Astronomy / Astrophysics Graduate Program Ranking etc.

[bosem]

Thanks shouravv for your reply. I also like UCSC very much specially for its beautiful campus. But just for clarification, I know that UCSC astro has very high reputation but I got into the UCSC physics department. How does it affect me? There are three professors that are doing research close to my interest, Joel Primack, Stefano Profumo, and Anthony Aguirre.
On the other hand, I pretty much don't know any people at UCSD. I just looked up Kim Griest who seem to work on dark matter.
By the way how is UCLA for astroparticle physics? I am still waiting for them.

[shouravv]

I got into the UCSC physics department. ... By the way how is UCLA for astroparticle physics? I am still waiting for them.

I am less familiar with the physics programs in general or Astroparticle physics research in specific. In many case Astroparticle physics or High Energy Astrophysics or Cosmology faculty members are spread across Physics and Astro departments, and sometimes they hold joint appointments. I guess you should do extensive ADS search for each faculty member at those institutions (Physics and Astro departments) before you visit, and then decide based on your experience of meeting them once you are there. Be sure to ask the departments specifically if you may work with a faculty member in the Astro department (if any) who is doing Astroparticle etc. work even if you are officially in the Physics program.

[SuperStringBoy]

I know this is slightly off topic, but what, generally, is a "good enough" PGRE score for American observational astrophysics applicants? I have always thought it was around 650, but that was more of a guess on my part (Obviously, I would expect the cut off to be much higher for physics/cosmology programs).

Don't have a breakdown for observational vs theoretical, but the average scores I was able to find for astro departments were:

Berkeley: 810
Colorado: 720
Cornell: 740

The averages for domestic applicants are lower, and I imagine the averages for observational are also lower. How much lower, I have no idea.

I will like to add more-

u Washington : 718
u chicago : 788 (with full financial aid)
U Arizona : 683
u mass : 600 ( suggested as minimum score)
virginia: 630 (recommended)

If anybody could tell avg. pgre score for these schools it would be really helpful :
yale , columbia, osu , michigan, ucsc ?

[shouravv]

This is based on the new NRC survey, sorted by S-rank (data based). The R-rank is reputation based.
https://www-dept-edit.princeton.edu/ast ... nkings.pdf

The Spreadsheet containing all the data-points is available here -
http://www.nap.edu/rdp/

[janapka]

Hi there, maybe it was discussed before, but still... any advices if i'm interested in high energy astrophysics? I know about caltech (but honestly what chance do I have, since my grades are not quite perfect, I sort of preferred to be active and do research...) and penn state (gonna check that hopefully soon since I'm going there to do research a bit)
UC Santa Cruz seemed nice, but since i'm not us citizen, the fees and all that stuff are way to high

So any advice?

[HappyQuark]

Hi there, maybe it was discussed before, but still... any advices if i'm interested in high energy astrophysics? I know about caltech (but honestly what chance do I have, since my grades are not quite perfect, I sort of preferred to be active and do research...) and penn state (gonna check that hopefully soon since I'm going there to do research a bit)
UC Santa Cruz seemed nice, but since i'm not us citizen, the fees and all that stuff are way to high

So any advice?

Just so we are clear, when you say fees are you referring to admissions/tuition fees? If so, you should realize that it is rare if ever the case that anyone pays tuition to go to graduate school in physics. You are given the opportunity to be an RA or TA and in return your tuition is paid/waived and you receive a stipend. In other words, go to the best school you can get into because at all schools you will be looking at free tuition and indentured servant living wages.

[schwiss]

Hi there, maybe it was discussed before, but still... any advices if i'm interested in high energy astrophysics? I know about caltech (but honestly what chance do I have, since my grades are not quite perfect, I sort of preferred to be active and do research...) and penn state (gonna check that hopefully soon since I'm going there to do research a bit)
UC Santa Cruz seemed nice, but since i'm not us citizen, the fees and all that stuff are way to high

So any advice?

Just so we are clear, when you say fees are you referring to admissions/tuition fees? If so, you should realize that it is rare if ever the case that anyone pays tuition to go to graduate school in physics. You are given the opportunity to be an RA or TA and in return your tuition is paid/waived and you receive a stipend. In other words, go to the best school you can get into because at all schools you will be looking at free tuition and indentured servant living wages.

Most UC schools seem to eyesocket-*** international students regarding financial aid. E.g. they will fund everyone they admit, but they admit only an extremely small portion of externally unfunded internationals. For example, of Santa Cruz's physics students, only 7% are international, when the mean of all schools in NRC survey is 40%ish. Riverside has 51% and Irvine has 35%, the rest are in 20%'s or below.

[janapka]

Hi there, maybe it was discussed before, but still... any advices if i'm interested in high energy astrophysics? I know about caltech (but honestly what chance do I have, since my grades are not quite perfect, I sort of preferred to be active and do research...) and penn state (gonna check that hopefully soon since I'm going there to do research a bit)
UC Santa Cruz seemed nice, but since i'm not us citizen, the fees and all that stuff are way to high

So any advice?

Just so we are clear, when you say fees are you referring to admissions/tuition fees? If so, you should realize that it is rare if ever the case that anyone pays tuition to go to graduate school in physics. You are given the opportunity to be an RA or TA and in return your tuition is paid/waived and you receive a stipend. In other words, go to the best school you can get into because at all schools you will be looking at free tuition and indentured servant living wages.

