<p>I was wondering what university you guys can recommend for me. I am interested in physics and history. I think I would like to major in physics and minor in history. I am not completely sure but am leaning towards that. I think a large university would be best since I am not totally sure this is the direction I want to go.</p>
<p>I have good SAT scores - 2170 in SAT I so far and 740 in chemistry SAT II and 740 in math 1 SAT II, I have retaken the SAT I and hope I scored higher - I will know on 5/30.</p>
<p>I am a junior and have taken AP Calc AB and AP US History this year. I will be taking AP physics c and AP World history and AP Calc BC next year.</p>
<p>History and Physics are pretty vanilla! Most good universities will probably have a good History and Physics department. </p>
<p>Brown University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Duke University
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Techology (Political Science rather than History)
Northwestern University
Princeton University
Rice University
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley
University of California-Los Angeles
University of Chicago
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Pennsylvania
University of Texas-Austin
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Yale University</p>
<p>I know you said you would rather have a large university, but some smaller colleges offer amazing offerings in many traditional majors like History or Physics. Schools like Amherst, Carleton, Dartmouth, Harvey Mudd, Haverford, Pomona, Swarthmore etc...</p>
<p>In short, you have a lot of options. Focus on fit rather than department quality.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help. These are very selective schools. I don't know if I even have a shot at schools like these. I have good grades and scores but certainly don't have a "hook" so to speak. I have all the usual ECs, band, president of a club, play water polo on jv and have managed swimming for 4 years. Actually I'd like to manage swimming in college - maybe that would help. Yearbook Committee, write for the political magazine, boy scout. But a zillion other kids do stuff like this. </p>
<p>I have been accepted into a material sciences course given at Penn this summer for Philadelphia area high school juniors. They only take about 20 kids and I am very excited about this course. I'm hoping it will help with my college application as well.</p>
<p>What is your opinion about my applying to such selective schools.</p>
<p>Gourman Report ranking for undergrad history</p>
<p>Yale
Berkeley
Princeton
Harvard
Stanford
Michigan
Columbia
Chicago
Johns Hopkins
Wisconsin
Cornell
Indiana U
U Penn
Brown
UNC Chapel Hill
UCLA
Northwestern
UVA
U Texas Austin
U Rochester
U Illinois UC
U Notre Dame
U Washington
U Minnesota
U Iowa
Duke
Rutgers
UC Santa Barbara
UC San Diego
NYU
Vanderbilt
Washington U St Louis
U Maryland CP
Ohio St
Missouri Columbia
Emory
U Pitt
Rice
SUNY Stonybrook
Dartmouth
Brandeis
U Kansas
Boston U
UC Davis
SUNY Buffalo
Michigan St</p>
<p>Gourman Report undergraduate rankings for Physics:</p>
<p>Caltech
Harvard
Cornell
Princeton
MIT
UC Berkeley
Stanford
U Chicago
U Illinois Urbana Champaign
Columbia
Yale
Georgia Tech
UC San Diego
UCLA
U Penn
U Wisconsin Madison
U Washington
U Michigan Ann Arbor
U Maryland College Park
UC Santa Barbara
U Texas Austin
Carnegie Mellon
U Minnesota
RPI
Brown
Johns Hopkins
Michigan State
Notre Dame
SUNY Stony Brook
Case Western
Northwestern
U Rochester
U Pittsburgh
Penn State University Park</p>
<p>I also really like Gourman. According to him, the top 6 universities in the United States at the undergraduate level are #1 Princeton, #2 Harvard, #3Michigan, #4 Yale, #5 Stanford and #6 Cornell. I attended two of those schools, I have every reason to love Gourman! Hehe!!! </p>
<p>But stepping back a little, many of his rankings seem too mechanical. He does not take many things into account. I definitely think Gourman does a decent job ranking universities and departments, but like any ranking, Gourman is flawed. That's why I don't like rankings. I much prefer groupings.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your messages. Where do I get this Gourman Report? Is it online or do I buy it at a Barnes & Noble type of place? Sorry to sound so ignorant but I am a junior and just really getting into the college thing.</p>
<p>I don't know Joshua. MIT and Caltech have the top 2 Physics departments. After those two, you have a half dozen Physics departments that can lay a pretty legitimate claim to top 5 honors, and Chicago is one of them, so are Cal, Cornell, Harvard and Princeton.</p>
<p>Michigan would be a solid safety/low match for you, and MSU would be a very good safety, as it has a few amazing programs in Physics, and is a solid department as a whole. If money was a problem, you'd probably get some merit aid out of them too. Nuclear and Astro -physics are extremely good there, and they have the cyclotron which brings top physics students in.</p>
<p>I think Cornell/UM/MSU would be a good combo for you.</p>
<p>Any of these universities mentioned will be able to give you what you want (subtract MIT and CalTech if you're looking for social sciences/humanities).</p>
<p>Cornell quietly offers some the best academic experiences in the nation, (I'm saying this through my brother, who graduated this year, who enjoyed his classes and the people who taught them), but not the intellectual life of some of the other schools. If you want to be at a school that has strong academics but is extremely intellectual (i.e. students are having a conversation about who hooked up with whom at a frat party and slowly the conversation turns to the Great Vowel Shift or Karl Marx), PM me and I'll tell you all about Chicago.</p>
<p>If you're looking for a mix of academics and a more toned-down intellectual scene, I would say Berkeley/Harvard/Yale/Stanford/Princeton.</p>