METHODOLOGY
The Physics Rankings Project provides a comprehensive understanding of physics departments in the U.S. Its purpose is to provide a comparative insight / analysis of the departmental rankings across the media-scape, thereby helping students and academic professionals make informed decisions about their academic pursuits. Our methodological approach combines the rankings of [USNWR, Niche, SCIMAGO, edurank, research.com, QS, THE and physics-schools.com] with our own in depth analysis of each department's academic rigor, enablement in research, and community integration as evidenced by its balance in scholarship across all sectors of the department. To do this we use publicly available data from the US Dept. of Education as well as requested information from the departments themselves.This, allows us to analyze the of type of program any particular department represents and how well that department is doing in its role. TPRP is the only ranking system that offers an eyes-on analysis of each program in its listing.
Exploring Physics Rankings
In choosing a physics program, you must choose the kind of program that best fits your personality and learning styles. (size, focus areas, on or off campus research, and so on). You must also consider the relative success of such programs in producing desired outcomes, the quality of a given program to deliver the best in class of that program type, and the specific success of a program within the physics disciplines it targets. Small school or big school, Ivy League or a west coast juggernaut, better prestige or better environment? These questions must be made within the context of the student's strengths and career goals. What rankings do is present a broad brush-stroke of experiences available at different institutions. Fit is often as important to career success as prestige and this ranking is a good starting point. But, from choosing the right school, to excellence in your studies, ultimate success or failure is always what you make it. The school is only 25% of the equation, the other 75% is up to you.
Insights and Analysis
To achieve a "ranking system" TPRP analyzes programs and then puts the programs into bins that describe what experiences those programs provide, according to:
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1. Average of the external rankings set [USNWR, THE, QS, Niche, Research.com, EDUrank.org, physics-schools.com, SCImago.] This provides the reputational and perceived impact scores of a program.
2. An overall programmatic review is performed which includes courses required to graduate, courses offered, level of courses as could be determined, other academic preparation requirements. TPRP applies a standard for course offerings, curricular requirements, years of study, etc. determined from the 5 departments that produce the largest number of PhDs in physics nationally. A given department is measured against this standard and this is used to derive a score. The meta study allows an estimate of a given program's experience and tells us how hard do you have to study and what is the breadth of your preparation.
3. An analysis of the size and breadth of the research program is then judged by concentration areas available to students and how well those concentrations are represented in terms of faculty. This describes the research community.
4. Infrastructural resources. This also indicates the local research environment. Are programs on-site or is most research carried out in national facilities?
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That is currently 189 programs to read through and study. This is an ongoing - or "running" ranking system so you will see shifts in positions through the year as new information about programs is received and analyzed.
Motivation for this site
The ranking systems and metrics, for ranking U.S. physics departments are varied and highly subjective. In one case it is a survey of opinions, in another it is a bibliometrics score based upon key words deemed relevant to physics research.
How does such information help a student decide what grad school fits them best or instruct a department in trying to understand how well their program is being received? Taken on its own, it doesn't, but in aggregate, when combined with an eyes-on look at each program to compare infrastructure, curriculum, and student/faculty environment, perhaps it could be helpful. ​
Physics departments are incredibly costly for universities. So much so that many are closing them down or offer only a BA. But in fact our analysis shows that on the whole, they are incredibly productive departments and add far more to a university than they cost. This ranking should help administrators understand how well that university investment is contributing to university goals.
References
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