So I’m probably not going to get any financial aid, making me full pay at MIT (if I get in lol). I’ve been watching a ton of the MIT i3 videos and it looks amazing. What appeals to me most is being in an environment full of motivated people who want to be involved. I know the i3 videos are just a small snapshot of life at MIT, but it honestly just looks incredible. I love how quirky it is. And, in the i3 videos, it looks like a lot of fun. It also doesn’t hurt that the dorms are really nice, compared to many
Even though my family can technically afford it, I don’t feel like I can justify spending 200k on tuition when I live in California and can go to some great state schools for 40k-60k. And I’m probably competitive for some good merit scholarships, so I could try to go somewhere for free (4.0 UW GPA, 1560 new SAT, not much with ECs but I’m very committed to my sport despite not being varsity).
Any college recommendations are appreciated!
A few other things I’m looking for:
industrial engineering major (at MIT, mechE w/ industrial concentration), similar majors are ok too, like operations research
not a super small school, I’d prefer over 10k but 5k-10k is ok for a school that’s a really good fit otherwise
I’m not too crazy about really big cities or really small towns, but I’m flexible on this-- Boston seems like a cool place
Thanks, I’ve been looking at GA tech and UW already. When I visited UW I didn’t really get the impression that it had the same nerdy/quirky vibe as MIT, though.
University of Michigan, Rice, and RPI are too expensive without merit scholarships, it looks like the tuition is 40k+
You’re referring to University of Wisconsin and University of Minnesota, right?
I know all of them are good schools, but if anyone could elaborate on how they have that nerdy/quirky vibe like MIT does, that would be great.
@DogsAndMath23 “I know all of them are good schools, but if anyone could elaborate on how they have that nerdy/quirky vibe like MIT does, that would be great.”
Large state universities will not have that. They are simply too diverse for anything like that to foment. In smaller settings weird things gain momentum.
Also the admissions practice of smaller selective schools will have a higher percentage of leaders and more outgoing people and more resources to waste on eccentricities.
Caltech, Rice, Wpi, Rpi, Stevens, Carnegie, Gatech are high stem and full of nerdy smart people. Quirky? Each of these schools do have silly things/traditions. I think MIT is probably more over the top. MIT, Caltech, Rice have community living that you stick with all 4years. Carnegie and MIT have carnivals. Rice has regularly scheduled parties. I wouldn’t call RPI or Gatech quirky… that would depend on who you associate with.
My daughter goes to a STEM school and is now starting to work in engineering firms. I think she’d tell you that if you put a bunch of engineers together, you’ll get that nerdy feeling. It’s not that they are all nerdy all the time, just when they are focusing on their work. It happens whenever you put together people who enjoy their subjects. Law students will talk about footnotes to a case(amazing!), theater people will talk about lighting and sound (awesome!) English lit, majors can debate Jane Austen v. Emily Bronte for hours (gripping).
Other STEM schools are going to have the same labs, robotics activities, ‘building’ things all the time (collect canned goods for a food pantry, build them into structures! such fun), gaming clubs, and many of them have been mentioned (RPI, WPI, STevens), but they might not be any cheaper.
Private schools are expensive. Your state flagship may be cheaper. Some OOS flagships may give you merit if you have certain stats (like the stats you will need for MIT).
@Greymeer Yeah, that’s about what I figured. Was hoping to be wrong though lol. I guess the community living like at MIT and Rice is a big plus for me though. A school where a lot of people choose to (and are able to) live on campus all four years definitely appeals to me.
@merc81 I think a big scholarship at Rice is a pretty big reach, with a 15% admit rate that’s already on the reach side for me to get into. For RPI, I looked on their website and really didn’t see much on scholarships, it says stuff like “merit scholarship” but I don’t see any details other than on the medal scholarship, which my school probably doesn’t participate in. Sorry, what does UAA stand for?
