<p>It seems both are very similar in size and ranking, and the physics ranking are also very similar. My son will only select one to apply. From my point of view: UW has better climate, more Chinese (we are from China, it is not the advantage in our mind), honor program is available(I don't know if UT has it too or not). While UT Austin is a very selective school, and physics seems a little bit stronger. I have a very good friend in Dallas, and I will be there at least once a year.
Finally, academic factor is the most important one, with an eye to graduate school.
Thanks for your advice.</p>
<p>Any rating or ranking based on reputation, or five years old, when it comes to UW, is off. They have had HUGE budget cuts in virtually every department, especially in upper level undergraduate electives. </p>
<p>It was once a fine school. Now it’s maybe an okay school. Given the choice, I’d choose Texas. But kick the tires yourself.</p>
<p>That’s a very important information. It is said the UC school are also suffering a lot from the financial problem, how is the situation in UCB and UCSB? Thanks!</p>
<p>Do you live in WA or TX? Why these two state schools, if you don’t mind me asking? There are several schools with great physics programs. From what I’ve heard, UT will be a hard admit if your son is OOS. It does have several honors programs, but the two that would most appeal to him would be Plan II:</p>
<p>[Plan</a> II Honors Program, UT Austin](<a href=“Plan II Honors Program | Liberal Arts | UT - Austin”>Plan II Honors Program | Liberal Arts | UT - Austin)</p>
<p>and the natural science honors program:</p>
<p>[Honors</a> & Scholarships](<a href=“http://cns.utexas.edu/honors-scholarships]Honors”>http://cns.utexas.edu/honors-scholarships)</p>
<p>There are other honors programs that might appeal to him such as the Health Science Honors; he’ll simply need to research them. If he likes both schools, have him apply to both and if he’s accepted, he can visit both to see which one he feels is the better fit.</p>
<p>We live in China. His SAT 1 scores are not high enough, just 2000+ (SAT2 physics, chemical and math all 800, AP calculus and physics C all 5). In stead of applying to the top schools, we would like to apply the good schools with top programs. Like CSC in UCSB. He attended Cornell summer program(maths and physics), and was named the great student in the class, so I think he can handle tough class.
He decided to work on the national physics contest, but NOT trying to increase the SAT1 scores. In order to save time, he will not apply too many schools. We will just select one form UW and UT, because we have selected UCSB and UIUC in the same level.
Thank you for the introduction of honors at UT Austin.</p>
<p>Your son sounds like an idea candidate for a highly selective physics honors program at UC-Santa Barbara, currently a physics powerhouse. </p>
<p>Its students can do graduate-level work right away and have amazing, daily access to world-class faculty and research. Do check this out. </p>
<p>[College</a> of Creative Studies, UC Santa Barbara](<a href=“http://www.ccs.ucsb.edu/]College”>http://www.ccs.ucsb.edu/)</p>
<p>I do agree with Katliamom. Therefore, we will select UT Austin as a backup, and give up UW, they all have a Dec. 1 deadline, so we need to take action before some Early results come out.</p>
<p>UW has back-filled most of the budget cuts with higher tuition. The net cuts were not that severe. UT has had cuts too and has not increased tuition as much. But it has a larger endowment fund. I don’t think one is much worse off than the other. Austin is a better college town but in ways that a Chinese student might not care about.</p>
<p>Is this situation apply to all state universities? like UIUC and and UC(UCB, and UCSB), which we are going to apply to. Thanks.</p>
<p>Pretty much. UC increased tuition somthing like 50% over the last few years. That is lots of cash. UI did not get a big cut this year.</p>
<p>UT also has Steven Weinberg, Nobel laureate, Physics on Staff. If your son can snag a spot in the Plan II program (he can add a double major in Physics) he has the opportunity to be in Professor Weinberg’s Freshman Plan II Seminar class. He only teaches a handful of undergraduates and not many Freshman can say they are being taught by a Nobel Laureate, no matter what school they attend. If your son does not snag the Plan II spot, there is always Weinberg’s Theory Group where he could have research opportunities as part of the Freshman Research program UT has.</p>
<p>[Freshman</a> Research Initiative](<a href=“http://fri.cns.utexas.edu/]Freshman”>http://fri.cns.utexas.edu/)</p>
<p>You might also check out UBC in Vancouver, I am not hearing about cuts there. </p>
<p>UW & UT are both excellent schools and I would think fit would be important, what about things like the weather, the community, the ease of flights home?</p>
<p>I have heard him described as best physics prof.
