<p>Ok so here's the deal, I'm looking at MIT, Princeton, and Stanford right now. I have no idea how to choose. I'm not sure what I want to study, except that it's going to be science and math. Now, I'm not asking you which way I should decide, but merely how I should decide. What do these schools each have that separate them from the other two?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance...</p>
<p>I would choose Stanford since it's practically amazing in every field you can think of and you don't have to declare a major until your junior year I believe. MIT would be too math/science oriented and there may not be much flexibility. So, if you had to choose I'd say Stanford or Princeton but I'd say Stanford...amazing rankings/prestige/name, great weather, great people...</p>
<p>At the end though, it's your choice...good luck!</p>
<p>(1) When do you want to declare a major?
MIT - end of frosh year
Princeton/Stanford - end of sophomore year</p>
<p>(2) Where do you have an edge over other students?
MIT - connections -- you know profs and lots of students there already, so finding research/good recommendations would be effortless
Princeton/Stanford - on the other hand, there are plenty of research opportunities anyway -- it should still be effortless with your background
Princeton - you'll get to know profs better (research opportunities, better recs), since you almost always have the option of taking precepts taught by your professor and other university professors, rather than recitations with grads and postdocs.</p>
<p>(3) Where will you have more fun?
MIT - slightly geeky mode of funloving, hacks, huge workload
Princeton - more diverse mode of funloving, huge workload
Stanford - diverse mode of funloving, more laid back.</p>
<p>(4) What kind of math/science education do you want?
MIT/Stanford - more applied, industrial
Princeton - more theoretical</p>
<p>(5) What kind of campus/culture?
MIT - you've seen the modern buildings, etc. Students/culture are somewhat divided between east/west campus. Frat-centered party culture. Boston/Cambridge. Exchange program with Cambridge if you're interested.
Stanford - Spanish mission style architecture, very spread out campus, lots of very different housing options, and also lots of frats. About an hour to San Francisco, but there's no easy way to get there unless you drive.
Princeton - "traditional" collegiate gothic and gargoyles, residential college system. Eating clubs (which, contrary to Byerly's thoughts, are a lot like big mansion clubhouses to eat and hang out in. They are not cliques.) Not as spread out, students are more close-knit. An hour by train to NYC/Philadelphia. Around $20 roundtrip. Exchange program with Oxford if you're interested.</p>
<p>(6) Senior/junior project?
Princeton - lots of independent work junior/senior year: 50 page junior paper, 100+ page senior thesis.
(I don't know about MIT/Stanford)</p>
<p>(7) Where are you getting the most money? If you're taking out loans, which has the best programs?</p>
<p>Hope that helps. :)</p>
<p>frozen-tears, that's far too objective. You should be trying to get more students to Princeton.</p>
<p>Fine, fine:</p>
<p>(8) What do you want as your school mascot?
MIT - a beaver. <em>giggle</em>
Stanford - a tree
Princeton - a tiger! RAWR :D</p>
<p>Really, quirkily, I'm just trying to be honest and make sure Zogoto is happy wherever he decides to go! It works out best for all of us -- I wouldn't want to go to college with a disgruntled Zogoto, anyway ;) and if you remember, he was pretty darn cocky about a couple of things last year. :p (No hard feelings, of course -- it was a stressful time for all of us. Arun was farrrr worse, hehe. Out of curiosity, where's he headed?)</p>
<p>Absolutely no clue. That last post was completely sarcastic, by the way--I'd rather have happy MIT students than unhappy Princeton students with me.</p>
<p>And you thought #8 wasn't a joke? :p (Well, to some insignificant extent, it's not -- since it is true. Except Stanford's mascot is actually a color - Cardinal - not the bird. The marching band mascot is the redwood, but the redwood is used on lots of Stanford insignia.)</p>
<p><em>whispers</em> Beeeaver. Teeheehee. </p>
<p><em>ponders</em> I suppose if you thought of it this way -- beavers might be able to fell a redwood, and tigers might eat beavers. Hmm...</p>
<p>i would go to stanford in a heartbeat...but thats just me. Stanford is good all around, although princeton is ranked higher.</p>
<p>between 1 and 5 u cant compare rankings....and I would pick stanford too</p>
<p>
[quote]
and if you remember, he was pretty darn cocky about a couple of things last year.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Really? lol I apologize. Arun (I hope he doesn't kill me for this) is going to Yale next year I think. I saw him at Stanford Admit Weekend though.</p>
<p>Thanks for the post though, frozen-tears! MIT seems to have a lot more depth and intensity of education and a lot of people I have spoken to (that includes one Princeton prof + random adults + my ASU mentor + two Stanford profs) said that MIT graduates just tend to have more confidence in what they do because they have a much more rigorous education (MIT seemed to be 3rd out of 3 in your post).</p>
<p>MIT and Princeton are quite different. I'm not sure that I would say that MIT is more intense, but it is definitely more focused on science, math, research etc. If you think that you might want to branch out into different fields, including some humanities, or if you're interested in a more balanced campus experience, then I would probably recommend Princeton. However, if you are sure of exactly what you want to study and if you want to be on a campus where the vast majority of people share those interests, then MIT might be the right place for you. </p>
<p>Good luck in making your decision.</p>
<p>I find myself repelled from MIT for a lot of reasons that people justify to go there. One of my close friends from debate picked MIT over Stanford, Harvard, and Princeton. Not how I would make my decision, but he sees something in it I do not.</p>
<p>Between Stanford and Princeton, the two are so close in prestige and quality that it is useless to compare at that level.</p>
<p>So, I believe it comes down to the area. East coast or west coast.
It is a major culture shock going from one to the other. Especially west to east. I would personally save that for graduate school and stay on the west coast for undergrad. </p>
<p>Two completely dfferent atmospheres.</p>
<p><a href="MIT%20seemed%20to%20be%203rd%20out%20of%203%20in%20your%20post">quote=zogoto</a>.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I personally would have been happy to go to any one of those three -- my biggest disappointment came when I realized that there is no sensible way to go to all three at once.</p>
<p>Here're two more criteria:</p>
<p>(9) Where to go for which majors?
Stanford - Computer science, definitely, since you'll benefit from the proximity to Silicon Valley.
MIT - Biology; you don't want to deal with crazy premeds at Stanford, and besides, there are a ton of biotech companies near MIT. Pton has molbio and eeb, but no general bio concentration.
Princeton - Mathematics (we have Andrew Wiles!) and astrophysics
(Chem, physics - pretty much the same anywhere.)</p>
<p>(10) A sillier one -- who's your ideal university president?
MIT/Princeton - an ultra-feminist
Stanford - a man who supports ultra-feminists</p>
<p>Anyway, good luck! ;)</p>
<p>I have no clue what I want to study, although it will be math or a pure science for sure. I am leaning towards majoring in math though.</p>
<p>They are all really great schools. You could choose by location. MIT has alot of snow, up north, cold. Princeton, up north also. Stanford is in sunny California. Also the type of students you wanna be around. At MIT everyone is gonna be a techie. If you want more diversity in campus majors then princeton or stanford may be the way to go. But MIT has hacks, and those are alot of fun.</p>
<p>Stanford is lovely.</p>