Any current students/recent graduates/parents of same or anybody else able to speak to the quality/depth/breadth of the Physics program at Beloit?
Lawrence is much stronger.
Do you have specifics on what makes it so?
I have statistics from the national science foundation which look at the number of Ph.D. recipients by baccalaureate institution, by science. For physics Lawrence significantly outranks Beloit. I am not on my laptop and can’t find the file so can post it later. Physics is a particular strength at Lawrence. Try a Google search you may find similar info. Beloit is a leader in anthropology.
Beloit and Lawerence were pretty close (31 and 37 respectively) on a list I saw of future physical science (not just physics) PhDs per capita. But on another list, only Lawrence (of the two) registered in the top 25 for NUMBER of alums getting PhDs in the physical sciences. I don’t know how meaningful those lists are day-to-day, though – I was hoping someone who had actual firsthand experience would chime in as well.
Lawrence does punch above their weight in Physics. They have good PhD production numbers. They were my (now physics major at Harvey Mudd) D’s safety.
I hear you @porcupine98 but this board is d.e.a.d. most of the time. I did a quick search of faculty between the two.
Beloit combines Physic and Astronomy in the same department, with only 3 professors
Lawrence has a dedicated physics department with 8 physics professors
The Phd ranking are something I look at because my kid is interested in the sciences as well, and I want to see which LACs have the students with the chops to go on to get the most advanced degrees. I gives me a sort of soft benchmark for the strength of the science programs (the most prepared the kid, the most likely to be able to get the Phd).
They are both good schools in their own way.
Thanks @TytoAlba that’s a very useful metric. I did look, but sometimes it’s hard to parse the roles of the visiting, adjunct, and emeritus professors and their impact (or lack thereof) on the department. Beloit does make a showing in a list or two of schools the produce a relatively high number PER CAPITA of kids who go on to PhDs in the physical sciences, but that’s not necessarily Physics, and with a relatively small population of students, that number could easily skew in a way that didn’t really tell the story.
We hear such good things about Beloit, and know a bunch of (not recent) graduates who loved it – it seems like a good fit socially - but I’m having a hard time finding a reason why it should rise above some of my kid’s other options. (This is all in service of strategizing where we need to visit once the rest of the decisions come down.)
I believe the PhD’s per capita maybe strongly influenced by the number they produce in anthropology. It is really their crown jewel and an extremely strong, nationally ranked program at their college. I would not doubt they would produce a larger number of PhD’s then other institutions in that field.
The other thing that you could take a look at, and I’ll try to find it for you but you may be able to on your own, is the amount of money they spend in research. I think I googled research expenditures for colleges in science and came up with a chart that was compiled by a government entity. It can give you an idea of at least at the highest research level, whether or not they are spending their “fair share” compared to other colleges you are considering.
Have you visited the campus yet? We are scheduled for a visit in the next week or so for class visits as well. We have already visited last winter and took the tour, but this will be a better idea of fit. I am a bit concerned about the overall academic rigor of the school, and the fact that it is really very small and somewhat isolated.
We haven’t visited, and part of my question is whether we should. At this point, I think it’s coming up last on the list according to my kid’s various criteria (well, second to last, but the other school’s officially out of the running), so the question is whether we need to visit if there are other options that are significantly more attractive on paper.
As for the PhDs, I’ll have to go back and check – I think the list was for PhDs in the physical sciences, not overall, but I could have been reading the wrong list. Physical sciences includes chemistry, though, so might not be an indicator for the physics department per se.