My S’20 is interested in pursuing an undergraduate degree in Physics. He is beginning the college search process (although he visited UIUC and Purdue last year as a sophomore-thinking STEM) and is looking for advice. He appears to be on track academically ( AP Physics, Calc BC, AP Chinese UW GPA 3.93) and attends our local university’s monthly physics journal club. He lives in Oklahoma. He will be full pay (EFC>100K, budget approx. 50K/yr, siblings '19/'23). His career goals are unclear at this time (terminal BS degree/workforce vs. PhD/research/academia) and he does not have a specific field of interest within physics. Our two flagship institutions( OU/OSU) have physics programs, but neither is highly ranked or renowned. Would he be better served to seek a higher quality program ( e.g. UMD, UIUC, UW-Madison, etc.) for his BS or reserve those programs for graduate work? Also, what undergraduate programs would you recommend without a geographical constraint? Thanks for your assistance!
Without geographical constraints, a sampling of schools strong in physics could include Harvey Mudd, MIT, UChicago, Caltech, Haverford, Harvard, Hamilton, Bowdoin, Williams, Swarthmore, Reed, Rice, Carleton, Grinnell, URochester. With costs considered, a few of these schools do offer merit scholarship recognition. Most have been noted for their undergraduate research opportunities: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/undergrad-research-programs.
I’d say Grinnell is the most likely of those to offer merit. While some of them offer merit, it is fairly hard to get. $50K doesn’t go as far as it used to for college. 
What about Lawrence in Wisconsin? If his test scores are decent he’d probably get merit, and they punch above their weight in physics.
I agree with Grinnell, but would add UR as a comparable merit opportunity. I also concur with the suggestion to look into Lawrence.
Yes, agree, UR was the one on the list that I wasn’t sure of regarding merit.
If he thinks his interests run toward condensed matter physics, he might consider Iowa State. They have an affiliation with the Ames National Laboratory that provides some nice research opportunities for undergrads.
@xraymancs Do you have thoughts on this thread?
@merc81 and @intparent Thank you for the helpful suggestions.
@xraymancs Do you have any advice?
Regarding your overarching question, I’d recommend the strongest undergraduate education, however defined, your budget permits. With proper support and mentoring, your son would be lined up for employment or funded graduate studies, possibilities that would be strengthened through a top undergraduate education. Not incidentally, I recommend you ignore graduate department rankings, in that they’re designed for a specific purpose that doesn’t apply to a search for an undergraduate college. You may want to consider that candidates for the Apker, a national award regarded as the highest honor for physics research by an undergraduate student in the United States, originate from a variety of institutions: https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201808/apker.cfm. This might lend you confidence with respect to the breadth of schools your son might consider.
U of Colorado has a well-known physics department and he could get merit aid there, although probably not much.
Not entirely sure about the physics part, but here are some schools that offer merit that “might” get you within budget:
Rice, Case Western, Colorado College (block plan), Colorado School of Mines, Richmond, RIT (?), WPI, Lafayette, Macalester, Oberlin, St Olaf.
Schools with EXTREMELY competitive merit scholarships by separate application: Wash U St. Louis, Vanderbilt.
Honestly, as the parent of a physics grad who visited (and even applied to) some of those schools (because she made her list before she realized Physics was what she wanted), I wouldn’t really recommend Mac or St. Olaf or Colorado College as particularly strong mid-tier LACs in Physics. They have the major, but it is pretty small and not really a specific calling card for the college.
@merc81 Thank you for your comments concerning the value of a BS/BA degree and reference to the Apker award and APS website.
Check each school’s catalogs and schedules to see that the usual upper level physics courses are offered at reasonable frequency. The courses:
Intermediate / advanced mechanics
Electromagnetism (often 2 semester)
Quantum mechanics (often 2 semester)
Statistical and thermal physics
Intermediate / advanced lab
Once every two years is the bare minimum, but that means a student has one chance to take each course, which reduces schedule flexibility. Better would be once per year or every semester.
@ucbalumnus Thank you for the advice on curriculum.
@tgrswmr - sorry about the delay, the semester just started and I am teaching the second semester of our quantum mechanics sequence with a revised text. More work for me in the short term, preparing lectures on new material but a welcome revision nonethless!
I agree with @ucbalumnus. The important courses are the ones listed. That being said, OSU and OU have perfectly good undergraduate physics programs. Most physics curricula are the same at the undergraduate level. The most important thing is to be in a program that fits your personality well. In that way, you will be able to get the most out of it.
Some students like a smaller program where they get more attention from faculty. Liberal Arts Colleges do this very well. Other students insist on being in a school with a graduate program which has opportunities to work on research with graduate students on funded projects. The big state universities do this well. This can also be done in programs which have small class sizes too if the university is one of the smaller private technical universities such as those in the AITU (http://theaitu.org) with a Ph.D. program in physics. Another advantage of a school with a Ph.D. program in physics is the availability of graduate courses that an advanced undeergraduate can take to get a head start on a graduate degree. The bottom line is the choice of an undergraduate program is very much a matter of fit and finances because graduate programs take students from all sorts of physics programs.
When prospective students come to visit me at Illinois Tech, I tell them exactly this. That they can get an excellent physics education in many places and they are visiting us to make sure that we are a good fit and that we are a viable financial choice for them. I don’t want students in my program who are struggling to pay the tuition, room and board. This can impact the student’s academics and eventually prospects of getting into graduate school.
@xraymancs Thank you for your thoughtful reply and advice!
FYI/FWIW here you can see how many physics majors each institution educates:
https://www.aip.org/sites/default/files/statistics/rosters/physrost16.4.pdf
@monydad Thanks for the AIP info. UIUC and UW have very large programs!
UIUC is a fine program, it is where I did my undergraduate studies.
OSU also has a great astrophysics program