Picking a college for a physics major

Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around selecting a college for a physics major, focusing on the quality of undergraduate physics programs and factors to consider in the decision-making process. Topics include college rankings, curriculum evaluation, and specific characteristics of programs that may influence a student's experience, particularly in relation to acoustics.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses a desire for objective rankings or assessments of undergraduate physics programs, particularly for a student interested in acoustics.
  • Another participant expresses distrust in college rankings and suggests evaluating schools based on their curriculum, course material, and faculty research.
  • Concerns are raised about "weed out classes," with a request for clarification on how to identify such classes.
  • A participant describes "obvious weed out classes" as large, required courses that many students drop, suggesting that talking to current students can provide insights.
  • It is proposed that a large faculty with diverse research areas is beneficial for students pursuing a career in physics, allowing for broader research opportunities.
  • One participant argues that the differences in college rankings are not significant and notes that an undergraduate physics degree tends to be general, with limited specific coursework in areas like acoustics.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the value of college rankings, with some dismissing them as unhelpful while others seek them for guidance. There is no consensus on the best approach to evaluating physics programs, and the discussion remains unresolved regarding the importance of specific program characteristics.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention various factors that could influence the quality of a physics program, such as the presence of weed out classes and the breadth of faculty research areas, but do not provide a definitive framework for evaluation.

Old Guy
Messages
101
Reaction score
1
My son is thinking of majoring in Physics, but I've had virtually no luck in finding any information about the quality of undergrad Physics programs. Is there any objective rankings or assessments out there? Any other suggestions on how to pick would be appreciated. His interest (at least now) is in acoustics. Thanks!
 
Physics news on Phys.org
I don't trust college rankings at all.

One way of finding out about the quality of the instruction is to go directly to the websites of the schools that you are interested in, and look at the curriculum, the course material and the research that the professors are doing. That should give you a good idea of what the program is like.

The big piece of advice is to try to avoid schools with obvious weed out classes.

One other thing to look at is the quality of the solutions to the problem sets. Machine graded problem sets are bad. Class notes in which the professor goes over issues in which people had trouble before are good.
 
twofish-quant said:
The big piece of advice is to try to avoid schools with obvious weed out classes.

How do you identigy an "obvious weed out class"?
 
Old Guy said:
How do you identigy an "obvious weed out class"?

What you want to avoid are colleges in which freshmen/sophomore year contains a required auditorium style class in which a lot of people take, but most drop out by the end of the semester. If you can talk to some students at the university, you'll quickly find out if a class like that exists.

You might be able to figure out from the class notes and the websites associated with the class whether or not the lecturer is trying to make the class deliberately hard to lower pass rates.
 
If he wants to pursue a career in physics, the best thing to look for would be a large faculty with a wide range of research areas. That way he can do research in (almost) whatever area he finds appealing, instead of being restricted to whatever is at that school (for instance, my school has no particle physicists or plasma physicists).
 
Rankings, schmankings. :smile:

Seriously, the granularity of the rankings is far too fine to be meaningful. There's a difference between #1 and #50. There's no difference between #5 and #6.

Also, be aware that an undergrad physics degree is quote general. He might get one or at most two courses in acoustics.
 

Similar threads

Courses How much CS as a physics major does one need?
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
Admissions Is it realistic to go from an undeclared major to a comp sci major?
  • · Replies 20 ·
Replies
20
Views
4K
Can I pursue an MS in astrophysics with a BS in studio art?
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
3K
Programs Physics degree to med school? please help
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
Major in Physics or Physics/Astronomy for Grad School Cosmology?
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
2K
Programs Physics Masters at undergrad school before PhD?
  • · Replies 17 ·
Replies
17
Views
3K
What's the best major between Physics & Chemistry for entering MS in Nuclear Engineering?
  • · Replies 12 ·
Replies
12
Views
4K
Schools How good and well-known is the physics program at RPI?
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
1K
Courses Pure physics vs. adding a math major?
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
3K
Schools Hey everybody - I need to pick a major for college applications
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K