His school is known for grade deflation. However, it is a super high achieving school with almost half of the students attending highly selective colleges. My kid is not the top of his class. Since they don’t rank, my guess is that he is ranked between top 30-40% of his class.
Yes, by WashU, I mean WashU St. Louis.
UC Berkeley does have a reputation of being more holistic in admissions compared to other UCs. The GPA and rigor is considered in context of the applicant’s high school. For an applicant with high rigor, good ECs, and not quite perfect unweighted grades, UCB is a better admissions bet than UCLA.
Not as open as Brown. A minimum of 3 course cluster is required in each of humanities, social science, and science+engineering.
Obviously, a 3.8+UW is nothing to be ashamed of, especially coming from a grade-deflated private school. His college counselors at school will be better able than members here will, to project how his HS GPA will be viewed by colleges in the context of his school’s rigor and competitiveness. The downside of the UC’s, for him, is that his strong SAT won’t be considered.
As MYOS said, definitely look at CCS within UCSB. It requires an additional application in addition to the UC app. Physics | UCSB College of Creative Studies
If he would consider smaller schools, there are quite a few that are excellent for physics. Reed, in Portland, has a distinctive vibe that might or might not be a fit, but it’s a very strong school for physics, consistently appearing among the top 10 undergrad schools for producing physics PhD’s. Other smaller schools that stand out for sending their grads to Physics PhD programs include Harvey Mudd, Carleton, Vassar, Williams, Wesleyan, Swarthmore, Amherst, and Grinnell. Lawrence U in Wisconsin is also known for the strength of its physics department, and they tend to give merit to match the cost of a UC for CA students.
Have you looked at WUE reciprocity schools? The Honors College at U of Utah, for example, could be a great and affordable option. It has many of the same attributes that people like about CU Boulder, for much less money; and it has an Honors version of the physics major, specifically for students in the Honors College Honors Program – Department of Physics & Astronomy U of Arizona isn’t WUE, but has an excellent Honors College as well and gives generous merit.
If you like Rochester, you might also like CWRU; and Cleveland is easier to travel to from CA than either Rochester or W Lafayette. They have an open door policy vis-a-vis changing majors. (And they have many physics options: Physics BA, Physics BS, Mathematical Physics BS, Mathematics+Physics BS, Biophysics BS, and Engineering Physics BSE.) Show lots of interest if applying to Case - they track this closely.
Thank you for your thoughtful input. It is good to know Case is similar to Rochester. We will probably add it to the list. Great suggestion for UCSB. I will definitely remind him to College of Creative Studies. In terms of the Liberal Art Colleges, I am a big fan of them. However, my son feels they are too small for him. Perhaps he will change his mind in the next few months.
If he’s afraid of “too small,” you could start by looking at the Claremont Colleges. Even though each college is small, it’s a very close consortium with all of the campuses connected and walkable, joint EC’s and athletic teams, and cross-registration that is seamless and widely utilized. In many ways it’s like a mid-sized university, with about 7000 undergrads. He could major in physics at any of them (except Scripps, which doesn’t admit men), although Mudd would probably be the best fit.
He did visit Mudd last summer. It’s probably not the best time to visit, but we were in the area. The campus was quiet and small. He also did not like the heat. We will see. Maybe he will rethink…
Well, it’s not any hotter than UCLA, UCSD, and USC! It does get pretty hot in the summer, but most students aren’t on campus then. Likewise, things get pretty lively on campus when the students are around - I wouldn’t take summer as an indication on that front. Some people don’t love Mudd’s architecture. But there are a lot of different architectural styles and some really gorgeous spaces to be found across the consortium campus.
The bigger question is whether a given student is on board for the intense core curriculum. But for an aspiring physics major, he’d probably need to cover most of those subjects anyway (whereas not all aspiring CS majors are looking for that much depth in the lab sciences, for example).
Sometimes the timing of visit has a big impact. He visited USC in the winter time and liked it. Heat bothers him due to his eczema. Depending on how his schedule looks, I’d like him to visit Pomona in the fall. Perhaps that will change his mind.
My daughter attended Scripps and found the amount of direct sun a little excessive, lol. She lives in the Pacific Northwest now and likes the climate there, except when she has to bike-commute in the slush! Your son might like UW-Seattle if overcast and drizzly is more his speed. Would any of the Canadian schools interest him? (UBC, if he prefers west coast… but also McGill, U of Toronto, U of Waterloo…) If he likes open curriculum schools because he doesn’t want a lot of GE requirements, the Canadian U’s might appeal, as the curriculum tends to be more focused on one’s major. (But if he wants an open curriculum because he wants to explore a lot of different subjects, then they might not.)
