How strong is Princeton's physics department?

<p>In terms of national/internatioal ranking?</p>

<p>well, it is Princeton after all, so I guess it can't be too shabby...</p>

<p>FIVE nobel prize winners in physics among the current faculty and research staff, as of last reckoning. that's all you need to know.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.princeton.edu/pr/home/02/0814_nobel/hmcap.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.princeton.edu/pr/home/02/0814_nobel/hmcap.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Uh, very....</p>

<p>If by some chance you are female, research how many women full profs. there are. I know of one female physics student who left the department due to the old boys network feel of the place. There is a tendency to quickly weed out anyone who might not have had years of h.s.advanced physics before entering, and is not an obvious genious, or, horrors, wants to do sports or ECs. In contrast, Chem department seems to want to teach the young.</p>

<p>It has typically been regarded as among the two or three best in the world. The problem will not be lack of quality, but as fauve points out, could be exceedingly high expectations for physics undergraduate majors.</p>

<p>lol wow, this is quite intimidating</p>

<p>I heard its really theoretical and barely hands on.</p>

<p>so with a physics degree, what do most students do?</p>

<p>One option is to get a PhD. Many students also get jobs at tech companies such as Intel and Microsoft. Still others enjoy the subject but wish to pursue an unrelated career such as business.</p>

<p>Fortunately, for those who crave application over theory, there's a whole School of Engineering and Applied Science to help them scratch that itch.</p>

<p>
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I heard its really theoretical and barely hands on

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<p>yeah if you wanted an application-based physics one only need lok at the courses and go for the ones that state "application-emphasis".</p>

<p>physics is essentially theoretical anyway.. go further up the numbers start disappearing and everythings constants and letters burning through all the letters of the alphabet greek and every subscript you can think of</p>

<p>I believe it was 3rd on US News ranking. Certainly in the top 5.</p>

<p>whether it's strong or not doesn't matter (i'd assume it's in the top 5)... whether it's hard or not answer is YES YES YES!!!!!</p>

<p>Sweet. Princeton sounds amazing for physics.</p>

<p>Two words: Albert Einstein.</p>

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<p>Two more words: Richard Feynman.</p>

<p>Albert Einstein was at the Institute for Advanced Study, not Princeton University. In a letter to the Queen Elizabeth of Belguim written November 20, 1933 he described the town of Princeton: "A quaint ceremonious village of puny demi-gods on stilts" (Subtle is the Lord, the Science and the Life of Albert Einstein by Abraham Pais, Oxford UP, 1982)</p>

<p>on the contrary, "He found his quiet life at Princeton 'indescribably enjoyable,' and wrote his friend, the physicist Max Born, that he had 'settled down splendidly' -- 'I hibernate like a bear in its cave, and really feel more at home than ever before in all my varied existence.'"</p>

<p><a href="http://etcweb.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/einstein_albert.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://etcweb.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/einstein_albert.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Richard Feynman attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1939-</p>

<p>PHD later at Princeton</p>