<p>I want to major in physics and am wondering if anyone has imput about the physics departements at Bryn Mawr and Smith. I have heard that Bryn Mawr has a good physics program, but think that Smith might provide more classes in that subject because of the college's larger size. Which school is better for this major? How are the professors and classes? How much work is it to major in physics at these schools? Any information helps. Thank you!</p>
<p>I am a senior math major at Bryn Mawr. I can’t give you advice on specific classes or professors, but I can tell you a bit about the physics program in general.</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr has less than half as many physics majors as Smith, but they have the same number of professors and offer approximately the same number of upper-level courses. That means that you will probably get more personal attention at Bryn Mawr than at Smith. Bryn Mawr students also have easy access to the undergraduate courses at Haverford (literally a 5-minute bus ride away) and a few graduate classes at Bryn Mawr. (Bryn Mawr has a very small graduate program in physics, with ~1 new incoming PhD student each year. It’s nice to have the graduate students around because it gives you a more experienced student to learn from even in your senior year, but there’s so few of them that they won’t detract attention from the undergraduates.) </p>
<p>Bryn Mawr has quite a bit of resources to fund summer projects. You can get funded for on-campus science research ($3,600 and subsidized housing), off-campus summer research ($5,000) and unpaid internships ($3,600). You are eligible for research funding for multiple summers, while internship funding is restricted to one summer during your undergraduate career. I am not sure how much funding Smith has beyond the one-time $2,000 Praxis grant, but I would encourage you to contact their physics department and find out!</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr provides an excellent preparation for graduate school in a variety of fields. Last year four physics majors went on to graduate school at MIT (condensed matter physics), the University of Pennsylvania (robotics), the University of Arizona (astrophysics) and Cambridge University in the UK (biotechnology). </p>
<p>Speaking of Penn: you can also take advanced upper-level and graduate classes at Penn, though it’s a bit of a commute. I don’t know if Smith students ever head to UMass Amhest, but Bryn Mawr students definitely do take advantage of Penn!</p>
<p>Thank you so much!</p>
<p>The fact that there are more physics majors at Smith likely means that there is more synergy there, more experience with students heading to graduate school. They certainly have more coordination between the physics department and applied classes in engineering (which is a large department at Smith).</p>
<p>I might have to retract my comparison of the number of physics majors. Bryn Mawr typically has 6-10 physics majors a year. I had previously thought that Smith has closer to 20 physics majors a year based on data from their Common Data Set (~3% of degrees conferred in the “physical sciences”), but their physics department website lists only 4 majors in the class of 2011 and 7 for 2012. See here: [Smith</a> College: Physics](<a href=“http://www.smith.edu/physics/students.php]Smith”>Physics | Smith College)</p>
<p>mini has an excellent point that larger departments provide you with a bigger peer group. Physics majors at Bryn Mawr are a small and tight-knit group, but that may not be what you are looking for. If size is a deal-breaker for you, I would follow up with the inconsistent data from Smith.</p>