What are the Top Physics Colleges in the U.S. for Theoretical Studies?

[spizma]

I'm in grade 10 right now, so I'm starting my search for colleges. I'm interested majoring in physics, but I'm not quite sure what colleges have good physics departments or how to find out which ones do. Do any of you know of any real standouts among colleges in the U.S?

 

[Atomos]

MIT, Caltech, Berkeley, U. Chicago, bleh

 

[Winzer]

Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, CSM(I hear has one of the best Applied physics degrees for undergrad in U.S). Yale I hear is good, so is RPI.

It really comes down to what you want to do in physics.

 

[dimensionless]

What do you hope to gain from an education in physics?

Atomos, Winzer,
What criteria must a college have in order to fall into the category of good?

 

[spizma]

I'm leaning towards theoretical physics if that narrows the list down any, but thanks for all the responses so far!