I was concerned about this 'cause I've checked UCB page and there was a huge list of scholarships offered but I really don't have a clue which one to apply for. Plus all UC web pages seemed quite chaotic to me :/

But still, any suggestions for high energy astro? My current choices are stanford, caltech, ucsc, penn state (guest i need a backup one :/)

[creepypasta13]

UCSC is definitely better than UCSD, by factors of many

You're just talking about particle astro, right? What about for computational astro in star/galaxy formation?

[bfollinprm]

UCSC is definitely better than UCSD, by factors of many

You're just talking about particle astro, right? What about for computational astro in star/galaxy formation?

http://scipp.ucsc.edu/personnel/profiles/primack.html

[admissionprof]

UCSC is definitely better than UCSD, by factors of many

You're just talking about particle astro, right? What about for computational astro in star/galaxy formation?

http://scipp.ucsc.edu/personnel/profiles/primack.html

Suggestion: when looking at faculty listings, find the bachelor's degree date, subtract 22, and then subtract the result from 2011. If it is above retirement age (65-67), be very concerned.

[midwestphysics]

Suggestion: when looking at faculty listings, find the bachelor's degree date, subtract 22, and then subtract the result from 2011. If it is above retirement age (65-67), be very concerned.

Which basically means for this year anyone who got their bachelors in 1968 or before. Realistically speaking, you should avoid anyone who got their degree 1971-72 or before because you don't need an advisor retiring before you finish.

[Malavika]

Hello,
I'm currently doing my undergrad in Electrical Engineering but i want to do my MS in Astrophysics. My physics is not that great so I needed to know if any of these universities demand PGRE as a mandatory prerequisite. I will write general GRE very soon.

[irezumidragon]

Hello,
I'm currently doing my undergrad in Electrical Engineering but i want to do my MS in Astrophysics. My physics is not that great so I needed to know if any of these universities demand PGRE as a mandatory prerequisite. I will write general GRE very soon.

Unfortunately most US schools require the PGRE, and if they don't, they tend to be poorly ranked compared to any of the schools mentioned in this thread so far. I'm not so sure about master's only programs, as there are very few MS programs that are not part of a PhD track. To my knowledge, San Diego State and San Francisco state have standalone MS degrees, but I don't know of any others.

[Malavika]

oh okay, thanks

[stehfahknee]

Are you referring to ASU or U of A? I have heard ASU has a decent astrophysics program, but not so much on U of A. As I am currently residing in Tucson, I am hoping U of A is decent. I have a year left to decide which school I am going to attend for my astrophysics doctorate. I have kids, and am not your normal aged graduate student, so I can not just up and go to any school. I am currently looking to relocate (if needed) to either Montana, Hawaii, Virginia, Washington or Colorado. If ASU or (better) U of A, then I do not have to worry about anything, I live a mere 10 inutes away from U of A, so that would be a bonus.
any ideas
I value any ideas, experiences, opinions... you get the idea

[DivineHorseCloud]

Are you referring to ASU or U of A? I have heard ASU has a decent astrophysics program, but not so much on U of A. As I am currently residing in Tucson, I am hoping U of A is decent. I have a year left to decide which school I am going to attend for my astrophysics doctorate. I have kids, and am not your normal aged graduate student, so I can not just up and go to any school. I am currently looking to relocate (if needed) to either Montana, Hawaii, Virginia, Washington or Colorado. If ASU or (better) U of A, then I do not have to worry about anything, I live a mere 10 inutes away from U of A, so that would be a bonus.
any ideas
I value any ideas, experiences, opinions... you get the idea

I think both are good schools

[stehfahknee]

After I posted this I did some research, I guess I should not be surprised (even though I am, in a way) seeing how many clear nights we have in Arizona, but yes U of A has some possibly great astrophysics research and equipment. I may not have to move after all
Although, Montana or Washington WOULD be a great place to live... less than 100 degrees in the summer, mountains, GREENERY. Arizona is just sooo.... brown. Dusty. Ugh. On the upside it DOES cut out much in the way of moving, planning, home-hunting... etc

[throwaway2468]

In another thread I made an updated list of top astro schools using an average of the position among just American schools in 6 national+global ranked lists, including the top 10 from this post and US News, NRC, URAP, QS, and CWUR. The top 20 were:

California Institute of Technology
Harvard University
University of California Berkeley
Princeton University
University of Chicago
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Stanford University
Johns Hopkins University
Yale University
University of Arizona
University of California Santa Barbara
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
University of Texas Austin
University of California Santa Cruz
Ohio State University
Columbia University
University of Maryland College Park
University of California Los Angeles
Cornell University
University of Michigan

I liked this discussion; averaging over lists gave a larger view but less detailed insights. Although a few notable differences are that Johns Hopkins is listed as one of America’s top 10 in CWUR and URAP but is not in this post, and Stanford isn’t mentioned among joint physics programs here. So those are two to look out for besides those listed back in 2008. I wouldn’t take the few schools in the top 10 in this post like UT, UCLA, and Cornell being placed a bit lower by US News and URAP too seriously, is partially just because of including astro research done by physics programs.