<p>I've read some discussion about physics at Cornell and Columbia and I think the general concensus is Cornell is a bit better, but there's no reason not to go to Columbia if you want the Core Curriculum and to live in NYC. What if University of Chicago is one of your other choices for physics? How would you rank between Chicago, Cornell and Columbia? He'll be visiting Cornell and Columbia next week and Chicago later in the month. </p>
<p>Cost-wise, for us, Columbia and Chicago are the same. We're still waiting on Cornell's financial aid letter but I haven't been encouraged by what I've read here at CC (everybody pretty much saying Cornell is the worst offer). The cost of Columbia and Chicago are a stretch for us and we couldn't pay much more to attend Cornell (if, in fact, they offer a higher out-of-pocket cost to us)</p>
<p>Some info I dug up off the university web pages:</p>
<p>Columbia:40 faculty (their term, I assume it means professors), 20 undergrads, 100 grad students
Cornell: 47 professors, 200 graduate students, ??? undergrads
Chicago: couldn't find any numbers</p>
<p>We visited University of Chicago last summer and loved it.</p>
<p>I was thinking of majoring in Physics but I'm not sure about it. I think that Chicago has 46 faculty members in Physics, but I'm not sure. I think that Fermi Lab and the fact that 26 faculty members in Chicago got Nobel Prizes for Physics is insanily good, so I'm pretty sure that you won't make a mistake if you go for Chicago.</p>
<p>With schools of the caliber you are looking at, the better question may be what 'favor' of physics the college does or excels in. Have your son look at the department websites and see what sort of research is being conducted. This may not impact his first or second years very much, may come into play with courses offered and research ops as an upper classman. </p>
<p>My son is in Hitchcock House, where Fermi's old room is very desirable in housing lottery. In fact, Fermi's chalk board is still there, where it is carefully bequethed from one generation of students to the next. There is a great deal of respect for learning and the institution itself at Chicago (not that there isn't at Columbia or Cornell) that I found very impressive.</p>
<p>I'm in my first year as a prospective physics major and Its been great here at chicago.</p>
<p>My teacher last quarter (Sidney Nagel) was absolutely amazing. He's on the board of governors for Argonne as well as a ton of other former positions and awards but he still comes out to teach 1st years some E and M.</p>
<p>The programs here are great and with things like ANL and Fermi, there are a ton of available resources for physics majors as they move up through the program.</p>
<p>I'd recomend it over Cornell (dont know that much about columbia's program anymore though it was my second choice to chicago)</p>
<p>Cornell and Chicago both have excellent physics programs. In terms of physics alone, I would say Cornell is at a slightly higher level than Chicago. However, if you want to be a theorist go to Chicago; their math program is far better.</p>
<p>chicago fo-sho! my dad works at argonne and all the physics kids at u of c do a lot of research in argonne's physics lab.. and they are AWESOME! i would go for u of c, just because their physics program is so renound, and the internship opportunities nearby are amazing! (and i really don't know much about cornell, so i kinda have a bias)</p>