Is Brown good for string theory?

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Brown University has a small but active Physics department with at least five theoretical particle physicists involved in string theory research. However, their citation metrics are notably lower compared to leading institutions like MIT and Princeton, which have more researchers and higher citation counts. Brown's acceptance rate is 13.53%, making it selective, but still higher than MIT's 9.87% and Princeton's 11.68%. The discussion highlights the importance of research output and institutional reputation when evaluating graduate programs in string theory. Overall, while Brown has a solid program, it may not match the research strength of larger institutions.
ian_dsouza
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Is Brown a good university for string theory? I've checked out their website but was wondering about the general reputation and strength of the researchers in string theory at Brown. It does seem like a small school and guessing their acceptance rate would be low.

Thanks
 
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I looked at Brown University and here's what I've found.

Brown's Physics department currently employs (from what I've found) at least five theoretical particle physicists (their research includes string theory).
Compare this number to MIT's and Princeton's thirteen.
Now, only seven paper's from Brown's five theorists have been cited by other scientists more than 250 times. Only one of which was cited more than 500 times.
One of MIT's physicists, Frank Wilczek (theoretical particle physics/string theorist), alone has 46 papers that were each cited more than 250, 16 were cited more than 500 times. (He's a Nobel Laureate).

Acceptance Rates:

MIT 9.87%
Brown 13.53%
Princeton 11.68%
Berkeley (CA) 15.86%

I have given you the numbers. Which is the better school? That is up to your perspective.

Numbers were pulled from GraduateSchool Shopper.com and the INSPIRE (high energy physics) database.
 
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Thanks for the very detailed reply. Much appreciated! I just applied. Brown's pretty selective, but I'm hoping the average profile in their applicant pool isn't as good as that of Princeton and MIT.
 
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