Top school to become a physicist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is pretty neurotic and a high scorer on exams but simply lacks extracurriculars. She aspires to be a physicist and in her free time, she’s president of the Quantum physics and robotics team. I’m concerned that without going to a top 20 university, she won’t be able to ever achieve her dream. Looking through the assistant professor page at Princeton, every one of them has a degree from MIT, Stanford, Tsinghua, and IIT, so what chance does she have getting into the professsion?

Im not sure why everyone is recommending $90k/yr SLACs for undergrad. UMD is one of the leaders in quantum physics if that's where her interest lies.
https://www.umdphysics.umd.edu/research/research-areas/quantum.html

Cause a $70k/year out of state public is a waste of money

Its $55k and about 15-20% of OOS receive some merit.

60k according to the Maryland website. Still a waste of money at 40k for a public school, just stay in state.

UVA and WM in state are 40k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you wealthy OP? Life of an academic is for the 2nd generation wealthy, who can deal with the low pay for years of grad and post doc and lecturer roles. Pay is so so, and it’s very possible they will never make tenure and drift from college to college as lecturer.

Applied physics, like working at JHU-APL, an engineering company, might offer a better career path and lifestyle.

We’d be able to support her during that time. We’re fortunate to be…well fortunate but I just want to see her achieve her goals.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:^ Harvey Mudd acceptance rate around 20%, it's not a difficult one to get in. I know high stats girls who applied ED with no much ECs, and got in.

Harvey mudd is very difficult to get into with a 13% acceptance rate and attracts a very niche personality. Also a terrible student quality of life. Much harder than others lacs to graduate and to do well.

The girl I mentioned found it a good fit. Academically challenging but manageable to her. She is also neurodivergent like OP ( autistic), don’t care about partying much. No ECs, ED got her in.

Neurotic doesn’t mean neurodivergent.

I think that is a typo right?
Who calls own DC neurotic? Isn’t that derogatory?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is pretty neurotic and a high scorer on exams but simply lacks extracurriculars. She aspires to be a physicist and in her free time, she’s president of the Quantum physics and robotics team. I’m concerned that without going to a top 20 university, she won’t be able to ever achieve her dream. Looking through the assistant professor page at Princeton, every one of them has a degree from MIT, Stanford, Tsinghua, and IIT, so what chance does she have getting into the professsion?

Would she be content as a Physics professor at Radford or Towson? https://www.radford.edu/directory/profiles/physics-department/sandra-liss.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you wealthy OP? Life of an academic is for the 2nd generation wealthy, who can deal with the low pay for years of grad and post doc and lecturer roles. Pay is so so, and it’s very possible they will never make tenure and drift from college to college as lecturer.

Applied physics, like working at JHU-APL, an engineering company, might offer a better career path and lifestyle.

We’d be able to support her during that time. We’re fortunate to be…well fortunate but I just want to see her achieve her goals.

What do you mean “this time”. Her income and lifestyle could be nomadic and poorly paid for her entire career? So she doesn’t need to make money, you are trust fund wealthy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ Harvey Mudd acceptance rate around 20%, it's not a difficult one to get in. I know high stats girls who applied ED with no much ECs, and got in.

Harvey mudd is very difficult to get into with a 13% acceptance rate and attracts a very niche personality. Also a terrible student quality of life. Much harder than others lacs to graduate and to do well.

The girl I mentioned found it a good fit. Academically challenging but manageable to her. She is also neurodivergent like OP ( autistic), don’t care about partying much. No ECs, ED got her in.

Neurotic doesn’t mean neurodivergent.

I think that is a typo right?
Who calls own DC neurotic? Isn’t that derogatory?

Depends on where you’re from. I’ve never heard it in a negative sense. Most people use it to mean they’re anxious perfectionist types.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is pretty neurotic and a high scorer on exams but simply lacks extracurriculars. She aspires to be a physicist and in her free time, she’s president of the Quantum physics and robotics team. I’m concerned that without going to a top 20 university, she won’t be able to ever achieve her dream. Looking through the assistant professor page at Princeton, every one of them has a degree from MIT, Stanford, Tsinghua, and IIT, so what chance does she have getting into the professsion?

