<p>Which one has a better program, community, and more research opportunities. I know boulder's ranking is higher, but it's for the grad school. A friend advised me not to go to boulder because it's a graduate-centered school so I won't get the solid foundation I need. I was admitted to both of them but I'm very confused which one I should go to. Every answer is greatly appreciated :)</p>
<p>What was your thinking when you chose these two schools to apply to?</p>
<p>I understand what your friend is saying, and I can see it being applicable to both schools–to any large physics program–but that was not the case when I attended Boulder 30 years ago. I got a lot of attention from the best professors, who were very involved in undergraduate research and the honors program. I know one of the laureates at Boulder and he’s a warm and caring man who loves undergraduates from what I can see. He’s my age so he wasn’t there when I was there, but I met him at a physics colloquium where I now teach. A real sweetheart whom the u/gs warmed right upto. </p>
<p>I think your friend’s caution is a good one to have, but ask the u/gs at the two schools about their contact with their professors and about research opportunities. I think you’ll find that if a school has a good u/g reputation for physics–and both these schools do–it is in part because the professors are interested in the u/gs and in creating the next generation of physicists. I’d love to know what you find out when you do this. Pls let us know.</p>
<p>I dont think UCB is any more grad centered than UCI but it does offer several things UCI does not. It is has a national student body and is a very residential type college. Also has all of the trappings of a major PAC12 school. The hard sciences are excellent too. It does have financial issues that make it vulnerable to fed cuts for research etc. </p>
<p>thank you all 
mikemac : I am an international student. These are the best schools I got admitted at.</p>
<p>Hello aaammm,</p>
<p>I am unfamiliar with University of California Irvine. However, evaluating University of Colorado physics by those three criteria, I would write 1) program (excellent), 2) research opportunities (excellent), and 3) community (good). I am a physics graduate. I was a freshman when Colorado got its first two Nobel Prizes, and a senior when it got its third. This is a rare experience among physics students.</p>
<p>I don’t know what you mean by <code>community’. If you mean</code>peers’, then I think it is good. If you mean <code>infrastructure’ as in</code>jobs after graduation in the area’, then I write excellent.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>University of Colorado is a party school. There are many stupid people there. But, this is true about any state university. However, natural sciences and engineering at Colorado attracts the top percentile in the state and beyond. The physics program attracts highly capable students. Each year Colorado graduates Goldwater scholars, Hertz-Foundation fellows, and attracts a bevy of REU students to study there each summer from around the US. Professors are graduates of the top PhD programs and are highly demanding when they teach. They teach as though they are recreating their graduate schools. Graduate students are really smart.</p></li>
<li><p>There are so many studentships available at Colorado in physics that students apply there from other universities. There are opportunities to also do an REU at NIST, NCAR, NOAA, and perhaps some other laboratories in the city.</p></li>
<li><p>Assuming you meant infrastructure by `community’, Boulder is like a second Silicon Valley. There are many physics-based companies in the study and a CU Boulder bachelor’s degree in physics is valued. Colorado also offers the concurrent B.A./M.S. in physics for capable students. Each year famous scientists come to Boulder to speak at the Annual George Gamow Lecture. Last week I watched 2012 Colorado Nobel Laureate David Wineland speak about quantum mechanics and measurement. Packed house. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>As I wrote above, it is a party school. So, outside of the physics, mathematics, and engineering community, you will be hard pressed to find studious intellection. Things are improving, from what I read, however.</p>
<p>Dig around and read some more about Boulder and Irvine.</p>
<p>well, I don’t know how to thank you @UseAsDirected . You helped me a lot. After reading your comment I think CU Boulder is what suits me. It’s where I should be studying physics for my undergrad study.
I really appreciate it </p>
<p>That is nice for you, I wish you the best. If you ever have specific questions related to courses, research opportunities, and life, do ask. I think it is a good idea for you, once you enter Colorado in the fall, to sit down and type out your entire curriculum. For example: `<code>What kinds of courses as part of the core curriculum and what kinds of physics courses must I take to graduate in four years (write it out semester-by-semester), in four and half years, and in five years’‘. Some physics and specialty engineering courses are not offered every semester. The physics department also has specialized</code>plans’, look into it. See <a href=“http://phys.colorado.edu/sites/default/files/Physics_Advising_Guide_13-14_01.pdf”>http://phys.colorado.edu/sites/default/files/Physics_Advising_Guide_13-14_01.pdf</a></p>