Looking for a list of colleges

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello everybody :)</p>

<p>I'd first like to say that I already have quite an extensive list of colleges, but I'd really like some input from the experts here at CC ;)</p>

<p>About me: I currently have a 4.0 average at a rural school in Nebraska, and am either ranked 2nd or 3rd out of a class of 72. My May SAT was a 2040 (680/690/670), a magnificent jump from the 1840 I received in March. Unfortunately I really do not have extracurriculars besides Track and Field and NHS because there really isn't much more offered at my school. No reason to complain though :) </p>

<p>College type: The size of the school does not matter to me at all. The size of the city that's around it, however, does. I don't want to be trapped in a small, rural town again :(. Anything larger than a rural town would be great though, so 50,000+. Oh, and I definitely, definitely do not want to go to a Liberal Arts College. They are out of the question! As for the campus, I do not really care about its looks. Oh, and I'd really prefer a school on either coast, but I'd be willing to attend something in the midwest if it was near a large town.</p>

<p>Major: I'm hardset on my major: Astrophysics. The college must offer this. (More specifically, I'm interested in theoretical particle physics, quantum physics, and the application thereof to Astrophysics. I don't believe there is a undergraduate degree for such a thing, though.)</p>

<p>Social: I don't want to go to a drinking school. I really don't know what to say in this section besides that. If the school has a lot of social events that will be enjoyable, great; if not, that's fine too. </p>

<p>Misc: I'm in need of a school that offers a large amount of financial aid, as my family is quite poor. (<$30,000/year)</p>

<p>If I forgot anything, feel free to tell me what :) Thanks for all the help!</p>

2

<p>hypernovae, I'm looking for prospective colleges, too. I wish I could help you more, but the only thing I would suggest is looking into a state scholarship guarantee. Here in Florida, we have a Bright Futures Scholarship which guarentees a full ride at a public univ. and money for books if you have 75 hrs. community service, 1270/1600 SATs, 3.5+ GPA, and meet course requirements. Even better, if you're in the top 10 or 20 percent rank, you're guaranteed admittion to at least one state school.</p>

<p>Is there anything like that where you live?</p>

3

<p>There are no colleges in Nebraska that offer an Astrophysics major. Therefore they are really out of the question. Regardless, I will most likely apply to University of Lincoln as a safety if all else goes down the drain.</p>

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<p>Boston University
UC Santa Cruz
Penn State
Ohio State
U Arizona
U Michigan
Cornell (reach)
University of Chicago (reach)
UC Berkeley (reach)</p>

5

<p>Would love some more input :)</p>

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<p>I agree with warblersrule - Penn State has a good program. However, it is a state school that does not tend to gives lots of money to out of staters. I would apply to it since you have a good shot at whatever funds they have, but don't count on lots of money.</p>

<p>UMich is strong - ditto state money issue.</p>

<p>I would concentrate on the private uni's. Boston University, Northwestern and USC seems like good possibilities. Good luck!</p>

7

<p>All of those places have strong astrophysics programs? According to CB, only 3 of them do. (Cal, BU, and UCSC)</p>

<p>Edit: I've noticed a lot of colleges like to call Astrophysics "Astronomy & Physics", which sometimes knocks them off the list of schools with Astrophysics. Maybe this is the reason?</p>

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<p>I would say Emory except astrophysics isn't my area. They do offer a major. Look at:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.physics.emory.edu/undergrad/bs-phys-astro.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.physics.emory.edu/undergrad/bs-phys-astro.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Emory is in Atlanta. It is a mid-size research university that concentrates on undergraduate education. The people at Emory supply a lot of "positive peer pressure" and most plan to go to grad school. There are no D1 teams but intramurals are huge. I think you would like the environment. The 50% SAT ranges are V 640-720 and M 660-740 and that would make it a match school for you. Emory has one of the largest endowments of any school in the US and is generous with financial aid.</p>

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<p>hypernovae, you're right about the combination of the programs. Some of the best astrophysics programs exist as concentrations within a physics major.</p>

<p>Also, CB cannot always be trusted for major searches. The University of Chicago is not listed; however, it has an extremely strong program. See [url=<a href="http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level3.asp?id=430%5Dhere%5B/url"&gt;http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level3.asp?id=430]here[/url&lt;/a&gt;].&lt;/p>