[David</a> Griffiths](<a href=“http://academic.reed.edu/physics/faculty/griffiths.html]David”>David J. Griffiths - Physics Department - Reed College)
[REED</a> COLLEGE PHD PRODUCTIVITY](<a href=“http://www.reed.edu/ir/phd.html]REED”>Doctoral Degree Productivity - Institutional Research - Reed College)</p>
<p>REED COLLEGE is definitely a outstanding school, I know a friend’s son there. But my son prefers big schools. Collegeshopping has a very helpful information about UT, it sounds really attractive. Do you think my son has a chance to get into the UT and it’s Plan II as well?</p>
<p>Hi, Foshan, like collegeshopping, I just had a child go through the UT admission process. It is very competitive to get into UT, even more so to secure a place in an honors program. Like most US public flagship universities, UT has an express preference for in-state students because the school is partially subsidized by resident taxpayers. UT also follows a legislative admissions formula (frequently called “the Top 10% Rule”) that evolved out of judicial decisions about the role of affirmative action to promote historically underrepresented minorities (often referred to here as URMs, meaning African American, Hispanic and Native American students) in admission decisions. </p>
<p>Bottom line, per Texas statute, the total number of international and out-of-state students may not exceed 10% of the freshman class. (Graduate study admissions are unrestricted, so the numbers of international students at the master’s and PhD levels are a lot higher.)</p>
<p>I don’t offer this to discourage you–simply to make you aware! To get started, see the application web site here:</p>
<p>[International</a> Undergraduate | Be a Longhorn](<a href=“http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/international]International”>International Students – University of Texas Admissions)</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about the other publics you mention, except UC Berkeley, to which my child was also admitted (as an out-of-state applicant). Because of the UC system budget crisis, they’ve recently increased their number of non-resident admits for the express purpose of bringing in tuition revenues. I saw a recent media piece somewhere indicating Berkeley’s fall 2011 class was composed of a record high 26% non-residents (I don’t know the breakdown between international and other US states).</p>
<p>Obviously, you may wish to keep an open mind about private schools that welcome international diversity so your son has a nice complement of each on his list.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Plan II admissions are hard to pin down, but most people will tell you the essay portion of the application and the essay portion of the honors supplement is extremely important. They are looking for strong writers who also have a great command of math, science and humanities. Another common thread is a love of learning. My daughter will be a Plan II freshman and I have to say the community of Plan II kids (about 150 of them) are amazing students. I don’t think you or your son would be disappointed.</p>
<p>You two really showed up something fresh & bright to us.
My concern now is his low SAT I score (2050), for the preparation of a national physics contest, he won’t take the test the SAT again. Subject test (physics, chemistry and calculus)is ok (all 800), AP physics C and calculus BC all 5. Cornell summer college experience will help him or not?
The private schools good at physics are rather on the very top or on the very low side. So we have to choose more public schools.</p>
<p>I looked through the UT Austin Plan II and FRI program, but still have no concept of their connection.
Are they two different programs?
Is it limited to select just one to apply?
Is Plan II more selective and higher class than FRI?
Thanks</p>
<p>Foshan, my child is also pursuing physics, and my take about undergrad selection is a little different. I think you can get a very strong foundation in physics at tons of colleges. Some seemingly small programs are ideal for allowing extraordinary research opportunities and access to professors, especially when there is no graduate program sucking up all the resources. Other schools are especially attractive to kids who know exactly what they want to study, e.g., school A may be big in astro, school B maybe where all the quantum folks gravitate. But by and large, what is important at this stage is overall fit and support for the undergrad experience. Our kids will need to use this time to master the basics and narrow their interests so they are well-positioned for acceptance into the grad program of their choice. Because that’s where the action is.</p>
<p>Just my two cents…food for thought!</p>
<p>collegeshopping has done a fabulous job exposing you to Plan II at UT. We’re equally high on the Dean’s Scholars program. See [Dean’s</a> Scholars](<a href=“http://cns.utexas.edu/honors-scholarships/deans-scholars]Dean’s”>http://cns.utexas.edu/honors-scholarships/deans-scholars) and follow all the links!</p>
<p>Re UC Berkeley, physics will soon have brand new facilities! Don’t know if that will happen soon enough for your son to benefit or whether construction will frustrate…check it out. Note we received a letter advising we should make financial arrangements to pay for five years just in case the college’s fiscal crisis prevents it from offering required courses as needed for sequential completion of degree plan.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thank you for introducing the Dean’s Scholars to us. We can’t understand so many interesting programs without your help.</p>
<p>But I still hold my question: can we apply all of them? or just select one to apply?</p>
<p>Regarding the UC, the good thing to us is the crisis, they turned more space to out of state applicants,that means we have more chance than before; the bad thing is also the crisis, your note is just what we are worry about. Some parents introduce the College of Creative Study in UCSB. Please compare it with honor programs of UT Austin if you have free time. Thank you in advance.</p>