UCLA and UCSD’s summer highs are around 75-80 degrees
USC is 80-85 degrees
Claremont is 85-90 degrees
Wow, really? My bad. I can see UCSD being milder because of the coast being right there, but I had no idea it didn’t get hot at UCLA/USC, which are pretty well inland.
Still, there aren’t too many super-hot days during the school year, in Claremont.
As a former So. Cal. resident, Claremont is MOST definitely hotter than UCLA and UCSD, and usually than USC. It’s also very smoggy (high air pollution content) east of Los Angeles. UCLA is in Westwood and gets the ocean breeze, and UCSD is right on the ocean in La Jolla. USC is inland next to downtown, so gets hotter than UCLA/UCSD, but not nearly as hot at Claremont. Just a fact. (and climate change is not making things any better.) So, FWIW, if your kid doesn’t like heat, or can’t handle the heat, Claremont is not the place for them.
Wesleyan University. Visitors often remark that it “feels bigger” (maybe because at ~3000 students, it is.)
As the crow flies, UCLA is only 5 miles from the coast. USC is 10 miles, while Harvey Mudd is approx 40 miles from a western facing beach. Claremont is nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains which makes it more smoggy and contributes to the feeling that the air isn’t moving. Since OP is concerned about eczema, it is a dryer heat than the schools that are closer to the coast.
I obviously got lucky on my visits to Claremont. I was there when the big wildfires were raging, north of LA, and I was prepared for horrible air quality. As it turned out, it was so clear that I could literally stargaze from my Airbnb.
My kids both did summer programs in Claremont, when they were in HS, and the heat was pretty brutal; but once my Scripps kid got to college, the weather was nice for most of the year, although there were certainly times (especially at the beginning of the school year) when everyone was grateful that the dorms had been retrofitted with AC. I’ve never thought of it as a “rule it out because of heat” kind of place, though; it’s hardly Phoenix, or Palm Desert. I don’t recall her being bothered by air quality issues, either. She just missed cool, rainy days, and was happy to land in the PNW after college.
adding to the above list are strong stem schools like Case Western Reserve, Rice, Illinois @ Urbana Champagne, Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Wisconsin @ Madison, NYU, Worcester Polytech
Thanks for the additonal school recommendations! Case and UIUC are on the list. Maybe WPI, but we don’t know much about it. We don’t want him to overshoot. So Rice, CMU, and Georgia Tech. may be out of the question or their location is not ideal for him. He likes a defined campus, not NYU. The good thing is he knows himself well and only want to focus on the schools he will enjoy.
Great discussion on the weather of Claremont. I just did some research on weather.com. It appears that Claremont will reach 80F or above starting April all the way through October. He will start feeling the heat and become uncomfortable once the temperature is above 80F. He may have to deal with the hot and dry weather for almost 4 months out of the 9 months each school year. So it is unlikely he will apply for the claremont colleges although there are all great schools.
If you’re looking for some more mid-sized schools to consider that might come closer to the attention one might expect at a liberal arts school (at least far moreso than at a Big State university), then these are a few schools you may want to consider.
Creighton (NE): About 4500 undergrads and a they had 7 students get a Master’s in physics here in the most recent year of IPEDS data. Omaha is definitely not remote either with an 11:1 student/faculty ratio.
Missouri S&T: This one would be more remote, but is really strong across pretty much all STEM. About 5700 undergrads and had 7 students earn a PhD in physics in the most recent year of IPEDS data. If Purdue is being kept as it’s closer to California, then you would definitely want to consider this school.
U. of Denver (CO): About 5900 undergrads with a 10:1 student/faculty ratio (ETA, and offers through a PhD in physics). Denver location is not remote and should have lots of good flight connections home.
U. of Idaho: You might be saying, I thought you said no big state schools? And this one’s not. U. of Idaho has about 8600 undergrads, but offers a full program through a PhD in physics (3 doctorates were earned last year). It has a 16:1 student/faculty ratio and as an extra bonus is a WUE school for additional savings which, though not necessary, is always nice. Since remote in a closer location seems okay, this one’s included.