<p>First, congratulations to anyone that got accepted at both Caltech and MIT in the EA round! </p>
<p>My S just got accepted to both. Now it's on to the endless debate on the pros/cons of choosing one over the other (still in early stages of that!).</p>
<p>I'm looking for some informed discussion on how others in the same boat this year, or in the past, or anyone else with opinions would think through this choice. And, what are your thoughts on making this choice?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Congratulations! You can’t really go wrong with either school. Both have the best science programs in the world. I’ve heard that Caltech’s work load is a little more demanding and rigorous, but it shouldn’t be too big of a difference (I think). They both provide excellent research opportunities with Caltech’s SURF and MIT’s UROP. </p>
<p>In the end, it really depends on your S’s preferences. Does he like a bigger school? Then MIT. Does he like nice sunny weather? Caltech then will be your choice. It’s very subjective and depends on personal tastes.</p>
<p>I only got into Caltech (deferred at MIT), but if I was accepted to both, I think I’d still choose Caltech because of its small size and proximity to my family. It’s these factors that determine one’s decision between these schools, not academics or anything of that matter.</p>
<p>I’m in the same position as 8kobe24 in terms fo admittance. I’ve talked to several Caltech alums and one of them is at MIT for grad school. He says that MIT’s undergrad coursework is easy in comparison to Caltech’s.</p>
<p>I think the decision will depend partly on major and interests. I think there are some fields (CS, anything humanities or social sciences) where MIT is much better than Caltech but for most science and engineering fields they are likely roughly comparable. On whether courses at harder at Caltech my impression is that the general core courses at Caltech are harder but MIT offers extra hard versions of its core courses (other than bio) which would be at least as hard as Caltech’s core so I don’t think this should be a factor in your decision. For advanced courses you should have sufficient flexibility at both schools to take whatever difficulty schedule you want (either through extra courses or grad classes or just choosing hard classes).</p>
<p>I think SURF and UROP are both very good although UROP tends to be during the school year and SURF is during the summer.</p>
<p>His interests are primarily in CS and applied math, and the ability to do some research during the school year. Given that the MIT CS dept is much bigger and more well known, is it a simple decision of choosing MIT over Caltech in this case (obviously assuming other factors like location/weather and social/dorm situations are ignored for now)?</p>
<p>I would say given interests in CS and applied math all else being equal you would probably want to go to MIT but I’m don’t think the difference is so overwhelming to override all other considerations. Both schools are very good for applied math. I’m not very familiar with Caltech’s CS department so you may want to research it more but I’m under the impression that it is good but not great. It is also a lot smaller than MIT’s which probably means there are some areas where it is as good as MIT’s but is strong in considerably fewer areas.</p>
<p>Visit both. S1 visited Caltech and loved the atmosphere, enjoyed the students he spent time with and felt like it was his place to be. He did not feel the same about MIT. He went to Caltech. Others I have heard have the opposite experience. I would not discount location, weather, or campus life. This is a place your S will spend the next 4 years of his life, he has to like more than just the academics.</p>
<p>Joszacem makes some valid points although I question how effective visiting is in evaluating whether you would like campus life. Admitted students weekends tend to be very different from normal campus life and the small group of people you interact with during that time may be quite a bit different from who you will interact with during college. I still think attending admitted students weekends are a good idea but I wouldn’t put a huge amount of weight on them. Obviously, it is much easier to assess location and weather.</p>
<p>Both schools are excellent, yet both have quite different atmospheres. Caltech is very small, which is a benefit to some and not to others. Everyone knows their classmates at Caltech, and there is a strong sense of collaboration. The Caltech house structure is wonderful at fostering the stong community atmosphere - you live in the same house all four years, and your housemates become family. They all look out for each other, have dinners together, and most often study together. There is no problem signing up for the classes you want, except for cooking and a few humanities. But there is never a problem of not getting necessary classes or waitlisted for classes that you need.</p>
<p>OTOH, MIT is much larger, and does have some competition for even getting into the required classes. Many MITers live in frats or off campus, though some live in dorms. That greatly disperses the student body, and allows more anonymity. MIT has frats, football, and cheerleaders. Caltech does not - sports at Caltech is what sports really ought to be - for fun and fitness, but not for the focus of ones college life. </p>
<p>There is a reason that Thomson-Reuters has ranked Caltech the number 1 university in the world two years in a row now; they give an excellent education, research opportunities are there for the asking, and the stellar faculty to student ratio leads to phenomenal interaction between undergrads and the professors. You cannot find better relations between staff and students at a larger school, but here they really do know their students.</p>
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<p>The vast majority of classes at MIT do not have enrollment limits. Most of the exceptions are humanities, social sciences, or labs. The “some” that live in dorms is like 70%. Most of the others live in frats, sororities, or other independent living groups. Sports are not the focus at MIT either. Yes, sports may be a slightly bigger thing at MIT than at Caltech but that doesn’t mean they play an important part of college life.</p>
<p>First of all, congratulations to your son! That is quite an accomplishment! Now, of course, he has an extremely difficult decision to make. As others said, he should go with what his personal tastes apply to. MIT is much bigger in student population, and students there can also take classes at Harvard any time they want. Also, MIT is closer to Boston than CalTech is closer to Los Angeles. If he likes sunny weather, CalTech may be a better choice, but if he wants a more well-rounded education, go for MIT with their HASS requirements. Personally, I would choose MIT as seen by my username, so I suppose I am rather biased. I suggest that your S looks at other threads on CC about this same decision. There are loads of threads titled “MIT vs. CalTech”, and they are a nice place to start. Hope this helps, and congrats again to your son!</p>
