<p>@ucbalumnus</p>
<p>You’re right. I think that if I got into Cal and UW I would almost surely pick UW. But I want to make sure that I apply to enough places I would be happy attending that if I don’t get into the University of Washington I will still have some options (albeit expensive ones). In fact I recently went on a tour for prospective physics students of the physics department at UW and was awed by their extensive research labs.</p>
<p>My only fear (and I know it is mostly irrational) is that my undergrad institution’s prestige will somehow limit my possibilities for grad school. I get especially worried when I see that many successful physicists were the type that went like MIT->Oxford->Caltech (postdoc). And not as many going like UofA->Berkeley->MIT (postdoc). And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you have to go to a prestigious school to be considered “successful” in your field. But as far as theoretical physics (which is what I am thinking about doing–experimental doesn’t interest me much) it seems as if the only funding to be had is at the “big name” schools. Please correct me if I am wrong.</p>