SUMMARY
A degree in Physics is a valuable choice and often a mandatory first step for undergrads trying to pursue a career as an accelerator operator, a laser engineer, or a physics lab technician. In fact, physics is fairly popular ranking as the 61st most popular degree. Last year alone, there were 8,457 physics diplomas received. In-state tuition for physics at private schools is, on average, 4.6 times more spendy than their public fellows.
There are 786 colleges which offer physics. 786 colleges is on par with other degrees offered in the United States. If you are looking to immerse yourself with other physics undergraduates, look at schools in California which have the most undergraduates admitted to physics annually. More generally, the top region to pursue physics is in the Far West region with University of California-Berkeley, University of California-Santa Barbara, and University of Washington-Seattle Campus best representing the region. Interestingly, our pick of the best conference to major in physics is the Pacific-12 Conference with University of California-Berkeley, University of California-Los Angeles, and University of Washington-Seattle Campus representing the conference. Based on our list on the best colleges, our choice for the best university for physics is Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The objectively 'best' school does not mean it is the best school for you. There can be many more facets to consider when selecting institution. Stuff like campus amenities, transportation services, and food would change your decision on where to go to college. At authority.org, we examined the pros and cons for you. If, for example, you are intrigued by which physics college has the top college campus, the answer is Harvard University. If, for example, you are very interested in which school is home to the best campus, we have an entire page dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through student reviews, government databases, professor reviews, and more so we can evaluate all U.S. majors in an unbiased and informative way. You can find our comprehensive list for the colleges with the best student life here and from that list, our selection of the college with the best student life for physics is Cornell University. Are you curious why? Continue scrolling to find out more about our top choices. Some of our picks might surprise you.
If cost is a primary deciding factor in your decision on where to go to college, you might consider avoiding Columbia University in the City of New York. Columbia University in the City of New York is our most expensive university for physics, at least for out of state students. We have a page for the most expensive colleges that could put the price tag of Columbia University in the City of New York into perspective. You could also want to know that physics is the 20th most expensive program in the United States, with an average expense of $53,700. On a broader scale, the most costly state for physics nationally is Maine with costs at the main three colleges Bates College at $55,683, Bowdoin College of $55,822, and costs at Colby College of $55,822. To zoom out even further, the most costly region for physics is the New England region which is best demonstrated with Amherst College with a cost of $57,640, Tufts University with a cost of $57,324, and Brown University with a cost of $57,112.
Our cheapest region for physics is the Rocky Mountains region which is represented by Brigham Young University-Idaho with a cost of $4,208, Brigham Young University-Provo with a cost of $5,790, and Weber State University with a cost of $14,973. On the bright side, the most affordable university for physics is University of Washington-Seattle Campus. Authority.org's full list of the most affordable schools can be explored here.
In-state students can expect to pay around $10,500 for a degree in physics. That price inflates by a lot to an average of $25,200 for an out-of-state public-school undergraduate. Our selection for the school with the best value for physics: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Through this link you can see our comprehensive list about the colleges we believe to be the best value overall. With that said, this list is based on being an out-of-state student. A discussion of value changes when in-state tuition costs are considered, but we do not know where you live (and are not trying to collect that kind of data).
Earnings for physics majors differ widely, but within two years leaving college graduates will regularly earn around $48,200. While there can be a lot of variation in pay; top earners can bring in up to $89,000. Straight out of college, the lowest earning opportunities within the physics space earn $26,100, which is an alright wage. The highest earning grads from physics attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology and if you want to find the universities with all of the highest earning graduates, Authority has that too.
The prevailing diversity of physics is on the higher end, being in the 70th percentile of majors nationally. The school with the most composite diversity for physics is Massachusetts Institute of Technology and here you can find our general list for the universities which have the most diversity. The overall financial diversity of the Physics major ranks only in the 26th percentile of all majors. Racial diversity is actually greater, ranking in the 68th percentile. White undergraduates compose the largest share, 51%, of those majoring in physics. Additionally, 78% of scholars pursuing a physics major are men.
The median rating for physics professors is 3.9 stars, which is 2% less than the average across every major; this is a subpar ranking. If you are interested in the most popular physics instructor in the nation, look no further than Corey Manchester at San Diego State University. It may be a shock, but the top ranked physics professors by student are at Arizona State University-Tempe. As we including information beyond basic rankings it becomes clear that the university with the best instructors for physics is Massachusetts Institute of Technology. You will find an explanation of our ever evolving ranking methodology for the best overall professors here, along with some of the best examples of professors in the U.S.
Finally, the most difficult school to get into for physics is Stanford University. While we do not necessarily see the value in it, we do have a detailed page of the hardest colleges to get into. Although, here at Authority we do hope you believe that looking at college from examples mainly built on superlatives might create issues. We encourage you to explore our more focused pages on different universities and peruse a couple of our helpful background pages on essential things to look for as your college search continues.