OT: Physics Grad School: Tufts vs NE

[whatsbruin]

I'll be taking my son to visit Tufts and Northeastern to look at their Physics grad schools. Anyone have opinion or knowledge about these programs ?

Thanks.

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[Gee Wally]

Cant answer for those two schools but interesting enough my son is getting his undergrad in physics this May. He just interviewd at NIH in Bethesda. If that works ot they will sponsor him at American Catholic Univ in DC.
But if it doesnt work out what was highly recommended to him was the physics graduate program at Umass Lowell . I guess its recognized in the field itself.

https://www.uml.edu/Sciences/physics/Programs-of-Study/Graduate-Program.aspx

Good luck!

 

[whatsbruin]

Cant answer for those two schools but interesting enough my son is getting his undergrad in physics this May. He just interviewd at NIH in Bethesda. If that works ot they will sponsor him at American Catholic Univ in DC.
But if it doesnt work out what was highly recommended to him was the physics graduate program at Umass Lowell . I guess its recognized in the field itself.

https://www.uml.edu/Sciences/physics/Programs-of-Study/Graduate-Program.aspx

Good luck!

Good luck to your boy.
My son just wanted to go the grad school route.
We are checking out Georgetown this weekend.
Nice thing about Physics is almost all the schools waive tuition and
give about a $23,000 stipend.

 

[Morris Wanchuk]

Northeastern has great connections in the area for jobs and is strong in stem.

Does he want a phD?

 

[pemulis]

Good luck to your boy.
My son just wanted to go the grad school route.
We are checking out Georgetown this weekend.
Nice thing about Physics is almost all the schools waive tuition and
give about a $23,000 stipend.

Having tuition waived and getting a stipend is pretty normal for grad school in the sciences. It's pretty great. When looking into grad school, the faculty he will be working with and the papers he publishes are far more important than the actual school. Even if one physics department is rated higher, I would do some research about the faculty. Who's doing research that he would be most interested in. Look up the faculty members on google scholar for further information and recent papers.

Of course, if it is just a course based masters program than the above doesn't apply.

 

[pemulis]

Northeastern has great connections in the area for jobs and is strong in stem.

Does he want a phD?

Yes, but on the other hand, Tufts has a much higher reputation internationally for research. I suppose, as it is nearly always the case, it depends on what his son wants to do afterwards.

 

[whatsbruin]

Northeastern has great connections in the area for jobs and is strong in stem.

Does he want a phD?

Yes, he wants a PHD.

 

[whatsbruin]

Yes, but on the other hand, Tufts has a much higher reputation internationally for research. I suppose, as it is nearly always the case, it depends on what his son wants to do afterwards.

Yes, Profs and their research is one of the most important things for Grad School. Thanks for the info on Tufts research.

 

[northeastern]

Things i would consider when comparing would be: Cost overall and I'd guess this would be a tie but I don't know for sure.

Reputation. US news has NU at #60 and tufts at #77 for physics grad school so I'd call that even. I know above said tufts had a better reputation for research which I don't know much about for physics.

Location. They're close to the same but if he wants to live on campus they can be very different. Again though very similar if he has a car.

To me northeasterns coop program would be the difference maker. It's why I went to NU but I think it matters less of he wants to go to PhD but again I don't have a PhD so I'm guessing. Can't say either is a bad option so have him walk around the areas, talk to professors and see if one fits his wants better.

 

[wintersej]

Yes, but on the other hand, Tufts has a much higher reputation internationally for research. I suppose, as it is nearly always the case, it depends on what his son wants to do afterwards.

For research in Physics specifically? Obviously, in general it does. Certainly seems like a case where the expertise of the individual professors and how that aligns with the students interests is going to be the tie-breaker here, regardless.

 

[Elvis P]

I'll be taking my son to visit Tufts and Northeastern to look at their Physics grad schools. Anyone have opinion or knowledge about these programs ? Thanks.

US News has NE ranked 60th and Tufts ranked 77th. Obviously the faculty is a huge part of the rankings. If your son knows his area of interest, then he should compare the quality and the specialties of the faculty in that area. Otherwise, he should go with the best school.

 

[pemulis]

For research in Physics specifically? Obviously, in general it does. Certainly seems like a case where the expertise of the individual professors and how that aligns with the students interests is going to be the tie-breaker here, regardless.

No, not Physics specifically. I have my PhD in genetics and have been postdoc-ing for the past 4 years. So my interactions with the universities are more specific towards biology. In addition, Tufts is very well known for medical research, which probably bumps up their international profile quite a bit. Honestly, my advice would be never just go with the best or highest ranked school just because it is the better ranked school. But follow your (wintersj) advice by going to the school with the faculty member that a) has a research trajectory that most closely aligns with the prospective student's, b) has a history of having students graduate on time, and c) sets the bar high for each student.

That's why I said something about looking into faculty members specifically and going after what is of interest to the prospective student. At the end of the day, once you get a PhD, the only thing that matters is publication record and what journals those pubs are in. Even more pedantically, those types of metrics have more to do with the number of postdocs present, the number of graduate students present, types of grants awarded to the major advisor, and the novelty of the research. A lot of the times, interactions with the major advisor happens 1-2 timers per week, at most, and interactions with the postdocs or lab managers happen more frequently. So make sure to talk to other people in the lab!

 

[pemulis]

US News has NE ranked 60th and Tufts ranked 77th. Obviously the faculty is a huge part of the rankings. If your son knows his area of interest, then he should compare the quality and the specialties of the faculty in that area. Otherwise, he should go with the best school.

Those rankings take into account lots of different things including teaching, research, and extension to name a few areas. The teaching and extension impacts of a school are not nearly as important as research impact for someone getting a PhD. How do you tease those numbers apart when looking at general rankings like that?

If you want to use a ranking system for research, you can rank specific faculty members using H-index* metrics, which google scholar calculates for the person if they have an account (most should). Considering that they will all be in physics and publishing in physics journals, they should be very comparable. Both schools will have excellent researchers, the trick is to find the one that fits best.

Sheesh, feels like I've written too much on this. Apologies.



*H-index is the number of articles (h) with the same number of citations (h). So someone with an H-index of 10 has 10 articles cited 10 different times. They higher the number the better. This is a way to measure a researchers impact on his/her field.

 

[304]

The correct answer: whichever school he likes best. Both are excellent.

However, if he wants to get punched in the gut every February at the Beanpot, NU is the choice. Trust me, I've been experiencing that for years!