Caltech vs. Carnegie Mellon CIT (ECE)

<p>I was accepted into Caltech and CMU's CIT for ECE, and now must decide between the two. I know both schools are excellent, but I am leaning towards CMU for the following reasons:</p>

<p>Caltech has given me a very good financial aid package, but everything I have read indicates CMU will match it. I live significantly closer to CMU (New Jersey), and have several relatives who live near Pittsburgh. Also, Caltech seems like it is comparatively too small. I haven't been able to visit Caltech yet, but I doubt I will "fall in love" with it any more than I did CMU. As far as I know, Caltech leans more heavily towards the theoretical side, whereas CMU is practical and application-oriented. Similarly, CMU's ECE program (vs Caltech EE(/CS)) seems to be better for a career in robotics, which I wish to pursue.</p>

<p>However, my main worry is that I'll go to CMU and feel as though I missed out on a lot by not going to Caltech...because, after all, Caltech IS Caltech. Does anybody have any advice or information that may help me decide? Thanks in advance.</p>

<p>I'd say, yeah, you would miss out on stuff if you didn't go to Caltech as an undergrad, but you'd also miss out on stuff if you didn't go to CMU as an undergrad. I think CMU will give you a bit better course selection, more professors doing what you're interested in (better chance of finding someone doing a project that's really interesting to you as opposed to "good enough"), and you'll have a lot more diverse crowd around you.</p>

<p>There's a number of threads here and on the CMU forums with people going through the same dilemma as yourself, though I think most of them are CS and not ECE.</p>

<p>I'm an undergrad from CMU and grad from Caltech, so if you've got questions at either, feel free to ask.</p>

<p>I know 2 who are t Caltech who had to make this decision. Its always hard to have 2 good options. Prefrosh weekends and visits should help.</p>

<p>If you want to do robotics, go to CMU. Seriously. There just isn't that much here in robotics, our EE program is much stronger in other areas. I'm a EE major at Caltech. We are very strong in my field, which is nanofabrication / devices / MEMS / NEMS.</p>