Should I Transfer? UT Austin vs. UT San Antonio

[morenogabr]

Alright, I need the opinion of my esteemed and knowledgeable peers. My situation: I started my undergad physics degree at UT Austin in 2007. I was a bit immature and really blew a good deal with regards to scholarships. I was distracted, to say the least. After two years I transferred to the UT San Antonio physics program because my prospects were looking doubtful.

Now I've been here for two years things have really turned around academically, I've been on deans list every semester at UTSA. But the phy program is disappointing in a lot of ways, and I find myself yearning to apply my newfound self-discipline to the challenges of UT Austin.
I've recently applied for readmit to Austin and now must decide if it would actually be worth transferring back over or if I would just be making a worse mess of my undergraduate education.

If I stay, I would have about 3 more semesters, I would be taking a lot of important classes (quant, therm, optics, EM, ED). Transferring might add a whole year or more onto that. But it might be worth to take all these important classes at a better school. Heck, I would probably take classical over just because they did such a terrible job with it here at utsa.

What do you think? Is it worth it? Would getting accepted to a better grad program be easier or more difficult from UT Austin?

 

[lurky]

Here is my totally personal opinion: Stay put and if there is a class that the one place has that the place you're at doesn't have, see if you can take it on a letter of permission or something equivalent (not sure if US schools do that). I figure if you're doing well where you are, then why mess with that?

 

[jtbell]

What kind of research opportunities are available at UTSA? If they're limited or non-existent, I would worry more about that than about the variety of courses, so long as you've got the core physics curriculum covered: classical mechanics (including Lagrangian and Hamiltonian versions), electricity & magnetism, quantum mechanics, and thermodynamics & statistical mechanics. Grad schools are going to focus first on how well you did in those.

If you can't do research at UTSA, there are summer programs for that (REUs) at lots of places, so you don't necessarily have to transfer just for that.

 

[morenogabr]

It's interesting that you ask that, research at utsa is pretty much limited to bio,nano physics, we have a single prof doing astro work and he's got like 10 undergrads working with him. I almost convinced myself that biophy was not a terrible career path but after taking a molecular biophy course I'm pretty sure it's not for me. I just got accepted to do summer space plasma research in Austin. This is more my style. I know I'm not going to want to leave at the end of the summer. I suppose I could try and take a class or two while I am there.

I see your points though. I guess I just worry that I can do well in these important classes. But how do I know I'm truly doing well compared to an undergrad at a "better" school? The PGRE will reveal these things right?

 

[jtbell]

Keep in mind that the research you do as an undergrad is not going to set your future career in stone. For most students, doing research as an undergraduate is more importantly about learning the research process than it is about getting a start on your future career field. Lots of students don't make up their mind about their career research field until after they enter grad school, or they change their mind after entering grad school.

I spent my first summer in grad school working in a low-temperature physics lab, on a helium-dilution refrigerator. I ended up doing my Ph.D. in experimental high-energy neutrino physics.

 

[morenogabr]

Yeah, I can see how that makes sense. So it's really just about doing some kind of research period, and better even to be published right?

So it's sounding like transferring might be a bad idea, what drawbacks, if any, are there to transfer. If tuition is about the same at these two schools do I have any really good reasons for not transferring. (besides the fact that it would seem utsa is a better fit due to my better grades). Is it more valuable to have better grades at a mediocre school or mediocre grades at a better school? If that makes sense?