thanks @washugrad that was helpful link to follow. Some similar info
“ll areas of US, not quite as interested in Western US, or West coast, that have great physics and especially research opportunities.”
So, lower than top-20, research, not western US, would probably mean public universities in the big-10 outside of Michigan and Illinois, sort of as a first guess. So maybe Wisconsin, MSU, PSU et al.
I second CU Boulder, a top physics program nationally and your child is most likely to be awarded a Presidential scholarship from the university worth 25% of tuition for four years.
Adding to U Rochester’s Physics kudos… though with a blast from the past:
If you like lasers and physics…
If your child will qualify for the need based financial aid, with your child’s stats, I suggest that they run the NPC at the elite schools - for my pups they ended up being much cheaper than every other option (even with the top scholarships they would have gotten at other schools… The trick is of course getting in, but DS and DD were both valedictorians, DS majored in physics at Columbia, and DD changed from being a physics major to a CS major at Stanford.
Every year we hear about families who think because these schools are so expensive, they don’t think they should apply.
@3puppies Thanks - do plan to apply, just not hopeful about admissions bc those seem such a shot in the dark so to speak. Did your pups find their schools had atmospheres that were cut-throat at all? not looking for high competition once in, collaborative and mind-stretching for sure, but not killer.
Both were surprised at how collaborative their schools turned out to be. They were mostly impressed by how smart ALL of their classmates were- which was a very different experience from their public high school that only had the same dozen or so kids with close to their academic level. S told me early on - after he made Dean’s list - that while everyone there was so smart and could do the work requested, there were always a few that could do a p-set in an hour or so, while he was with most of the kids who needed 3-4 hours to complete them, there were also some who needed 5-6 hours or so. D found the same thing, although she said at Stanford it seemed that there were many kids who had so much of their focus on one special activity (often sports-related) that they mostly spent their free time with kids from their team, or with their department. But she said within her department, kids definitely like to work together with the other kids who share the same major. Kids who are just minoring or taking a random course in an area because they were interested in it, sometimes may feel left out. But that probably happens everywhere.
At both schools, they both felt that most of the kids around them felt very lucky to be there, with a high amount of respect for their classmates. Almost everyone there will admit feeling the imposter syndrome - and because of that they respect each other’s time, they know when they need to hit the books, etc.
The real competition was for the research fellowships, but there seemed to be a lot of them and the faculty do their best to find something for kids who need / want them.
More on Wesleyan:
http://wesleyanargus.com/2018/10/01/undergrads-take-advantage-of-ample-research-opportunities/
Don’t forget RPI.
S is a CS/Math major but is taking Honors Physics 1 and it is rigorous. He wanted to take Quantum 1 directly out of HS (got a 5 on both Mechanics and E&M). They said it would be a bad idea without already taking differential equations and recommended Honors 1. The class is very very Calc heavy.
How about looking at Clark University? My son isn’t going there but he was seriously considering it. He was really surprised at the physics department and what they had to offer. They also gave a really nice merit scholarship.
Might be worth a look and an EA application.
@Spurredon My daughter is also looking for a good physics program. And we also need merit aid as we don’t qualify for FA. Some schools we are looking at are RPI (saw it and loved it) and plan to tour Brandeis, Clark, Smith, Mt.Holyoke, RIT, URoch, UVM, UNH, Ithaca, Wheaton, Ma. @turtletime I’d love to hear what you loved about Clark.