How do you tell which schools are well-regarded in particular subfields?

[phun]

Just as the title says. Everyone tells me when deciding which schools to apply to, I should look at what kind of research the faculty members are doing and if any of them interest me. While I agree that this would be the first thing to do, I don't believe one is able to tell (as an undergrad) if the research they are describing is really making any impact in the field just by reading research descriptions. I mean, who is going to describe their research as if it is not important or well-regarded in the field? How do people go about this? I've heard someone say you need to ask the professors at your school about their opinions on different schools, but my school doesn't have anyone specializing in the field of my interest. Can anyone offer an advice?

 

[franznietzsche]

Just as the title says. Everyone tells me when deciding which schools to apply to, I should look at what kind of research the faculty members are doing and if any of them interest me. While I agree that this would be the first thing to do, I don't believe one is able to tell (as an undergrad) if the research they are describing is really making any impact in the field just by reading research descriptions. I mean, who is going to describe their research as if it is not important or well-regarded in the field? How do people go about this? I've heard someone say you need to ask the professors at your school about their opinions on different schools, but my school doesn't have anyone specializing in the field of my interest. Can anyone offer some advice?

THere is some publication listing grad programs that should be relevant...i forget what it is offhand (just a second year).

 

[ZapperZ]

Unless I imagined the whole thing, Chronicles of Higher Education used to have a ranking of different areas of physics. This periodical should be available at most large libraries. You just have to figure out which issue they do this reporting.

Zz.