I’m a senior this coming school year with a strong interest in physics and math, though undecided between the two. I do have a general interest in most subjects though, so I would definitely like having the option of taking a larger variety of classes. I’d prefer against a large sports/greek scene (I’m a bit of an introvert), but I understand that for some bigger schools that is almost inevitable. I prefer generally warmth to cold climate-wise but that isn’t of incredibly high priority compared to everything else. I live in the Great Plains area, but would be willing to fly a ways if I really loved the school. My parents assure me that they’ll pay for wherever I end up going. 34 ACT
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I suspect that you have described perhaps 100 or maybe 200 universities and colleges. You are likely to get better suggestions if you can give us more information.
Many universities have good programs in math and physics. Nearly all universities have a wide variety of classes (a few specialist schools such as music conservatories might have a smaller range of classes available).
Can you tell us what your home state is? Is it a WICHE/WUE state?
What is your unweighted GPA (on a scale where A=4, B=3, C=2, and D=1)? Do you know at least approximately how your grades compare to others at your high school?
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This was my son’s list, although he preferred cool to warm.
Brown
University of Chicago
Pomona
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Swarthmore
University of Michigan
Carleton
Macalester
Amherst
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As suggestions, look into Grinnell, Pomona College, Reed, Williams, Hamilton, Brown University and Haverford.
East coast, University of Maryland College Park.
West Coast, UC Santa Barbara. Even better, apply to their CCS program (College of Creative Studies). They have both a math and physics major in CCS. It’s all the benefits of a small school inside a big school and you get super VIP treatment at the college.
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Apologies.
I live in Oklahoma, GPA is 4.0. My school does not rank, but from my knowledge I’m probably in the top 5-10% of my grade (pretty small private school).
With a 4.0, you’d get great merit at one of the top schools in Physics - U of Arizona. But there’s also much smaller schools, many of which were already mentioned. While your parents are willing to pay, perhaps they’d like you to take advantage of the largesse you’d earn with that 4.0.
You might also be interested in a school like Rice or Vanderbilt.
Really - most schools will have solid programs in Physics and math - so that’s up to you.
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This is a great list. OP sounds like a better fit for a smaller LAC. Might also look at the list of Colleges that Change Lives for more safety/match schools.
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In addition to many of the suggestions above, I would recommend looking at William and Mary, Davidson, and Emory. I definitely second the suggestion of the Claremont colleges, each of which combine the small community of a LAC with the extra resources of a consortium.
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Was Michigan your home state? It just stands out on the list - from a pure size POV.
This additional information will help quite a bit. You are likely to have quite a few options to consider. Having straight A’s at a private high school with a 34 ACT should open up some options for you.
You will want to identify a couple of solid safeties. Your in-state public university might be a good choice. The University of Arizona might be another good choice. You will find other strong students and knowledgeable professors at these schools.
The University of Wisconsin, Madison, is very good for mathematics. However, it sort of loses on the “prefer warm” side of things.
One place to consider might be Washington University St. Louis (generally abbreviated WUSTL). You might be competitive even for top schools such as Stanford. Rice is another possible school to consider. These would all be reaches, but might be possible.
Given that you come from a small private school, your guidance counselor should be quite good and able to be quite helpful.
I do think that you should think about what you want in a university. You might want to think about small liberal arts colleges (such as Grinnell or Harvey Mudd) and whether or not you would prefer this or prefer a larger university.
Since you are currently at a small private high school, it seems likely that you already have some experience with a school where there are quite a few students who are academically strong. Top students who attend top schools such as MIT or Caltech often become average when they arrive on campus, and discover that classes have become quite difficult. They also discover that there are a lot of students that are “like them”. The large majority also discover that the academics are challenging but they can do it. At these top ranked schools there is a lot of homework and exams are tough. It is possible to love it one day, and hate it another day, or even to both love it and hate it at the same time. A very academically challenging top ranked university might a better fit for a student who has the drive to do it coming from inside themselves. You might want to think about whether you would want to do this or not.
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For math, you may want to compare upper level course offerings in the various colleges’ math departments. At the junior/senior level, math has several subareas, so you may want to check for which ones are offered or emphasized in each math department (some smaller math departments may not offer some of the subareas). Note also whether related subjects like statistics are part of the math department or their own department.
If you are very advanced in math (will complete math higher than single variable calculus by high school graduation), also consider the availability of graduate level math courses for undergraduates.
For physics, there is a typically common set of upper level physics topics and courses (though course organization may vary somewhat): quantum mechanics (usually 2 courses), electromagnetism (usually 2 courses), intermediate / advanced mechanics, statistical and thermal physics, intermediate / advanced lab. Check for frequency of offering, since some smaller physics departments may not be able to offer all of the courses at reasonable frequency.
Regarding fraternities and sororities, a large school may have a fraternity and sorority scene that is large in numbers, but small as a percentage of students. Small schools vary considerably in percentage of students in fraternities and sororities, so check this carefully if you want to avoid them.
The sports scene can differ significantly – some big schools have big spectator sports scenes, but some small schools have high percentages of students who play on the school sports teams.
