I’ve been looking at a lot of rankings for physics and they all seem to have totally different schools at the top of the list (besides HYPSM). I was just wondering how Brown/Cornell/UPenn stack up against other physics programs at less elite schools, like UMichigan or UMass Amherst.
They’re just fine.
Next question!
Seriously – Cornell!!! UPenn!! These are STEMy schools in the Ivy leagues.
Brown is just fine for the right person. Are you the right person?
UMich is just as good.
If you’re curious about any school look at the faculty, what the facutly individual interests are and if you’re interested in the same areas of physics.
If you can read academic papers, you should download them and take a look. The best thing you can do is to find a professor(s) who shares your interests and work with him/her – much more important than looking at the entire department. IMHO.
Download their papers and read them. That will tell you what you need to know.
Best of luck.
@Dustyfeathers Thanks for the response! I was just wondering if it was worth it to shell out a ton of more money to go to say Cornell for physics than to go to my state school (UMass Amherst), especially if I was planning on going to graduate school.
The physics curriculum at just about any research university in the US is equivalent. The rankings are solely dependent on research reputation and have very little to do with the quality of instruction at the undergraduate level. The proof of this is that you can get into highly selective PhD programs in physics from just about any university in the US, not just the ones you list.
The answer is, therefore, that any of the programs you mention is quite OK for a BS degree.