<p>I'm a junior in high school and have my career choices down to physics and engineering. If i decide to pursue physics how much does my undergrad school matter if i plan on going straight to grad school? I'm not talking about a crappy school nobody has heard of versus a top tier school. I am wondering if it would make much of a difference in admission to a grad school if I graduated from Michigan State instead of The University of Michigan? Would MSU be a better bet if i can earn a higher GPA there and possibly graduate with honors? I want to be able to get into the best physics graduate program I possibly can like UChicago. I am having a hard time deciding which school would be better for my situation so any help would be much appreciated! Thank you very much</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know how undergraduate physics/astronomy research is at MSU, UMich, and U of I UC?</p>
<p>First of all…don’t get too fixed on one program yet. If you’re a junior in high school, you haven’t taken college-level physics classes and really settled on a research area. You select a graduate school based upon research interests, so it may turn out that Chicago is not the best place to go for your particular interests in physics. It could be Caltech, or Penn State, or CU-Boulder or Stanford.</p>
<p>* I am wondering if it would make much of a difference in admission to a grad school if I graduated from Michigan State instead of The University of Michigan?*</p>
<p>Not necessarily. What really matters is what you do in undergrad, not where you go. Hypothetically speaking, one school might be a better choice if it had better research opportunities for undergrads (and not just more cutting-edge research, but actual opportunities for you to do research as an undergrad), better libraries, better study spaces, and more well-known researchers in physics whose recommendations might hold more clout with their colleagues.</p>
<p>Michigan State and the University of Michigan are actually pretty similarly ranked in graduate physics programs (top 10-15ish). That doesn’t mean that their undergrad physics programs have the same ranking (there really aren’t rankings for undergrad programs in the liberal arts and sciences); it just means that the research output and other things that go into a doctoral program are roughly similar in terms of reputation at the two schools. (However, [the</a> rankings I’m looking at](<a href=“NRC Rankings Overview: Physics”>NRC Rankings Overview: Physics) are nearly 10 years old, so things may have changed a bit.) For that reason, I wouldn’t necessarily assume that you can get a higher GPA at MSU than you’d get at Michigan. However, I also wouldn’t necessarily assume that the opportunities are better at Michigan, either. This pretty much goes for UIUC, too, since UIUC’s physics department is about on par with Michigan’s and MSU’s.</p>
<p>I think you should just choose based upon other factors that appeal to you. You may want to cheer for one team or the other, or the location of Michigan State may appeal to you more or vice versa. There may be more student orgs at Michigan that appeal to you, or some other special offerings (like you play clarinet and there’s a clarinet choir). It also may be meaningful that UM is overall just a better reputed school than Michigan state, just in case you change your mind and decide to do…I don’t know, consulting or law school or whatever.</p>
<p>My brother had a 2390 SAT, could have gone to Carnegie Mellon or MIT as a physics major. (we live in VA). Instead he went to William and Mary which isn’t famous for its physics program but know he has gotten internships at fermi lab last summer and is headed over to CERN in Geneva, Switzerland this summer. This is evidence that you don’t need that expensive big name school to be successful. Id say you should go to whichever you like more but I dont really know about either school except UMich has a strong engineering school. I agree with julliet for her points as well</p>
<p>Agreeing with the other posters. Our ds loves physics and has been blessed with some awesome physicists in his life. He is an advanced student and has been dual enrolled at our local university for the past couple of yrs and has been given opportunities for research with a professor who is part of teams with CERN and Super 8. This summer he is working on a graphene research project. </p>
<p>Every physicist he has worked with has told him the exact same thing…where he does his undergrad is not as important as what he does while he is there. High GPA, actively involved in research, high GRE scores, and great letters of recommendation are the key. He opted for a university that guaranteed him access to research. Research is where his heart is, so earning a minor in research was simply a perfect match. </p>
<p>Fwiw, ds is going to double in EE and physics bc there is so much overlap. Having the applied concepts from engineering is simply an added bonus.</p>
<p>Another proud parent heard from. Congratulations, mom; your boy sounds like a great kid. Graphene research is potentially world-changing. The EE part of his studies will come in very handy if he continues to be interested in graphene. It’s a very interesting material. </p>
<p>@jack8205 I actually am going to grad school in physics this fall and was accepted to UChicago physics (I ultimately decided to go to Harvard). My take on this issue is what matters most in your application are letters and research experience followed by course rigor (GPA falls into this category). </p>
<p>The reason going to a top school might help you in admissions seems to be because there are more opportunities there to take difficult/grad courses, to do really outstanding research, and to get letters from well respected faculty (this I think carries a lot of weight). However, even if you go to a less prestigious school you still can do REUs for the summer, and if you were talking about a university like MSU there would still be a lot of opportunities on campus. </p>
<p>I would go to Michigan if you have the opportunity to. I am very familiar with the physics department there, the faculty are fantastic and very friendly and students get a great education and do great research there. From what I have seen on my grad school visits, Michigan students get into great grad schools.</p>
<p>Michigan is actually top 15 and Michigan state is top 30 contrary to what was posted earlier so Michigan is definitely higher regarded in physics. I would also say UIUC is a bit better than Michigan in physics (UIUC is top ten, a really wonderful program).</p>
<p>@Poeme I think those are my top three choices and it really might just come down to where I get accepted and the costs considering UIUC is out of state for me. That’s good to know that any of the three should offer me a good education with good opportunities. I’m curious where you went for undergraduate school? </p>
<p>If you go to Michigan or UIUC you will basically have the same advantages as the students from places like Cornell or UChicago. When I went to the open houses, I noticed that there were also a lot of students from state schools with great physics grad programs in addition to the students from top undergrad schools like the Ivies or Chicago. I actually did an REU at Michigan so in addition to the students in the REU, I also saw Michigan students doing very impressive research. </p>
<p>For example, most people think that UCSB is a party school. However, they are actually a world class research university and have top ten programs in Physics and chemical engineering. I saw several UCSB students at physics open houses at places like Harvard and Stanford (also at Michigan). I also saw several UIUC and Michigan students as well, actually I saw more students from these places than from some schools like Columbia.</p>
<p>I just graduated from Penn. We have a great undergrad program with lots of research opportunities and great (and also very nice and friendly) professors, but it is quite a bit smaller than a lot of places so not as many students apply to grad school. I think it might have been nice to have more physics majors in my year. I do have two friends going to UChicago. It’s interesting you mentioned that program because that was actually one of my top choices after I got accepted. It’s a phenomenal program with a rich history and a lot of funding. The new provost at U of C is a physicist so they are pouring tons of money into the department, especially in condensed matter and AMO. The grad students also seem very happy.</p>
<p>I’m glad to know UIUC and UMich would be good schools to attend. I am not really interested in any private schools for my undergrad. I just want to be sure I’ll be able to prepare myself for success in grad school by having all of the opportunities I would need wherever I end up at. Thanks for all of the advice it has really helped me in my decision making and good luck at Harvard :)</p>
<p>I recently went on a visit to MSU and learned a lot about their honors college. I would meet their requirements to get into the honors program and being a member of it opens a lot of doors such as more difficult classes and more research opportunities and some other cool perks. Would the added opportunities be something important to consider when picking a school? Would graduating with honors help with admittance to grad programs?</p>
<p>How does MSU physics stand against UMich and UIUC? Would the quality of my education and opportunities be hindered by attending MSU?</p>
<p>Research opportunities are always good. UMich would offer more opportunities in other fields if you decide when an undergrad that you don’t actually want to enter grad school for physics after all.</p>