I am planning to apply early decision to Rice University and it seems like the perfect school for me (even though I can’t visit.) I like the size, residential colleges, no grad students and strong physics department. The only negative is climate. I live in NC and I hate the heat. I would prefer a northern school. I am a HS senior this year.
4.4 weighted gpa
1570 SAT
Will have IB diploma and 5 AP’s in math and physics with 4 or 5.
Merit scholarship opportunities would be nice but not necessary.
I don’t care about sports.
Can anyone recommend schools I should look at that might be similar to Rice, but colder climate?
I wouldn’t describe any of these as "Rice North’, but these are the colleges that I know kids who love Rice also apply to/explore/fall in love with- you’ll have to figure out if any of these meet your other criteria:
Northwestern
Harvey Mudd
U Chicago
Swarthmore
Middlebury
Brandeis
UVA
Princeton
Cornell
JHU
MIT has grad students of course (as do some of those in the list I mentioned) but you would be shocked by how much attention undergrads get there…contrary to its reputation. Boston is hot June-September but the rest of the year is about as different from Houston as you can get.
If a Catholic college is OK then Notre Dame has residential colleges (but also sports). While there are more grad students than Rice there is a strong undergraduate focus at the school.
Yale has residential houses (more competitive admissions than even Rice but you never know).
And somewhat less competitive Union College, a LAC with very strong science departments has Minerva Houses which are I think only some people live in but they have a similar purpose. Franklin and Marshall may be a nice safety type school - it has residential colleges, is a LAC, and has a good reputation in the sciences.
If you don’t find residential colleges at many schools, a number of colleges have Living, learning residences which may be a good option as well.
For these attributes, consider smaller liberal arts with strong physics departments (such as those that have produced recent Apker Award recipients/finalists), which, by the very nature of their size, foster the close-knit communities you have associated with residential colleges at universities. For a generally more comfortable climate than you would find in Houston, include the Claremont Colleges in your research.
Check out Union College in Schenectady, NY. Fits your “strong physics department” and “no grad school” parameters. About 2500 students. Near the beautiful Adirondack State Park with many lakes and skiing opportunities.
IPEDS can be useful for comparing the popularity of physics as a major across colleges. Rice, for example, graduated 17 physics “first majors” out of 1024 students.
Check out Macalester College in Minnesota. They have their own Journal of Physics and Astronomy, and a great location in a residential neighborhood in the Minneapolis-St Paul metro area.
Very small programs are likely to have limitations on upper level course selection and offer advanced/ elective courses less frequently. You can double check that by looking at each institution’s Registrar’s list of courses actually given for each of the last several semesters.