Columbia Egleston Scholar or MIT?

College Search & Selection
1

So far I’m deciding between Columbia University Engineering where I was admitted as an Egleston Scholar ($10K stipend, research labs from freshman year, personal professor as a mentor, attention from the Dean, networking events/alumni) and MIT.

The pros and cons for each so far are:

Columbia Pros:
Personal attention (big fish in a small pond)
NYC (I live in NYC, so I’d either live at home or in a dorm. Either way, I already know the city well)
Proximity to events (I’m really interested in starting a company, so this helps)

Columbia Cons:
Little student life (I would like at least to experience the “traditional college” lifestyle)
Little school spirit (Not huge, but would appreciate)
Expensive (Finance isn’t a huge factor, but the cost of tuition alone is crazy)

MIT Pros:
Cross registration (So many schools in Boston/Cambridge)
Concentration (I can dive more in depth with my major - CS/Math/Physics)

MIT Cons:
Difficulty (MIT is known for IHTFP and their difficult classes)
Nerdy (The students might be too nerdy for me)

2

Almost no-one cross-registers because all of the campuses have slightly different academic calendars; and the commute between campuses is longer than you would think. So I would remove that as a “pro” for MIT.

Also, Columbia engineering is very rigorous… I think it is a bit presumptuous to think that you would be a “big fish in a small pond.”

Boston has quite an active start-up scene, so I don’t think that is a huge advantage for Columbia.

What is the net cost after financial aid?

3

I received no financial aid from either school, so finance isn’t exactly a deciding factor for me.