<p>I know that Stanford's engineering department is excellent, but how good are the physics and computer science programs at Stanford? Compared to MIT, Harvard, Princeton?</p>
<p>Also, are there any statistics as to how many people major in such fields at Stanford?</p>
<p>Computer science--trumps Harvard, Princeton, and MIT. They're all strong in it--particularly MIT--but Stanford is simply unrivaled: its immense contributions to computer science, its proximity to Silicon Valley, its ties to over 3,000 companies in SV, its post-grad placement, its amazing faculty (16 of Stanford's CS faculty have won the Turing award--nearly half of the Turing awards given), its CS patents (which bring in millions in revenue each year), and so on. It's consistently ranked #1 in CS (NRC, US News, etc.).</p>
<p>Turing</a> Award - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
List</a> of Stanford University people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
List</a> of Stanford University people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Research</a> and Innovation: Stanford University Facts</p>
<p>For physics, Stanford is definitely top 5 or top 10. I don't know as much about it (not my major), but we do have the SLAC.</p>
<p>SLAC</a> National Accelerator Laboratory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
<p>And Stanford's generally ranked pretty high in physics. Also, we currently have a few Nobel Laureates in physics--of the 18 Nobel Laureates on campus, 6 of them are in physics, and some of them even teach introductory seminars (15-person classes on an introductory topic), like Doug Osheroff. Leonard Susskind (father of string theory) also teaches an introsem.</p>
<p>Check out the individual department sites--you'll see why they're great.</p>
<p>Also, regarding statistics:</p>
<p>I'm interested in Physics too, so with the research I was doing, I found that Stanford's #1 in Physics for grad school (according to US News). So I'm assuming that their undergrad is just as good then...</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for your advice. It's very helpful.</p>
<p>Do you know if it is feasible to double major in physics and computer science even though they are in different schools?</p>
<p>Yes, it's very feasible. I know of a few people who are doing that. Plenty of students double-major in two different schools.</p>
<p>Thank you again.</p>
<p>Just one last question: Do you know what kinds of resources Stanford undergraduates majoring in physics have access to? Stanford has a lot of research centers listed on their website but it's hard to figure out if undergrads can get a position. For example, SLAC - Stanford Linear Accelerator Center looks very interesting but seems geared towards professionals.</p>
<p>Most of what grads have, undergrads have too. Stanford realizes that many of its undergrads are capable of graduate-level work--which is why most grad courses are open to undergrads as well (there are certain sections in department course listings that are supposed to be exclusively for grads, but advanced undergrads can take those too; and there are usually whole sections of courses for undergrads and grads).</p>
<p>As for SLAC, I know undergrads can intern there.</p>