Where do you find information regarding ranking for specific majors/topics of study?

[Anonymous]

DC is interested in physics and biology. Which state universities in Virginia have decent and well respected physics and/or biology departments.

I realize that PhD is the terminal degree for these topics of study, but what are the undergraduate programs like? Or what are some good websites that compare and contrast.

[Anonymous]

I think your best bet is to look at the graduate program ranking of these departments. Typically, a good ph.d program indicates that they have really good professors.

If you are interested in the only a few universities, you can go to the department web page and look at the faculty background and productivity. And opportunity for undergraduates. Sometimes a smaller school may have more opportunities for undergraduate research because they may not have a ph.d. program.

[Anonymous]

UVA has the 40th ranked graduate physics program and 46th in Biology.

Old Dominion is 122 for physics, 181 for biology
William and Mary is 85 for physics, 130 for bio
Virginia Tech is 63 in physics, 92 in bio

All from http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/physics-rankings

I don't think they rank undergrad majors--just graduate schools. Those 4 were the only ones I saw rankings for, but I didn't do a super comprehensive search.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it is useful to know where the good graduate programs are. Graduate departments are, by design, focused on grad students, not undergrads. In fact, where there are big, highly regarded graduate schools, undergrads are highly likely to be taught by grad students instead of professors. And any research opportunities (or any opportunities to work closely with professors) are going to go to grad students, not undergrads.

What about looking at the rankings for top grad schools and then trying to find out what colleges those grad students come from?

[Anonymous]

^^or top medical schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it is useful to know where the good graduate programs are. Graduate departments are, by design, focused on grad students, not undergrads. In fact, where there are big, highly regarded graduate schools, undergrads are highly likely to be taught by grad students instead of professors. And any research opportunities (or any opportunities to work closely with professors) are going to go to grad students, not undergrads.

What about looking at the rankings for top grad schools and then trying to find out what colleges those grad students come from?

Actually, this wasn't my experience at all at a large research university. Because most of the graduate students have research assistant funding, they don't do much teaching (maybe labs or study sessions but not the main lectures). The only classes I had that were taught by grad students were liberal arts classes (because those students had less funding available to them unless they were willing to teach). Because there were a lot of research projects, there were a lot of opportunities to start working for a lab and most science majors with plans of pursuing graduate work did so. I started (in a chem lab) as a sophomore. The only profs in our department that didn't have undergrads working for them were the ones that were emeritus or about to retire. In fact, every summer we brought in additional undergrads participating in the NSF REU program and they were generally from smaller schools without strong research programs that they could be involved in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it is useful to know where the good graduate programs are. Graduate departments are, by design, focused on grad students, not undergrads. In fact, where there are big, highly regarded graduate schools, undergrads are highly likely to be taught by grad students instead of professors. And any research opportunities (or any opportunities to work closely with professors) are going to go to grad students, not undergrads.

What about looking at the rankings for top grad schools and then trying to find out what colleges those grad students come from?

Actually, this wasn't my experience at all at a large research university. Because most of the graduate students have research assistant funding, they don't do much teaching (maybe labs or study sessions but not the main lectures). The only classes I had that were taught by grad students were liberal arts classes (because those students had less funding available to them unless they were willing to teach). Because there were a lot of research projects, there were a lot of opportunities to start working for a lab and most science majors with plans of pursuing graduate work did so. I started (in a chem lab) as a sophomore. The only profs in our department that didn't have undergrads working for them were the ones that were emeritus or about to retire. In fact, every summer we brought in additional undergrads participating in the NSF REU program and they were generally from smaller schools without strong research programs that they could be involved in.

This is really interesting. Thanks for posting this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it is useful to know where the good graduate programs are. Graduate departments are, by design, focused on grad students, not undergrads. In fact, where there are big, highly regarded graduate schools, undergrads are highly likely to be taught by grad students instead of professors. And any research opportunities (or any opportunities to work closely with professors) are going to go to grad students, not undergrads.

What about looking at the rankings for top grad schools and then trying to find out what colleges those grad students come from?

Actually, this wasn't my experience at all at a large research university. Because most of the graduate students have research assistant funding, they don't do much teaching (maybe labs or study sessions but not the main lectures). The only classes I had that were taught by grad students were liberal arts classes (because those students had less funding available to them unless they were willing to teach). Because there were a lot of research projects, there were a lot of opportunities to start working for a lab and most science majors with plans of pursuing graduate work did so. I started (in a chem lab) as a sophomore. The only profs in our department that didn't have undergrads working for them were the ones that were emeritus or about to retire. In fact, every summer we brought in additional undergrads participating in the NSF REU program and they were generally from smaller schools without strong research programs that they could be involved in.

This is really interesting. Thanks for posting this.

+1 I was a STEM major at a large public university and this was my experience as well

[Anonymous]

USNEWS has this data, but I think you have to pay for the more detailed report.

[Anonymous]

Rugg's Recommendations, if that's still around.