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Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA has been mentioned a couple of times in this thread, and it does meet your given criterion. It’s a small school, in a warm climate. There is no greek scene. While it is considered a liberal arts college, it focuses on STEM. It has excellent physics and math departments - 50 to 60% of graduates of these departments go onto PhD programs. HMC is part of the Claremont Consortium, and students have access to a large variety of classes at the other schools (Pomona, Scripps, Clarmont-McKenna, and Pitzer colleges).
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The schools listed below all offer at least a Master’s in both math and physics, and usually it’s a PhD, so there should be sufficient depth in these programs for your interests (and some have been mentioned upthread already). I’ve sorted them by my guesses as to what your chances of admission might be at these schools:
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
- Kansas State: About 15k undergrads
- Miami (OH): About 17k undergrads
- U. of Tulsa (OK): About 2600 undergrads
Likely (60-79%)
- George Washington (D.C.): About 11k undergrads (if you show a lot of interest)
- U. of Denver (CO): About 6200 undergrads
Toss-Up (40-59%)
- Brandeis (MA): About 3700 undergrads
- Lehigh (PA ): About 5600 undergrads
Lower Probability (20-39%)
- Georgetown (D.C.): About 7900 undergrads (because of your STEM interests…otherwise it would be low probability)
- U. of Rochester (NY): About 6800 undergrads
- William & Mary (VA): About 6800 undergrads
Low Probability (less than 20%)
- Duke (NC): About 6600 undergrads
- Emory (GA): About 7100 undergrads
- Rice (TX): About 4500 undergrads
- Washington U. (MO): About 8100 undergrads
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UC- Boulder. Highly ranked for math and physics, but still a hidden gem.
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As others have suggested, you should start with a couple really good likelies. Flagship state universities with honors colleges/programs can be good likely choices for kids with your profile. Not necessarily a perfect fit but the honors college/program can get you closer, and typically they will have very good math and physics as well as many other very good programs to explore.
I admit I don’t know much about it, but I do know the University of Oklahoma has an honors college. A variety of other state universities aggressively pursue top students in other states. So you should have some good choices.
You will then have a LOT of great options for what are usually called targets or reaches. So many that you can afford to be quite picky.
So, some questions to consider, given what you told us.
Standalone liberal arts college, or the liberal arts college within a medium-sized research university?
I note in both cases, usually the more selective such colleges are going to be at least very good in any core subject like math and physics, and a bunch of other stuff too. They have to be, because they want to be competitive for a wide variety of outstanding students, and indeed often encourage students to explore interests before deciding on a major. That won’t work if they are bad at some core subjects, so they make a real point of being at least very good at anything they offer.
Setting?
There are a wide variety of settings for colleges, but loosely speaking the major variations include being right in the heart of a major city, being some short-to-medium distance away from the center of a major city, being in a smaller town which is near a major city, being in a smaller town which is not particularly near a major city, and being in a rural area where there really isn’t much of an additional population nearby at all.
They all have their pros and cons–like to some people a rural setting might sound obviously bad, until you realize it is very close to some popular outdoor recreational activities. And so that becomes a matter of fit–if you value those activities, that school might be in a perfect setting for you, and if you don’t, you might not be interested at all.
Region?
Obviously people can have, or not have, regional preferences for all sorts of reasons–preferred climate, preferred activities, wanting to be closer to home, wanting to not be closer to home, and so on.
Finally, dominant culture/vibe?
A lot of these colleges can end up pretty similar in a lot of ways, and almost all will promise you can find “your people” no matter what you prefer. Which is true, but since you can be picky, why not pick the ones where the culture/vibe you prefer is more dominant? Like, if you do not anticipate being interested in Greek life, you can pick targets/reaches where Greek life is either not very popular or indeed non-existent.
OK, so interestingly, if you strictly apply ALL these criteria, you might end up with not enough schools. I think the biggest issue is that the mix of schools is very much not the same in different regions. So, like, if you want a very selective standalone LAC with little or no Greek life, that is pretty easy to find in the Northeast or Great Lakes, not so much in the Southeast.
But you might be willing to be flexible. Like if you are OK with either standalone LACs or the LACS inside medium-sized research universities, then that may allow you to be more picky on region. Or vice-versa.
So that’s a lot, but again the big picture is there are so many plausible options, you can be quite picky in at least some ways–but may want to also be a little flexible in other ways, depending on your priorities.
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Thank you all so much! This has given me a lot to think about, but that’s a good thing!
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If you would like to consider colleges statistically, some of these schools may be suitable for you based on your ACT score (to the extent that your score comports with your academic record and general profile):
Note that several of the schools that have been recommended to you, such as Pomona College, appear in the site.
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I would add Wesleyan University, the only so-called, “stand-alone” LAC with active PhD programs in Physics, Math and a handful of other disciplines, and Brandeis, another smallish university, as East Coast alternatives. Amherst, of course, is in the same consortium as UMass, so there’s that. Needless to say, an Oklahoma resident would have a “hook” on either coast.
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As a general suggestion, you may want to consider academic accessibility as well as variety. That is, colleges at which most courses are open to most students may be more desirable compared to institutions at which many courses may be restricted to students in particular “schools” or majors.
Also, if you would like to study broadly in the physical sciences, emphasize colleges with a geosciences department.