I went to a small liberal arts college for undergrad, then got my physics PhD from UM. I now teach physics at a small liberal arts college. I'm happy with the route I chose. It was nice to be able to walk in and ask profs questions whenever I had them, and I enjoyed the small class sizes. A few liberal arts colleges with excellent physics programs are Davidson, Williams, and Harvey Mudd...but you'll get an excellent education at really any well-regarded school. Also keep in mind that if your son majors in astrophysics and decides he wants to do something more practical, it is quite common for students with undergrad physics degrees to go to grad school in various engineering disciplines. If your son is in love with astrophysics, tell him to go for it, and if he changes his mind in college (which is fairly likely) he can fairly easily switch to another path even after getting his degree.
So far I love it. It's a very nice little town of a little over 30,000. We live a few blocks from downtown, which has a certain charm about it. There are several pretty nice restaurants (including Veritas, which is one of the best new restaurants in the Columbus area), a few art galleries, a historic movie theater, several nice little coffee shops. I've only been into Columbus a few times so far, and it may be heresy to say on this board, but I think it's actually a pretty nice city. It reminds me a lot of Indianapolis. In any case, good luck with your decision!
Yep, I just got back from Nicola's, and Bacon is happy to personalize when he signs. He is not only a good writer, but a very engaging and entertaining speaker. He talked for about an hour, mostly going over certain sections of the book. He gave the history of how athletics came to be so uniquely interwined with academics at universities in America, and he spent a lot of time discussing his experience working out under Mike Barwis. It was a great section where he described this in the book, but it was twice as good to hear him tell it in person. One thing I was impressed with is that he had to run four down-and-backs on a football field--400 yards--in under 60 seconds, and he did it! That is quite impressive for a middle-aged man. Apparently afterward, Barwis gave him the highest compliment imaginable afterward: "That was the first time I've seen you run, and I didn't want to break your jaw." Bacon also made a very good point concerning those prone to criticize Rodriguez for trivial matters, such as using the word "ain't" so often: Bacon would ask such people, "Have you revolutionized your field?" Engineers often don't have the best writing or speaking abilities, yet that doesn't diminish the job they do as engineers. Bacon also made the comment that he thinks if RR had won just one more game last year, he'd still be coaching at Michigan. He didn't speculate as to when DB decided to fire him, but Bacon did say that he "wasn't sure if [DB] was pulling for him [RR] at the end." Finally, one last great nugget: Bacon talked about how his publishers had been hesitant to use the word "crucible" in the subtitle of the book, and Bacon assured them that Michigan fans could handle it (Arthur Miller went to Michigan, for crying out loud). And he said that he was on a talk show in a "Big Ten town that will not be named," and the host repeatedly referred to the book as "Three and Out: Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan Wolverines in the CUBICLE of College Football."
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I went to a small liberal arts college for undergrad, then got my physics PhD from UM. I now teach physics at a small liberal arts college. I'm happy with the route I chose. It was nice to be able to walk in and ask profs questions whenever I had them, and I enjoyed the small class sizes. A few liberal arts colleges with excellent physics programs are Davidson, Williams, and Harvey Mudd...but you'll get an excellent education at really any well-regarded school. Also keep in mind that if your son majors in astrophysics and decides he wants to do something more practical, it is quite common for students with undergrad physics degrees to go to grad school in various engineering disciplines. If your son is in love with astrophysics, tell him to go for it, and if he changes his mind in college (which is fairly likely) he can fairly easily switch to another path even after getting his degree.
So far I love it. It's a very nice little town of a little over 30,000. We live a few blocks from downtown, which has a certain charm about it. There are several pretty nice restaurants (including Veritas, which is one of the best new restaurants in the Columbus area), a few art galleries, a historic movie theater, several nice little coffee shops. I've only been into Columbus a few times so far, and it may be heresy to say on this board, but I think it's actually a pretty nice city. It reminds me a lot of Indianapolis. In any case, good luck with your decision!
Yep, I just got back from Nicola's, and Bacon is happy to personalize when he signs. He is not only a good writer, but a very engaging and entertaining speaker. He talked for about an hour, mostly going over certain sections of the book. He gave the history of how athletics came to be so uniquely interwined with academics at universities in America, and he spent a lot of time discussing his experience working out under Mike Barwis. It was a great section where he described this in the book, but it was twice as good to hear him tell it in person. One thing I was impressed with is that he had to run four down-and-backs on a football field--400 yards--in under 60 seconds, and he did it! That is quite impressive for a middle-aged man. Apparently afterward, Barwis gave him the highest compliment imaginable afterward: "That was the first time I've seen you run, and I didn't want to break your jaw." Bacon also made a very good point concerning those prone to criticize Rodriguez for trivial matters, such as using the word "ain't" so often: Bacon would ask such people, "Have you revolutionized your field?" Engineers often don't have the best writing or speaking abilities, yet that doesn't diminish the job they do as engineers. Bacon also made the comment that he thinks if RR had won just one more game last year, he'd still be coaching at Michigan. He didn't speculate as to when DB decided to fire him, but Bacon did say that he "wasn't sure if [DB] was pulling for him [RR] at the end." Finally, one last great nugget: Bacon talked about how his publishers had been hesitant to use the word "crucible" in the subtitle of the book, and Bacon assured them that Michigan fans could handle it (Arthur Miller went to Michigan, for crying out loud). And he said that he was on a talk show in a "Big Ten town that will not be named," and the host repeatedly referred to the book as "Three and Out: Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan Wolverines in the CUBICLE of College Football."