Would she be content as a Physics professor at Radford or Towson? https://www.radford.edu/directory/profiles/physics-department/sandra-liss.html

Sounds nice. It’s about being able to do the career she wants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sample of one - but my son needed a tutor to help in with AP Calc. His tutor had a PhD in astrophysics from Villanova and worked as an astrophysicist. He said if he had it to do over again, he would major in engineering. Way easier and more flexibility for different jobs/careers. He and 2 friends from Villanova were going to form a small business offering tutoring for higher level math and science courses as they pay was better.

Wow. How much do they charge per hour for the tutoring?
How much is a physics college professor making?

Tutoring was $75/hour (in 2016). Not sure what he charges now. He was worth every penny and more.
No clue what a physics professor makes, the tutor worked for a company in applied physics.

[Anonymous]

Honors college at University of Arizona. I know two students who went there for physics and had great grad school outcomes. Very generous scholarships too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ Harvey Mudd acceptance rate around 20%, it's not a difficult one to get in. I know high stats girls who applied ED with no much ECs, and got in.

Harvey mudd is very difficult to get into with a 13% acceptance rate and attracts a very niche personality. Also a terrible student quality of life. Much harder than others lacs to graduate and to do well.

The girl I mentioned found it a good fit. Academically challenging but manageable to her. She is also neurodivergent like OP ( autistic), don’t care about partying much. No ECs, ED got her in.

Neurotic doesn’t mean neurodivergent.

I think that is a typo right?
Who calls own DC neurotic? Isn’t that derogatory?

Depends on where you’re from. I’ve never heard it in a negative sense. Most people use it to mean they’re anxious perfectionist types.

DCum moms type?

Oh, I am sure they will be totally fine if you called them neurotic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. This can be at a large state university, even the non-selective ones, or at good smaller schools.

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-feeders-phd-programs#physics

For example, this shows that many University of Arizona grads went on to get a PhD in physics. It's a small percentage, but if she's truly that interested she can do well at many places.

Undergrads from these schools have gone on to earn Physics Ph.D.s at the highest rate per capita:

1. Caltech
2. Harvey Mudd
3. MIT
4. Reed
5. Swarthmore
6. Haverford
7. Princeton
8. Chicago
9. Carleton
10. Rensselaer (RPI)
11. Grinnell
12. Rochester
13. New College of FL
14. Williams
15. Harvard
16. New Mexico Institute of Mining and Tech
17. Cornell U
18. Kenyon
19. Columbia
20. Olin

[Anonymous]

I'm just going to be the nth person to say that it doesn't matter for undergrad. My son is a rising senior and for some reason wants to continue the family physics PhDs into a third generation, and that's what I'm telling him. Visiting the departments at a few different schools (of varying prestige) with him didn't change what I already thought -- the degree is basically the same everywhere (modulo availability of second semester quantum/E&M at some smaller schools, but that doesn't stop their students from getting into grad school).

So she should follow all of the usual advice about finding college fit (large/small, LA/research, etc.), get good grades and do as much research as possible as an undergrad, and go to the best grad school she can.

[Anonymous]

I don't see any physicists commenting. I have a PhD in physics (astrophysics focus) from Harvard, and I now work in tech.

A few things:
- It's much easier to get into a top grad program if you come from a top undergrad program. Most of my classmates were from T20 universities or T10 LACs.
- What matters most is your research area and PhD adviser, but it's still easier to get access to opportunities from a well-funded program. For example, at Harvard gard students had their own travel fund separate from what their adviser's research grant afforded. In addition, Harvard was a partner in a large private observatory, which means as a grad student I successfully applied for time on telescopes that even professors at other universities could rarely get access to.
- STEM professors make a decent living, though postdoc pay is not great. It's not as good as private sector, but it's not like being an English professor.

[Anonymous]

Check out Clark U in Worcester, MA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out Clark U in Worcester, MA.

Why?