Which Is Better for Physics, Harvard or MIT?

[barthayn]

Hi, I am hoping to get good marks in university and plan to give it my all in university then hopefully get into a good grad. school for physics, since to get a good job in research and in teaching you need a good school (to my knowledge). This got me searching, on the internet the best in the world for physics is a battle between Harvard and MIT. Which in your opinion is better for physics/mathematics?

 

[Kevin_Axion]

I think you should revise your strategy, instead of deciding upon the best schools in the world, and the schools with the most difficult admission standards, you should look at the more reasonable universities. That is of course if your not "A prodigy whom has completed research at some point in high school and is the son of the President of the United States" - (A paraphrased excerpt of ZapperZ's "So you want to be a Physicist" essay. By the way I recommend you look at that sticky, it is very insightful. Both of the schools are amazing, but you have to question the reality of entering these schools. Of course I might have misread this and you are actually talking about graduate schools in the appearance that you aren't even an undergraduate, excuse my ignorance if so.

 

[Pengwuino]

Hi, I am hoping to get good marks in university and plan to give it my all in university then hopefully get into a good grad. school for physics, since to get a good job in research and in teaching you need a good school (to my knowledge). This got me searching, on the internet the best in the world for physics is a battle between Harvard and MIT. Which in your opinion is better for physics/mathematics?

You forgot about Caltech. Oh and Stanford. Oh and Princeton. Oh and *insert another shool*. The best is a meaningless term at that level. Best in what? Plasma physics? Princeton. Astrophysics? Caltech.

Actually I don't really know. I do know Princeton has the top plasma physics program but that's only because that's my field of interest. The point is, the best fields are scattered. Hell, I'm pretty sure the best school for condensed matter is somewhere in the midwest. Also, as you can find out by perusing the forums, getting a teaching job in physics is pretty much a roll of the dice. I believe someone stated that at best, your chances of getting a job in teaching at a university period is something like 10% no matter what graduate school you come out of.