<p>I am looking for a university that is medium-sized (roughly 4,000 - 10,000 undergrads), has lots of undergrad research opportunities, a GREAT physics department, is in or near a pretty big city, has some large body of water nearby (be it ocean, lake, river...doesn't matter), has its share of awesome architecture, puts a lot of emphasis on getting an EDUCATION rather than just getting a well-paying job, attracts a lot of "nerdy" students yet still has a lot happening on campus, etc. Can you suggest some schools that fit all or most of these criteria? Thanks :-).</p>
<p>Rice - pretty "nerdy" but still has a social scene, and located in Houston. I don't know about water nearby :/ Definately has nice architecture and strong all around education.</p>
<p>Tufts - Again, I don't know about a body of water. But it's right next to Boston and has a cute and cozy little campus. Definately a social life is available if you want one, but also plenty of "nerds", and it offers a great education and plenty of research opportunities.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt - not very "nerdy", but great social scene, next to Nashville and the Mississippi River. Beautiful campus (it's a national arboretum), and a quality education. Large enough to have great research available.</p>
<p>Northwestern - Right next to the Great Lakes in Chicago, with plenty of social life and nerdiness to go around. Fantastic education and research opportunities, and a gorgeous campus.</p>
<p>The schools i am looking at are UChicago, Johns Hopkins, and Northwestern. Preferably more northern schools, since i live in Michigan. Do anyone have some more suggestions along those lines?</p>
<p>University of Rochester -- 4,000 or so undergrad with grad school, med school for research opp. Optics dept is #1. On Genesee River and not far from Lake Ontario. Definitely serious academically.</p>
<p>Chicago & Hopkins</p>
<p>nw is too pre-professional for the OP, IMO</p>
<p>Ugh, don't go to UChicago if you want to have any fun. :/</p>
<p>What about the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor? I know that's bigger than you asked for but it might be worth looking into. I can think of a few smaller LACs such as Grinnell, Carleton, and Macalaster, but as far as I know they aren't much in the way of physics/research. I would still strongly recommend Tufts.</p>
<p>I would agree that Tufts is a good choice, great school, 15 min from the ocean, and you can't beat the social life in boston!</p>
<p>wow i think that was a perfect description of University of Rochester , Genesee River which is really famous in Upstate NY , very competitive academically, near the big city of Rochester (a couple minute cab ride away, some of the campus is in fact in the city although the main campus is a suburb), med school/center near by which is HUUUGE and where a majority of students do research for bio/health sciences/chemistry..as well as Bausch and Lomb, Kodak, and a plethora of smaller research companies for other forms of research in Rochester area. </p>
<p>PHYSICS!!!!! UR is #1 in optical physics, it has the worlds greatest laser, definitely very strong in over-all physics. UR has received a CRAPLOAD of money from US Department of Defense to develop some kind of plasma physics campus for Rochester to develop a new and up and coming special type of physics major at Rochester...they are also doing this special project that other elite schools like MIT and such are working together with, only UR and some other random school has the facilites for the project. UR discovered the newest planet or something too within the past year. 1970 nobel prize for physics was won by a UR scientist i believe..all in all Physics is rampant in the science school of UR .Research is big, campus is beautiful (grecko-roman architecture), and the school fits your description beautifully.</p>
<p>No one has mentioned Columbia! Meets all of your criteria.</p>