@merc81 - That is very encouraging - I have been reading up on Univ of Rochester and I really like the school. Would be very happy to be accepted to Rochester.
Personally, I like your self-assessment. I’ ve seen students take pride in getting an A without effort. Along these lines, since you have actually worked for your Bs, I think they may be the better grade. However, I’m not on an admissions committee.
@merc81 - Thank you for the validation - I hope some admissions counsellor sees it that way too
Reed’s program is pretty theoretical, but you can definitely get applied training. If you want to be a Physicist anyway, you’ll probably have to do a PhD, and you can do that in Applied Physics. (I’m Reed Class of 2019, planning to be a Physics or Math-Physics Interdisciplinary major)
Grinnell is worth a shot
Carleton very reachy
Middlebury is good but extremely reachy
Oberlin is worth a look
URochester is definitely a good one, and they will probably accept you with those APs and test scores.
One major red flag I noticed is no foreign language in junior and senior years. It would be very hard to get into some LACs without that.
For Reed, here is what you should do. Ace all your classes in the first semester of senior year. Your cumulative GPA would not rise much, but Reed loves upward trending GPAs, especially if you have a very rigorous courseload, and they might give your cumulative GPA a slide. I actually think they don’t care about GPA at all. They care about your specific grades. I got into Reed with similar test scores and a slightly higher GPA. My GPA is probably in the bottom 10-20 students of the 400 or so freshman class, but my SAT is probably in the top 10%. They tend to take risks on kids if they are intellectually curious (Not that SATs necessarily correlate with curiosity), so spend a lot of time on your essays showing them who you are as a thinker and a human being.
Good advice for Reed. I’ve read grades and scores only count for 25% of admission there. The vibe is very different from other schools. One D had it as her first choice while the other didn’t care for it at all.
New College of Florida is actually a public college, but it’s a tiny liberal arts college with some surprisingly strong Science opportunities for motivated, independent students. http://www.ncf.edu/physics/why-study-physics-at-ncf. There is no Engineering, but they are building a strong Computer Science department and just initiated their first graduate program of any sort in Data Sciences. If you want to pursue your own projects and design a customized curriculum, it could be an excellent fit.
Clark, in Worcester, MA, might be a good fit for you, also.
To evaluate the strength of a school’s physics department, you can take a look at the catalogs and schedules to see what physics courses are offered, and how often. The usual junior/senior level physics courses for a physics major will be:
intermediate mechanics
electromagnetism and optics (often 2 semesters)
quantum mechanics (often 2 semesters)
statistical and thermal physics
junior/senior level physics lab
Of course, what electives are offered can also influence your decision. Astronomy and astrophysics are often part of the physics department, so astronomy and astrophysics electives often exist in the physics offerings.
Other small schools you may want to consider are the “Mines” schools in South Dakota, New Mexico, and Colorado. They are not LACs. They focus on physical sciences and engineering, so there may be a good selection of applied physics type courses offered (check their catalogs and schedules). The South Dakota and New Mexico ones are not very difficult to get admitted to and are relatively inexpensive.
Boston U, Bucknell, Illinois Tech, Lehigh, New Mexico Tech, Stevens Tech. Concurring with @Cosmological: Grinnell, Oberlin, Reed, U Rochester are more reachy but worth keeping on your radar.
Your final application list should be made with particular care because of that ACT/GPA disconnect. You don’t want to get overly risky or conservative, like any applicant, but in your case it’s much easier to make those mistakes. Use your essays (and recs) to make admissions see past your GPA.
Let us know your Unweighted GPA, UC GPA, and Class Rank when you find out.
@ucbalumnus - I have been checking some of the physics courses in private/public research universities versus
LAC. Seems like there is more choice of electives in the former while the LACs have the foundation courses with some limited electives. I am assuming that in LACs I will be taking arts and humanities courses. That is what I am told is the value of liberal arts education. I will have to do some more homework. Thanks for the suggestions.
You can (and may be required to) take lots of humanities courses in research universities as well.
Typically, the main distinguishing features of LACs versus research universities are:
- LACs generally have smaller faculty led courses, particularly at the frosh/soph level, with no or minimal use of TAs. (Check class schedules to be sure.)
- LACs generally do not have graduate programs. This can help in that faculty are focused on undergraduates, but very advanced undergraduates may prefer to be able to take graduate level courses as undergraduates.
@Dunboyne - You are right. I will somehow have to bridge the gap in my gpa and test scores with other things such as my summer research experience. I have a long road ahead. All the schools you marked reachy seem very attractive to me especially Reed and Rochester. In addition out of the big university reach schools UIUC seems to have a very good engineering physics program. Michigan State may be an option if I can get to honors college. Any other decent program where I can get some merit aid will be of help to my parents. I will come back with my stats once I find out. Thanks for the help.