@twoinanddone Good point, I’m sure no matter where I go I’ll get to know some other engineering majors. I’m in CA so we have several good public schools here, Berkeley and Cal Poly being the top schools out of the few that offer industrial engineering. I have the stats to be a candidate for MIT, of course there’s a decent chance I’ll be rejected but I really do think I’m the type of student MIT wants. Whether I can convey that through my application is another matter, lol. Although I have pretty good stats, I don’t have much leadership experience or unique ECs so that makes it harder to get those top scholarships.
I’m looking at outside scholarships I can apply to, but the odds of me getting enough money to significantly bring down the cost aren’t great.
Also keep in mind that those videos are marketing documents - their purpose is to convince that a school is awesome and that you want to spend $$$$ to go there.
Lots of top colleges are environments full of people who are motivated to succeed. You can also find that vibe at honors colleges at flagship universities - and sometimes just at the general populations of those universities themselves.
It sounds like you live in CA - you have excellent options with your UCs (particularly UCSD, Berkeley, and UCLA - but really all of them) and with Cal Poly SLO and Cal Poly Pomona, as you’ve pointed out yourself.
@juillet Good point. Although the videos are student made and they send them to you after you commit to attend, you’re still right-- I’m sure I’m not the only prospective student to get hooked.
I guess maybe I’m just biased coming from an extremely laid-back area. Don’t get me wrong, I love it here, but there’s a real lack of people who are very motivated. A lot of my friends are pretty driven as well, but none of them are really as interested in the same things I am. I don’t think I know anybody who would see spending weekends teaching myself math as anything other than insanity (although, even I have to agree that spending essentially 5 days straight on math is a bit excessive, which I did once).
I’ve started looking into some honors colleges, which might be the solution for me. Although I don’t want anything too pretentious-- I’m really not looking for prestige here. University of Pittsburgh seems to give good merit money, especially to people in the honors college, so I think I’m going to apply there.
CA is great when it comes to public schools, the only downside is how few of them offer industrial engineering. Berkeley, San Jose State, and cal poly SLO/Pomona may be the only state schools offering it. EDIT: CSU east bay also has it
You might want to look at the University of Waterloo in Canada. It’s very nerdy and quirky. Most students are tech oriented. They have undergraduate management engineering which is similar to industrial engineering. The co op program gives the university a very different culture. Cost of attendance would be slightly more than Berkeley in state.
Regarding nerdiness and collaboration, Rice has a “design kitchen” where students can come together and hammer out innovative solutions for contemporary problems:
Case Western occurred to me too. I wonder just where they need the cost to come in at? Case has good merit aid but it’s still close to $70k per year. Even $20-30k in merit aid leaves a hefty bill.
Olin. They offer a half ride to anyone they admit. MIT has actually begun to adopt some of their collaborative practices for teaching engineering. Their acceptance rate is comparable to MIT’s, so you do need to apply to some safeties.
Caltech and Harvey Mudd and both good options however they are private. My reasoning was, though, that if you lived in that area of SoCal you could commute from home which would shave money off the price. If not, CalTech, as well as Carnegie Mellon, GATech and UChicago, offer merit scholarships and would be good options, however these are ultra competitive.
Ultimately, though, to keep tuition prices low you should go to an in-state public. Luckily as a CA resident you have plenty of good options - Berkeley being the most academic.
If you don’t want to give up on MIT you could have a look at general college scholarships. A good place to look is ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■.
For engineering schools with a geeky vibe, look at the schools that don’t have a PhD program. They are smaller and intense. I think people have already mentioned Olin and Harvey Mudd, but also consider Rose-Hulman and Cooper Union. Check out USNWR for a more complete list of such schools, then investigate to see which ones offer the most scholarships.
Olin, Rice, Waterloo would all be possibilities, as would good honors colleges: UMN Honors has students who are passionate and have very strong stats, Clemson Calhoun is a very strong honors college…
(Check out the website publichonorscollege)
UAA refers to the University Athletic Association, a collegiate sports conference that overlaps significantly with schools that may fit your criteria (e.g., URochester, CWRU, CMU).
Regarding RPI, they appear to offer several scholarship programs other than the Medal.
