Physics or math major--suggest colleges, please

[Laurel-in-CA]

Actually, CSUs are about $8-10K/year now. And expected to go up 5%/year for the next few years. Sigh.

[Laura in CA]

??? Tuition only? Our local CSU is $6.5k tuition this year. Yes, it was $5-something-k last year ... (my son did DE there)

 

ETA: oh, I see Cal Poly is just under $9k this year, tuition + fees.

 

But I was originally talking not about CSUs, just Berkeley. Although I have to say my son had a fabulous physics prof at our local CSU for calc-based physics. He's happy to be at Berkeley now, though! :)

Oh, and tuition this year at UCB is just south of $13k - I pooh-poohed the UCs (as not being the great value they used to be - e.g., tuition was $700/yr back in the day!!) until my son's other options turned out to be private schools whose tuition was tens of thousands of dollars higher than Cal's. He was offered "merit aid" (a.k.a. tuition discount) at many of those schools, but their caliber did not come near to Cal's.

[Catherine]

My son is a math major at UR.  He has been very happy with his experience there, and yes, as Creekland mentioned upthread, research is widely available and encouraged there for undergrads.  He has been helped a great deal by his advisor, who he chose after declaring his major. At UR, there are several merit scholarships that cover a significant portion of tuition, up to $20,000 per year.  Before ds dropped his plan to double major in math and physics, he also raved about his physics classes and the research opportunities available there.  I wish I could give you more detail! 

 

Someone mentioned University of Maryland earlier.  Their graduate math program is very well-regarded, but I don't know about what is available to undergrads.  I do know Sergei Brin was a math major there.  : )   

[daijobu]

 

Definitely NOT true at Berkeley. (But yes, definitely true at some Cal States.) In fact, students at UCB are not even permitted to stay enrolled longer than 8 semesters ... You get 9 semesters only if you're double-majoring.

 

 

Thank you for your detailed reply!

[EmilyGF]

I don't know what your financial situation is, but many of the schools that don't have merit aid (Ivies, MIT, Caltech) do award financial aid that is very impressive and often grant based. My DH graduated Caltech with $6000 in debt, despite his mother being a school teacher and his father being unemployed for most of his time in college (contributing basically nothing - only his summer job). He paid it off in a lump sum 9 months after finishing grad school.

 

Look for places with good research at the graduate level but less stellar undergrads. For example, U of Arizona has amazing astronomy at the graduate level but less amazing undergrads. There would be a lot of opportunities to do research there and a strong student would stand out (get great recommendations) in such a situation. If your daughter's goal is research/PhD in the future, these are very important.

 

 

[clementine]

I am so sorry about the injury!!  I don't even want to imagine that!   :grouphug:  :grouphug:  I hope that she finds a college that is a perfect fit for her.  

[8filltheheart]

Emily, it is very probable that it was bc of, not inspite of, your dh's parent's financial situation that he was able to graduate with such low debt. Those with lower income can get great financial offers from meet full need schools. The problem really is for those who fall into what is referred to as the donut hole. (This is our reality.) Parents make too much to demonstrate need but parents do not make enough to pay their expected financial contribution. They are gapped between what they can pay and what they are expected to pay. For us, it has meant lower ranked schools with high merit $$ or inexpensive schools in the first place.