Good graduate programs (but not top universities) for physics?

[Vitani1]

Hello... new here. Can anyone give me advice or some information on what universities they think are good for a graduate program in physics?

 

[mcastillo356]

Where are you from?

 

[Choppy]

You can always Google "top universities for physics" or some variation of that.

Usually though, when you're looking for a university for graduate school, it's important to be thinking about what particular sub-field you're interested in. General rankings, even ones that are subject-specific, are based on metrics that may or may not be important to you as a student. General opinions, are also of limited value when someone doesn't know you or your particular circumstances and interests. This is often why it's a good idea to talk about this with professors that you know and who know you.

 

[Vitani1]

Sorry this has taken a few days. I'm from Florida. It is easy to google search and find top universities but I was wondering about a "good" university that doesn't have all of the excess requirements that top universities have. In terms of subfields I'm not entirely sure yet but astrophysics is a possibility.

 

[hutchphd]

Can you characterize a few of these "excess" requirements?

 

[Vitani1]

I guess what I mean to say is "strict" or something like this. By excess, I meant higher GRE scores, higher GPA, etc. (for example when comparing Harvard to a decent university in Connecticut it is obvious that my chances of getting into this school in Connecticut is by default easier). I don't mean to rephrase my question though because my goal is not to find a school that is easy to get into. My goal is to find a decent school with a good reputation and a good program which is not a top school. There are hundreds of these schools but I figured I'd ask the commonfolk if any came to mind. I'm currently attending Florida State University which is in the top 60 schools (I think)

 

[mcastillo356]

Choose the nearest and the cheaper. The school is you.
I've done so.
It's a personal opinion.
Good luck!

 

[Vanadium 50]

There are hundreds of these schools

There are not. There are 160 physics PhD granting institutions in the US.

I think your question is way too vague to be answered. Take away the top 10 and 150 are left. What information have you provided to help us narrow down the 150?

 

[hutchphd]

I went where they offered me the best compensation. It did not hurt that it was a beautiful campus filled with many good looking women and friendly folks and I was very well treated generally .
I suppose the thing I missed most was having only a couple of folks among my physics student peers who were better (IMHO) than I at physics. Of course one ended up healing the Hubble, so that was fun. And one good friend was on the Forbes 400 list for a while. And I got to teach a lot, formally and informally.
It worked out well for me, but one never knows about roads not taken!