What are some of the best schools for astrophysics?

Answer 1

Depends on whether you want to go theoretical, experimental or actually want to get a JOB in astronomy then LEARN HOW TO BUILD INSTRUMENTS.

In the latter case, I would recommend the U of Arizona, or U Hawaii though there are niche instrument groups (like mid-IR cameras) at lots of places if you have a particular taste. Cal Tech and MIT are also good for instrument building AND theory.

If you want to go observational, pick a school that owns a piece of a telescope; doesn't have to be a major one like Keck, but something 4m class anyway in the optical/IR or any radio or microwave instrument of any size. (U Mass might be a good choice in this latter case.)

A smaller instrument could still be reasonable if you become part of some major survey, like SHASSA for instance (that survey is pretty darn mature. Maybe they are on to something else now).

Again, Arizona and Hawaii have LOTS of telescope time, but there are others too.

Another decent barometer is to see how much NSF money (and how many awards) different schools have. The second link in sources will let you download currently active NSF awards as spreadsheet data. You can sort by school and see. Keep in mind theory guys don't need much to keep going, so this really is only good for finding the bright observational and instrumentation groups.

U Chicago and Princeton are quite strong for theory and of course MIT and Cal Tech excel there too, though Cal Tech "chews up" a few graduate students each year.

(Oh, if you are thinking undergrad, it does not matter so much. you should major in physics anyway, and just take some astro courses on the side.)