<p>I fully agree a visit doesn’t tell you everything you need to know. But it should be part of what you use to base your decision on. Look at everything you can, online resources, speak to anyone you can (S2 just got into U Chicago and has been in contact with a student from there that lives in the area), books, utube (wife has found alot of stuff there with videos from the various houses at Caltech), … Goodluck with the decision and Happy Holidays!</p>
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<p>As a note, most engineering schools (including Caltech) require students to take ~1 humanities class a term. I don’t seem to remember MIT requiring more.</p>
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<p>I think the HASS requirements at Caltech and MIT are essentially equivalent as both require an average of 1 HASS class per term. That being said I think MIT clearly offers more in the humanities and social sciences having a number of top ranked departments and generally being much larger than Caltech.</p>
<p>Sorry for the confusion. When I suggested going to MIT for a more well-rounded education, I did not mean that MIT required more humanities requirements; I meant that MIT’s HASS department is generally considered better than CalTech’s HASS department. Sorry for the bad wording! Also, remember that I am biased, and CalTech’s humanities are probably good, but I just like MIT more ;)</p>
<p>I was accepted to both, and I prefer MIT due to its larger size (leading, ostensibly, to a more vibrant and diverse campus atmosphere, as well as greater resources and more numerous available opportunities) and its superior offerings in the social sciences (mentioned above). One who prefers a more “intimate” environment or is completely uninterested in HASS may understandably prefer Caltech. Also, though Caltech does offer plentiful research opportunities to its undergraduates, my impression is that MIT’s UROP program offers a much more flexible, organized, and wide-reaching framework under which to pursue research. I’m pushed towards MIT by the slightly off-putting gender imbalance at Caltech as well.</p>
<p>Which one closer to home should be a factor~~</p>
<p>@mathcow some people want to go away for college and some want to stay close to home. Also most students do not live close to either one and the difference between being a 3-hour flight away from one and a 5-hour flight away from there other is not significant.</p>
<p>My son chose MIT over Caltech, Princeton, Mudd and some others for similar reasons as LuoSciOly. He did not like the atmosphere at Caltech (and granted, he was only there for two days during admitted students weekend in 2012) and felt the students he met weren’t his cup of tea. He loves the vibrancy and diversity of MIT and loves his dorm life and social life, in general. He likes being near Boston and he presumably loves the academics in his chosen fields, math major and physics minor with a music emphasis. (Subject to change)</p>
<p>He is far from home (he’s from So Cal) but has many friends at MIT from our area and he’s made a lot of friends; he definitely preferred the bigger size of MIT. And, my son actually loves all the PE classes and IM sports that MIT offers. Physical activity is a great stress reliever.</p>
<p>But we know several people who would choose Caltech over any other school, hands down due to its size and academic offerings and the relationships that are built between students and professors. They have been very pleased with all that Caltech offers.</p>
<p>My son was accepted at the schools that have been mentioned and ultimately decided upon Caltech. As part of his decision-making process at the various universities, he emailed professors who were doing research that interested him. Far and away, the professors at Caltech exceeded the others in responding to his emails. When we went to visit, he met with three of the professors (at least one was a Noble prize winner) who freely gave of their time to talk to him. As a parent, I was impressed.</p>
<p>Having done research in high school, our son contacted Caltech professors and was able to go to Pasadena during the summer before classes started to work as part of a physics research project. He also began a separate research project during his freshman year that he continued on into a SURF. Recently, he started working on plans for his next research project.</p>
<p>As far as classes, he has absolutely loved the rigor of the courses. During his freshman year, he and another freshman student audited a junior physics course. The professor for the class has become a wonderful mentor to our son.</p>
<p>This year as a sophomore, he wanted the flexibility to take more courses than allowed. While it was not granted without showing his ability to do so, I was impressed that Caltech was flexible with him.</p>
<p>Having been fortunate to have college course material through Stanford’s EPGY program while he was in high school, Caltech has allowed him to begin taking graduate-level physics courses as a sophomore. There does not seem to be any unreasonable limit placed upon him academically. He has been encouraged and given every opportunity to challenge himself.</p>
<p>The honor code which allows the student to take their tests generally wherever and whenever suits their style also impressed my son, who values the trust the institution places in him and the other students.</p>
<p>Caltech approaches house (think dorm) and roommate selection in a creative way that allows each student to visit the various houses and to make a request of several choices. Once in the house, the students connect with other students to determine their roommate. Having had a difficult roommate during my college years, I thought this was a great way to provide personal choice into the process.</p>
<p>My son is younger than most of the other students and has an adventurous approach, so my wife was not certain about sending him across country; however, once she visited the campus, she was immediately put at ease. The freshman class size when he began was about 235. The Deans, professors, frankly everyone we met, are wonderful people in whom we felt abundance peace in entrusting our son, both as a young adult and a young scientist. The growth that we have already seen speaks highly to us of the institution and its faculty.</p>
<p>Having visited all of the universities mentioned, I’m not sure that your child cannot really go wrong. Ultimately, the place that provides your child with the environment and opportunities that he or she values most will determine the best fit. Personally, I just can’t say enough about Caltech. I think my son and my wife would agree.</p>
<p>Best wishes to you and your child.</p>