Physics : UC Davis vs Boston University

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Davis
1

Hi everyone!
I’m an international student and I got into those two great Unis few days ago for next fall.
I will major in Physics, and I’m 100% sure that I’ll will continue my graduate studies in Theoretical Physics.
I would like some advices on those two colleges, which one do you think is better, if you’d to choose?
Since I’m international I don’t have the opportunity to visit. For now, please, limit your discussion on this parameters :

  1. Prestige of the University
  2. Physics Program
  3. Research Opportunities for Undergraduates (in Physics)
  4. Internships for Undergradutes

I know, there are other factors to take into account (as campus, city-college vs town-college, east vs west, cal vs mass, sun vs snow, costs ecc) but, please, do not take into account for now any of these.
Thank you so much fot any help you’d give me!

2

For numbers 2-4, contact those departments at those schools.
For number one, prestige isn’t something too many US students use to make a decision about attending.

3

Thanks @“aunt bea” !
Don’t get me wrong, i’m not making a decision based on the prestige of the university, I’m just using that to give ma an overall idea.
The most importan thing for me is the Education I’ll get from the school. I could call them, but I fell that the only thing they can tell me is a general description of the courses and the programs, which I already read about.
I want an objective opinion on which one is considered best for Physics.

Thanks :slight_smile:

4

Prestige varies a lot depending on your region. As a native Californian, I had never heard of Boston University before coming to this site, but had always heard amazing things about just about every UC at some point. And if I had to guess, most people outside of California (who don’t frequent CC, at least) probably don’t know the UCs besides Berkeley, UCLA, and maybe UCSD. Of course, I’m not sure how either UCD or BU are regarded internationally.

I’ll refrain from answering about which program is better, because I frankly don’t know. I know that UCD’s is decent, but I don’t know enough about BU or its physics program to fairly compare them.

5

I think their websites have a lot more than just courses and programs:
http://physics.bu.edu/
http://physics.ucdavis.edu/
Google is your friend.

Posters here can give you more info on living on those campuses but not so many specifics about the individual departments if they currently don’t attend or use this site.