<p>I am interested in majoring in science like chemistry or physics. I want to earn a Ph.D in these subjects. I'm looking for well known schools that are good in these sciences but I know my stats aren't impressive enough for the top schools</p>
<p>My GPA is around a 3.45 - 3.55 depending on how I do this year
My SAT is 2030 but I'm going to take the ACT and I expect 30+
740 Physics SATII and 5 on the AP Exam
Taking a somewhat challenging course load. By graduation I will have taken the following APs:
AP Physics, AP Chem, AP Calc AB, AP Bio
The rest of my classes are Honors
My e/c's are slightly impressive. I volunteered at an orphanage overseas last summer and I've made some speeches about that experience. Also I hope to become an officer in the Spanish club next year and some sort of editor in the school newspaper</p>
<p>Tuition and stuff can be dealt with later, right now I'd just like to look at schools without factoring that in</p>
<p>For undergrad PhD physics prep, some of the top schools on this list are not the hardest to get into (first posted by interesteddad):</p>
<p>Here are 100 to consider. These one hundred colleges and universities produced the highest percentage of future Physics/Astronomy PhDs per graduate over the most recent 10 year period. Obviously a lot of tech schools are represented, but there’s something for just about everybody (different sizes, different locations, different selectivities):</p>
<p>PhDs and Doctoral Degrees:
ten years (1994 to 2003) from NSF database</p>
<p>Number of Undergraduates:
ten years (1989 to 1998) from IPEDS database</p>
<p>Formula: Total PhDs divided by Total Grads, multiplied by 1000 </p>
<p>Note: Does not include colleges with less than 1000 graduates over the ten year period</p>
<p>1 California Institute of Technology 96
2 Harvey Mudd College 64
3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 29
4 New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology 20
5 Reed College 13
6 Carleton College 13
7 Princeton University 13
8 University of Chicago 13
9 Rice University 13
10 Case Western Reserve University 9
11 Harvard University 9
12 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 9
13 Swarthmore College 9
14 Haverford College 8
15 Stevens Institute of Technology 8
16 Whitman College 8
17 Grinnell College 7
18 Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 7
19 Colorado School of Mines 7
20 Yale University 6
21 Williams College 6
22 University of Rochester 6
23 Amherst College 6
24 Goshen College 5
25 Cornell University, All Campuses 5
26 University of Dallas 5
27 Wabash College 5
28 Stanford University 5
29 Beloit College 5
30 University of California-Berkeley 5
31 Carnegie Mellon University 5
32 Johns Hopkins University 5
33 Hastings College 5
34 Lawrence University 5
35 Illinois Institute of Technology 5
36 Columbia University in the City of New York 4
37 Oberlin College 4
38 Monmouth College 4
39 Bryn Mawr College 4
40 Gustavus Adolphus College 4
41 Kalamazoo College 4
42 College of William and Mary 4
43 Earlham College 4
44 Worcester Polytechnic Institute 4
45 Pomona College 4
46 St Olaf College 4
47 Georgia Institute of Technology, Main Campus 4
48 Rhodes College 4
49 St John’s University (Collegeville, MN) 3
50 Bates College 3
51 Macalester College 3
52 Brown University 3
53 Wesleyan University 3
54 Bethel College (North Newton, KS) 3
55 Brandeis University 3
56 Kenyon College 3
57 Hope College 3
58 St John’s College (both campus) 3
59 Franklin and Marshall College 3
60 Bowdoin College 3
61 Washington University 3
62 Walla Walla College 3
63 Middlebury College 3
64 University of Missouri, Rolla 3
65 Drew University 3
66 Guilford College 3
67 Southern College of Seventh-Day Adventists 3
68 Moravian College 3
69 Clarkson University 3
70 Polytechnic University 3
71 Hamline University 3
72 Tougaloo College 3
73 Vassar College 2
74 Andrews University 2
75 University of California-San Diego 2
76 Lehigh University 2
77 College of Wooster 2
78 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 2
79 Wake Forest University 2
80 Duke University 2
81 Albion College 2
82 University of Virginia, Main Campus 2
83 Trinity University 2
84 University of Alabama in Huntsville 2
85 Benedictine College 2
86 University of Puget Sound 2
87 Michigan Technological University 2
88 Dartmouth College 2
89 Cooper Union 2
90 Pacific University 2
91 Florida Institute of Technology 2
92 Xavier University 2
93 Northwest Nazarene College 2
94 South Dakota School of Mines & Technology 2
95 Hendrix College 2
96 Bucknell University 2
97 Millsaps College 2
98 Southwestern University 2
99 Bethel College and Seminary, All Campuses 2
100 Wofford College 2
101 Wellesley College 2</p>
<p>A lot is going to depend on your stats and your finances…</p>
<p>Right now, your stats aren’t high enough for a good chance at the elite schools.</p>
<p>Is that your weighted GPA. Do you best this last semester, because junior year grades are very important and weighted AP classes can help boost that GPA. (hopefully, you’re taking some APs THIS year.)</p>
<p>You say that “tuition can be dealt with later,” but unless your parents are full payers ($55k per year), money can be a major concern since most schools cannot meet need - (and your scores aren’t high enough for the elites that all do). </p>
<p>If your parents cannot pay $55k per year, then you need to realize that now, find out how much they can afford and come up with a strategy that will get you into the BEST school for your situation - either thru schools that give merit or schools that give good financial aid.</p>
<p>You need to approach this with a better strategy so that you’re not spinning your wheels and wasting your time. There’s no point in creating lists, if the schools aren’t affordable. </p>
<p>Frankly, there are just toooooo many schools to consider, so eliminating unaffordable schools or schools that you can’t get accepted to is a good idea. </p>
<p>If college costs are not a problem for your parents then AWESOME :)</p>