The Physics Rankings Project
PHYSICS RANKINGS
About The Physics Rankings
Unlike most ranking systems, in TPRP, programs are binned together with others that they are most like. In some way you can look at each bin as a tie, but really they simply represent a type of program.
Tier 1
In almost every respect these programs offer a similar level of competitiveness, access to curriculum, breadth of fields, choice of advisers in each field and so on. They may be the best physics programs in the U.S., they are certainly where the best physicists want to be early in their training.
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Competitiveness - the most competitive environment
Curriculum - highly advanced, nothing remedial, be prepared
Research - Destination research, national level facilities
Reputation - the highest
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MIT
Stanford
Caltech
Berkeley
Harvard
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Tiers 1, 2, & 3 are distinguished by their international reputations, levels of excellence in outcomes, faculty and student body, extremely competitive atmospheres, and international level facilities. These "destination" universities sit upon a world stage.
Tier 2
Competitiveness - Very high
Curriculum - Excellent in breadth, above standard depth
Research - Excellent on site research, major facilities
Reputation - Excellent
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Yale
UPenn
Columbia
Cornell
Princeton
Northwestern
Chicago
Tier 3
Competitiveness - High
Curriculum - Good breadth and strong course level
Research - Very good on site research, major facilities
Reputation - Excellent
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Duke
Johns Hopkins
UCLA
U. Illinois Urbana-Champaign
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In Tier 4 and after, a subdivision is introduced that divides the expansive, large programs from the small, more intimate programs. In our estimation the programs in this tier all offer the same level of preparation and present the same likelihood of success in career paths, but they definitely feel different and they fit different student/faculty personalities.
Tier 4
Competitiveness - High
Curriculum - Good breadth - standard course level
Research - very good on site research, significant facilities
Reputation - very good
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U. Maryland
U. Michigan
U. Texas Austin
Penn. State
UC Santa Barbara
Georgia Tech
U. Washington
U. Colorado
SUNY Stonybrook
UC San Diego
UNC Chapel Hill
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NYU
Vanderbilt
Rice
Carnegie Mellon
Brown
Dartmouth​​
USC
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Expansive
Intimate
Tier 4 is distinguished primarily by having an above average faculty and success rate. Their facilities, student bodies, courses are not significantly different from Tier 5, but the bibliometrics and the percentage of highly successful faculty within each department mark this tier.
Tier 5
Competitiveness - Moderate to Moderately high
Curriculum - Some breadth of offerings - standard courses
Research - good on site research, significant facilities
Reputation - very good
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​U. Wisconsin
Ohio State
Rutgers
North Carolina State University.
U. Arizona
Boston University
Purdue
UC Davis
UC Irvine
U. Florida
U. Minnesota
Florida State University
U. Pittsburg
Washington University
Texas A&M
Notre Dame
Indiana
Va. Tech.
Arizona State
Iowa State
Northeastern
U. Rochester
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Wake Forest University
Emory
Tufts
Georgetown
William & Mary
Boston College
Rochester Tech
Case Western
​Rensselaer
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Expansive
Intimate
Tier 5 is full of very excellent programs as well. They are not as high pressure as those above, but they have a solid course work expectation and at least three areas of research speciality with multiple faculty in each area. They do a significant amount of research on site and they have one or more major instrumentation facilities.
Tier 6
Competitiveness - Moderate
Curriculum - Moderate breadth - standard course level
Research - On site research and focused facilities
Reputation - good
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Brandeis
Miami
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UC Santa Cruz
CUNY graduate school
Syracuse
UC Riverside
UMass Amherst
Tennessee
​U Iowa
U. Oregon
U. Utah
U. Virginia
Michigan State
Clemson
U. Delaware
Colorado School of Mines
U. New Mexico
U. Connecticut
U. Kansas
Kansas State
U. Georgia
West Virginia U.
U. Hawaii Manoa
U. Kentucky
U. Nebraska
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Intimate
Expansive
The program's in Tier 6 present much more moderate competitiveness within the student community. A solid set of foundational courses are offered, but there is less formal preparation at the upper levels available. There is a good amount of on site research activity, but also a lot of research done elsewhere. They typically offer a number of well equipped labs of individual investigators but they may lack major centralized facilities.
Tier 7
Tier 8
Competitiveness - Moderate
Curriculum - some breadth - standard course level
Research - Moderate on site research, focused facilities
Reputation - good
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Louisiana State
U. Illinois Chicago
Colorado State
U. Oklahoma
Washington State
SUNY Buffalo
Oregon State
Auburn
U. Missouri
U. Alabama
U. South Carolina
U. New Hampshire
​Michigan Tech
Ohio University
U. Central Florida
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Worcester Polytechnic
Lehigh
Stevens
Baylor
Drexel
Wesleyan
Competitiveness - relaxed
Curriculum - focused - standard course level
Research - some on site research, fewer facilities
Reputation - moderately good
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Houston
Texas Dallas
Cincinnati
BYU
Texas Arlington
Montana
Georgia State
Rhode Island
New Mexico State
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Temple
Tulane
Tier 9
Competitiveness - relaxed
Curriculum - focused - standard course level
Research - some on site research
Reputation - moderate
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Maryland - Baltimore county
Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Illinois Institute of Tech
New Jersey Institute of Tech
U. Oklahoma
UC Merced
Howard
Alabama Huntsville
U Nevada LV
Wayne State
Kent State
Arkansas - Fayetteville
U. Mass Lowell
U. Idaho
Missouri Science and Tech
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George Mason
George Washington
Clark
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Tier 10
Tier 11
Competitiveness - relaxed
Curriculum - fewer formal offerings - standard course level
Research - some on site research
Reputation - moderate
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U. Colorado - Colorado Springs
UNC Charlotte
SUNY Binghamton
Indiana Indianapolis
Texas Tech
U. South Florida
Mississippi State
U Mississippi
SUNY Albany
Northern Illinois
Wyoming
U. Louisville
Maine
North Texas
Toledo
Utah State
Alaska
Arkansas-Little Rock
Missouri St. Louis
​University of Missouri--Kansas City
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Clarkson
SMU
U. Denver​​​
Competitiveness - programs have a less cohesive graduate experience
Curriculum - limited formal offerings - course level is less rigorous
Research - restricted on site research options
Reputation - very moderate
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AF Institute of Tech
Old Dominion
Alabama Birmingham
Nevada Reno
Virginia Commonwealth University
Florida Institute of Technology
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Florida Atlantic University
Florida International University
Hampton University
Idaho State University
Marquette University
Portland State University
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
Southern Illinois University--Carbondale
Texas Christian University
The Catholic University of America
University of Akron​​
Tier 12
University of Puerto Rico--Rio Piedras
University of Texas--San Antonio
Western Michigan University
Delaware State University
University of Dayton
University of North Dakota
University of Tulsa
North Dakota State University
University of Southern Mississippi
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Tier 11 & 12 schools occur at the bottom of our list. BUT we want to make it clear that this comes from many factors some of which may not correlate directly with the efforts a university puts into its program. So, instead of "bottom of the list" we should really say "still developing." We recognize that an enterprising and talented young scientist could make a great career for themselves coming from these programs.