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<p>If you're interested in theoretical particle physics, you're Ph.D. will eventually be in physics, so maybe you should be looking more at physics programs then astronomy/astrophysics programs. Almost any professor you'll find who says they work on theoretical particle physics will be in a physics department and call themselves a physicist and not an astronomer.</p>

<p>Graduate programs rankings cab be found at (though slightly out of date):
<a href="http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/history/graham/change.htm#1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/history/graham/change.htm#1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Not all schools that have a graduate program in astronomy/astrophysics have an undergrad program, UC-Santa Cruz, for example.</p>

<p>I graduated from the Astronomy & Astrophysics program at Penn State and the Schreyer Honors College and I loved it. I'm at Stanford for graduate school now.</p>

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<p>I contacted CB about their "major search" to see how colleges become listed on it. The adcoms at the colleges enter the data themselves.</p>

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<p>"Not all schools that have a graduate program in astronomy/astrophysics have an undergrad program, UC-Santa Cruz, for example." - kcs149</p>

<p>Actually, UC-Santa Cruz does have an undergrad astrophysics program.</p>

<p><a href="http://apps.collegeboard.com/search/CollegeDetail.jsp?collegeId=3958&profileId=7%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://apps.collegeboard.com/search/CollegeDetail.jsp?collegeId=3958&profileId=7&lt;/a>
A bachelor's degree in astrophysics is listed on the collegeboard website as being offered at UCSC.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.astro.ucsc.edu/undergrads.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.astro.ucsc.edu/undergrads.html&lt;/a>
UCSC undergraduate astrophysics link.</p>

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<p>Santa Cruz does have an astrophsyics program, but it's adminstered by the physics department. I couldn't find out whether the degree granted is a BS in physics or a BS in astronomy/astrophysics.</p>

<p>So, it depends on what your definition of program is: if you demand an autonomous astrophysics department which grants its own degrees, then UC-Santa Cruz doesn't qualify. However, if you're willing to accept programs adminstered by physics departments, it does. UCSC is a fine school for astrophysics, regardless of who administers the undergrad program.</p>

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<p>To the OP: I'd suggest you look at Case Western Reserve. They have an exceptional experiential astrophysics research program and are quite generous with both merit scholarships and financial aid. </p>

<p>The UC schools, unfortunately, are not particularly generous with financial aid for out of state students so I would place them low on your list. However, the University of Arizona might be an excellent choice for you on the west coast. Another school which you might look at is the University of New Mexico (<a href="http://panda.unm.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://panda.unm.edu/&lt;/a> for their physics/astronomy department) which has a history of being generous with merit scholarships and financial aid for top out of state students. I have friends who are both successful astrophysicists (both are now at UCSC, but have taught at Cornell, Princeton and Cal Tech in the past) and they think highly of all three of these programs.</p>

<p>By the way, neither of my friends majored specifically in astrophysics on the undergraduate level. One majored in physics with a concentration in astronomy at Carelton before going on to grad school at Princeton and Postdoc at Cal Tech. The other majored in astronomy with a concentration in physics at Harvard before completing her doctorate at Cornell and Princeton. Both are well-known and well-funded astrophysicists and I know, because I have asked them this question before, that they believe an undergraduate degree specifically in astrophysics can be somewhat limiting to future career prospects. They therefore often advise students to major in either physics or astronomy, with concentrations/majors in the other area, and focus on astrophysics specifically in graduate school. </p>

<p>If you need significant financial aid, you would be wise to cast as wide a net as possible and remain open to the idea of either an astrophysics program administered by a physics department or an astronomy program with an astrophysics research component. But that's just my opinion. :)</p>

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<p>Wow, thanks for all the input. I would have never guessed places like Emory or all of the other schools listed (besides the ones named on CB) had programs in Astrophysics. </p>

<p>Carolyn, your post was extremely helpful. Since I'm interested in theoretical particle physics, I guess it wouldn't be beneficial to limit myself strictly to astrophysics as an undergraduate major. </p>

<p>I guess this realiziation prompts the question: Could somebody give me a rundown of schools with good undergraduate physics classes? (I'm looking for schools more around my level, of course) Thanks again :)</p>

