physics and Astronomy: Physics at Carleton
Goodsell</a> Observatory, Carleton College</p>
<p>HARVEY MUDD (if you'd consider a pure tech school, great offerings in chem and physics, know little about their astronomy/astrophysics)
[Physics[/url</a>]</p>
<p>WILLIAMS (again, unusually large numbers of students in the physical sciences, on-campus observatory, top math department serves as a supporting player)
[url=<a href="http://www.williams.edu/Physics/%5DWilliams">http://www.williams.edu/Physics/]Williams</a> College Department of Physics](<a href="http://www.hmc.edu/academicsclinicresearch/academicdepartments/physics1.html%5DPhysics%5B/url">http://www.hmc.edu/academicsclinicresearch/academicdepartments/physics1.html)
Hopkins</a> Observatory</p>
<p>I'd also look at strong programs at Grinnell, Reed, and Swarthmore among LACs and add Rice in the small uni category.</p>
<p>Here are the top 25 future PhD producers in physics (five years old, so still current enough):</p>
<p>PhDs and Doctoral Degrees:
ten years (1994 to 2003) from NSF database</p>
<p>Number of Undergraduates:
ten years (1989 to 1998) from IPEDS database</p>
<p>Formula: Total PhDs divided by Total Grads, multiplied by 1000 </p>
<p>Note: Does not include colleges with less than 1000 graduates over the ten year period</p>
<p>1 California Institute of Technology 96
2 Harvey Mudd College 64
3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 29
4 New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology 20
5 Reed College 13
6 Carleton College 13
7 Princeton University 13
8 University of Chicago 13
9 Rice University 13
10 Case Western Reserve University 9
11 Harvard University 9
12 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 9
13 Swarthmore College 9
14 Haverford College 8
15 Stevens Institute of Technology 8
16 Whitman College 8
17 Grinnell College 7
18 Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 7
19 Colorado School of Mines 7
20 Yale University 6
21 Williams College 6
22 University of Rochester 6
23 Amherst College 6
24 Goshen College 5
25 Cornell University, All Campuses 5</p>
<p>Hopkins, Duke, Amherst, Holy Cross, Notre Dame.</p>