phd programs competitiveness of great schools other than "the big-6"?

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phys9981
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Joined: Tue May 17, 2022 9:41 am

phd programs competitiveness of great schools other than "the big-6"?

Post by phys9981 » Tue May 17, 2022 9:57 am

As most of you might know, in the US, there exist a so call "the big-6" physics programs:
MIT,Caltech,Harvard,Princeton,Stanford,Berkeley
In astronomy/astrophysics, the "big-6" would be
Caltech,Harvard,Princeton,Berkeley,Chicago,Arizona
These are incredibly competitive programs. I just wonder what would be the competitiveness of non-big-6 private schools like Penn, Brown, Yale, Cornell, Duke, etc ... I am considering to apply to these schools
How do they compare with the competitiveness of great schools like, G5 in the UK? (oxbridge, ucl, icl ...)

doiknowyou
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Joined: Tue May 17, 2022 3:48 pm

Re: phd programs competitiveness of great schools other than "the big-6"?

Post by doiknowyou » Tue May 17, 2022 4:31 pm

deleted
Last edited by doiknowyou on Wed May 18, 2022 11:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

phys9981
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue May 17, 2022 9:41 am

Re: phd programs competitiveness of great schools other than "the big-6"?

Post by phys9981 » Wed May 18, 2022 8:11 am

doiknowyou wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 4:31 pm
I don't understand why Caltech, Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley, Chicago, and Arizona are the big six in astronomy. If Arizona can make the list, what about OSU, UCSC, Penn, Michigan, columibia, Yale etc.? Stanford and MIT are also very strong in astronomy. I feel that Duke and Brown are not very strong in astronomy, but I believe students there must be no less talented and good as other schools.

In terms of competitiveness, Harvard and Berkeley probably stand out from the rest, especially if you are an international student. Nevertheless, most programs will likely have an application pool of a couple of hundreds of people with an upcoming class of something like five. Thus, there are many top-notch applicants with a significantly small number of openings. I heard that OSU has a factor of ten difference in the expected class and application number. Anyway, you have to become the best 20ish students to be admitted. Otherwise, you may end up with around one or no offers. Also, schools in UK feel to be easier to get in compared with top schools in the US. However, more data would be required to know that.
OK I should admit that I omitted UCSC, which is my fault, so the "big-7" would be

Caltech, Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley, Chicago, Arizona, Santa Cruz

"I don't understand why Caltech, Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley, Chicago, and Arizona are the big six in astronomy."

Well, it is because Arizona is that good. In terms of hardware, Arizona owns several world-class facilities and observatories. Their faculty strength, is also world class. People usually underestimates some schools' programs just because they didn't have the overall "big names". Take a look at the discussion at viewtopic.php?f=3&t=182022 , also at https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/g ... am.889653/

In terms of "soft power", Arizona dominates several ranking in terms of PURE ASTRONOMY

https://web.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_ ... tml#area27

https://cwur.org/2017/subjects.php#Astr ... trophysics

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-g ... ce-science

Maybe these could solve your enquires?

Anyway it is somewhat off topic, what I would like to ask is the competitiveness of private schools other than the big-6 or big-7.

BugTown
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2022 10:19 am

Re: phd programs competitiveness of great schools other than "the big-6"?

Post by BugTown » Wed May 18, 2022 7:20 pm

doiknowyou wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 4:31 pm
I don't understand why Caltech, Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley, Chicago, and Arizona are the big six in astronomy. If Arizona can make the list, what about OSU, UCSC, Penn, Michigan, columibia, Yale etc.? Stanford and MIT are also very strong in astronomy. I feel that Duke and Brown are not very strong in astronomy, but I believe students there must be no less talented and good as other schools.
Elitist lmao.



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