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<p>If you apply to Emory, make sure that you show a lot of interest. They seem to react well to that. If you can't visit or go to one of their local presentation, call them and get a copy of their DVD tour. Stand out on the essay and tie your activity list for EC's back to the essay. Your EC's are not strong, but make up for that by considering extensive self-study in astronomy and physics to be an EC. In the essay, show that you have researched the school and mention some specific info about programs/facilities at the school. Your class rank and the fact that you are from Nebraska should serve you well.</p>

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<p>Hyper,
What I'd suggest is that you use the resources of the American Institute of Physics. If you go to the site below, they have an extensive list of undergraduate physics (and astronomy) programs, with details on each school. While you're on the site, be sure to read the excellent article "Does it matter where I go to college" which talks about what to look for in evaluating and comparing undergrad physics programs.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/undergradtrends.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/undergradtrends.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Draw up a list of 15-20 or so schools that look interesting to you. Visit their department websites and get a sense for their approach to undergrad education, the types of research they're involved with, etc. Compare and contrast. You might even try emailing one or two faculty members from each school, introducing yourself, and explaining your personal interests. Ask them what they would recommend you look for in terms of evaluating programs or in terms of specific programs. If you go to the AIM main site <a href="http://www.aip.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.aip.org&lt;/a> you will find a link for "education" - go there and find the list of schools that have student AIM chapters. You may be able to connect with some students in the physics departments that way to get more informed data then you are likely to get here in a broad discussion group.</p>

<p>As I said, because you need financial aid and are very likely to be eligible for some merit scholarships, you should cast a wide net in terms of your options. Do not be swayed merely by "prestige" but look closely at what each potential school offers, including some of the schools you may never have heard of before. Do NOT shut the door on liberal arts colleges - some, like Reed in Portland Oregon, have absolutely fantastic undergraduate physics programs and may be more generous with money than you would receive as an out of state student at a large public university. Then, check out what sort of merit money and financial aid you are likely to receive at various options. When you get down to about 10 good solid schools, feel free to email me and I'd be happy to do some research for you in terms of financial aid at the schools on your list.</p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>

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<p>Just thought I'd give you one "list" to consider. These are the schools that have the highest percentages of undergrads going on to receive doctorates in physics (Note, these are percentages, not raw numbers) These schools would be a very good place to start in terms of looking at department websites. Once you get a sense of what these types of schools offer in terms of undergraduate physics education, you can use that as a benchmark in comparing other programs. You will soon be able to spot what makes some programs excellent, some good and others just so-so. I'm not saying THESE are the schools you should apply to, but I am saying that they make a good benchmark for further research into other schools, as do many of the schools that have already been mentioned on this thread. (Be sure you're focusing on UNDERGRADUATE program information when you do look at various schools, some schools are excellent for grad school but not so great for undergrads). Again, cast a wide net, look at many options, compare and contrast. </p>

<p>California Institute of Technology <a href="http://www.caltech.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.caltech.edu&lt;/a>
Harvey Mudd <a href="http://www.hmc.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.hmc.edu&lt;/a>
Massachussetts Institute of Technology <a href="http://www.mit.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.mit.edu&lt;/a>
Reed <a href="http://www.reed.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.reed.edu&lt;/a>
New MExico Institute of Mining <a href="http://www.nmt.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.nmt.edu&lt;/a>
University of Chicago <a href="http://www.chicago.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.chicago.edu&lt;/a>
Princeton <a href="http://www.princeton.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.princeton.edu&lt;/a>
Carleton College <a href="http://www.carleton.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.carleton.edu&lt;/a>
Rice <a href="http://www.rice.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.rice.edu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>With your interest in astrophysics and quantum theory, you might be interested in reading "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene. It is the latest hot layperson's guide to a heavy physics topic. Basically, Einstein's relativity (about big stuff) and quantum physics (about small stuff) disagree. They both can't be right. String Theory is an attempt to reconcile the two, and that is what the book is about. Since this forum is about college admissions, I will suggest that you put your interest in astrophysics and quantum theory into your essay, along with some appropriate mention of the book.</p>

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<p>Dufus, Thanks for the book recommendation - sounds exactly like something my son would like so I will pass the suggestion along to him.</p>