• The Physics & Astronomy Department has graduated an average of almost 22 majors per year from 2012-2022. (2020 national data: Carleton graduates more physics majors than 70% of US schools who offer a Bachelor’s degree in Physics)
  • Almost half of Carleton physics majors continue on with graduate training in science or engineering. In the last five years, Carleton physics graduates matriculated into graduate programs in physics and astronomy, engineering, or other applied fields at Brown, UC Berkeley, Penn State, the Perimeter Institute, Cornell, McGill, Northwestern, MIT, UC Boulder, UCLA, Columbia, Purdue, Dartmouth, CalTech, the University of Chicago, the U of MN, Duke, Rochester/Mayo, and other institutions across the nation.
  • Carleton ranks 7th in the nation among baccalaureate colleges both in the number of graduates who go on to receive a PhD in any discipline, as well as those who receive one in physics or astronomy.
  • From 2015-2020, Carleton averaged 7.85 majors per year going on to work on a PhD in physics or another STEM field.
  • The PhD production rate for women is equally impressive. From 1990-2009, 19 women physics majors from Carleton earned PhDs in physics; Carleton and Bryn Mawr are tied for first among liberal arts colleges, and 10th among all US universities and colleges.
  • Carleton physics majors are leaders in the field. In recent years, two of our students received a Goldwater and a Churchill Scholarship and two recent alums received National Science Foundation Graduate School Fellowships.