Undergrad for physics grad school?

yUNeeC

Hello all,

I am a rising sophomore at Appalachian State University, but have come to realize that the school is not for me. I have decided to transfer to ECU, which is much closer to home, for several reasons. Although ECU is a pretty good school (from what I've seen), it does have a reputation as being a huge party school.

If I were to graduate with a BS in both physics and mathematics, with a near 4.0gpa, and a good GRE score, would a top 10-20 physics grad school be out of the question? Or would my choice of ECU really mess things up for me?

I want a good grad school RELATIVELY close to home (NC), so I am looking at both Maryland and Columbia as potential opportunities.

BTW, I do a lot of reading outside of class, am currently watching the MIT lectures on youtube, try to learn my math courses before I take them, etc. I also do little math projects occasionally to practice seeing the world in "math"...I am a serious student and will probably do well on my GRE's. I just need to know if my choice of undergrad, alone, will mess things up.

Thanks.

G01

Your choice of undergrad alone will not mess up your graduate school chances. Just make sure that wherever you go you get research experience of some kind. Not having research experience will hurt your grad school chances much more than the name of you undergrad university.