<p>hey there guys. i was accepted into columbia (as a rabi scholar), yale, and mit. does anyone have any advice for me considering that i want to do a lot of undergraduate research and hope to major in physics/astronomy?? thanks a bunch.</p>
<p>No one can deny MIT, but there you will be nothing Special besides, Columbia University Faculty have won many Nobel prizes in the last 10 years, e. g. Horst Stormer (Physics) Richard Axel (Medicine), Edmund Phelps (Economics), Joseph Stiglitz (economics-although he just came to Columbia), Orhan Pamuk (literature-new Faculty addition in SIPA), Eric Kandel (Medicine), William Vickrey (Economics-awarded 1996 now deceased), RObert Merton (SEAS grade-Economics 1997/I know this is not fair, but it's a recent one), RObert Mundell (Economics-1999), Richard Hamilton (foundation for Poincare Proof-over 40, but would have received Fields Medal otherwise with Pearlman), wow....Columbia University</p>
<p>i'm sure someone will disagree but yale really isnt the best place for sciences and i stick to that. </p>
<p>i know MIT has a really good undergrad research program and honestly i'm not sure how the college is with that (i know SEAS has a big initiative) maybe someone can help you out</p>
<p>You're a Rabi Scholar? That's actually the only Scholar program which is worthwile, at least this is what ppl say. Cancel out Yale, it's between CU and MIT!</p>
<p>You'll be able to do ugrad research at either school. I don't think that's an issue.</p>
<p>Go where you want to spend 4 years. Do you like the core? NYC or Boston? I'd get beyond the academics and look at those sorts of questions.</p>
<p>Also do you want a social life? If yes, you know which one you gotta pick.</p>
<p>You may find a recent post of mine helpful, or at least interesting:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showpost.php?p=3897337&postcount=12%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showpost.php?p=3897337&postcount=12</a></p>
<p>also, as mentioned, Rabi scholars are actually pretty hot-s**t. you get a LOT of perks, including specialized research opportunities, guaranteed housing over the summer to pursue research, etc. There's definitely money involved somewhere. It's a great program.</p>
<p>The Rabi offer would be very tempting. Besides the guaranteed opportunities already mentioned, you go in basically already marked as a "star" and someone worth mentoring. MIT has fantastic opportunities as well, of course, and I don't know how competitive they are to obtain. But everyone there presumably will have been at the top of the high school heap in science and math.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you are sure your path is in science, perhaps you would enjoy being at a college where the bulk of the people share your passion rather than at one where the student body is more humanities oriented. Only you can judge that.</p>
<p>Yale offers a nice undergraduate environment. On the other hand, I suspect you'd find even a smaller cohort of physics and hardcore math students there than at Columbia. Especially in the sciences, where studygroups and collaboration are common, that lack of science atmosphere where people sit around even outside of class and toss around ideas that excite them might be missing. I'm not saying it is, but you should definitely check that out.</p>
<p>As someone who follows MIT admissions, I can tell you with ease that you will not be average there. The top 10% at MIT is full of brilliant students, however, since Marilee Jones has taken over admissions over there, the school has openly said they'd rather take someone who's interesting than someone who is a genius. This has created much weaker MIT classes, where the intelligence is spread thin. Indeed, MIT's SAT range rises over Columbia's by about 30 points (20 points fro SEAS), but it also dips below SEAS' range. Most engineering schools focus on taking "the best and the brightest," which is why they can maintain high SAT-ranges with high acceptance rates, however, MIT is far more concerned with creating an interesting student body these days.
All that said, if you're a Rabi Scholar at Columbia, you WILL be something special at MIT.
So between MIT and Columbia (Yale is really weak in the areas you mentioned), I would decide based on which environment you feel suits you best.</p>
<p>I think Columbia has the most Nobel Prize affiliations of any institution in the world.</p>
<p>So, I do some club martial arts with some people here at Columbia, and some of them are grad. students and whatnot, and some of whom I talked to, who went to MIT for undergrad, said given a second chance they would have come to Columbia. Or somewhere else. MIT was too intense and too cutthroat. They had some pretty bad stories about it. Of course, they are doing quite well in life, but that's not important. Environment and experience is.</p>
<p>to be fair, you had quite a biased sample of people. i'm sure there are hundreds of grad students at MIT who loved it and have sworn they'll never leave.</p>
<p>that's all irrelevant anyway, the question isn't what the herd is doing, the question is what the best fit is for YOU. Cutiepi has gotten some good advice in regards to figuring that out.</p>
<p>Fair enough. Anecdotal advice should always be taken knowing that it's probably biased.</p>
<p>Being a Rabi scholar is great.If you haven't done so yet, you ought to contact some of the current Rabi's to hear what it's like.</p>
<p>I went to Columbia as an undergrad and Yale as a grad student, and I also lived in Cambridge for a number of years and therefore know many people who went to MIT. </p>
<p>First, I would be careful about basing your decision on perceived environment, competitiveness or social life. You will work hard at all three places. MIT isn't as cut throat as a lot of people make it out to be, and students at Columbia and Yale are not exactly laidback and retiring. </p>
<p>Second, the surroundings for the three schools are quite different. Boston in particular is a great city, although MIT's immediately surroundings are not that great. New York is also a great city, but unlike Boston it can be overwhelming for someone who isn't used to an urban environment. As for New Haven, well, let's just say I found myself visiting New York a lot. You'll want to weigh these differences -- I found it impacted my day to day life more than I thought it would. </p>
<p>Third, as for your interest in research and physics/astronomy, that is admirable and would certainly make MIT a frontrunner. That said, I went to Columbia with an early interest in Chemistry, and although I did end up majoring in Chemistry, I also ended up going to law school. Going to a school that not only provided for, but in fact required, a general liberal arts education (including classes in writing, literature, art, music, etc.) made that possible. </p>
<p>Speaking as a 17 year old, its probably hard for you to imagine your interest changing, but speaking as a 33 year old, its hard for me to believe that it wouldn't change. Those MIT friends of mine that were truly interested in the sciences or engineering were relatively happy at MIT. But I also know a number of people who decided that science or engineering really wasn't their thing. In such cases those who were at MIT didn't have a lot of good alternative choices and were not happy. </p>
<p>There is no question that MIT is one of the best in the field of science and engineering. However, you will still get an excellent science education at Yale or Columbia. Unlike MIT, though, Yale or Columbia will also give you a lot of non-science related options if you discover that the sciences really aren't for you. They will also expose to a greater breadth of people, with different interests, talents and career paths. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, as you get older, you will find that more and more doors will start becoming closed to you. You will go to grad school, will enter into a particular career, will become more specialized, etc. However, you currently have all the options in the world. I don't see any reason for you to close any doors at this stage in your life.</p>
<p>I also am in the same position. Except It's MIT , Princeton, Columbia. I think I want to major in EECS, but I am also very interested in Political Science. </p>
<p>Computer Engineering makes sense, since I like Math, CS , Physics.
I am more passionate about Political Science/IR. But writing papers is not my favorite activity. I have to try to get B's in IB Higher Level English 2</p>
<p>MIT: -Best Engineering in the world
-Its in Boston/Cambridge. So I assume internships would be easier to find and get to
- International name recognition. Unlike other two, tops independent rankings
- There are Frats and some social life
- I don't like the barely doable culture.</p>
<p>Princeton:
- Undergrad focused environment
- Beautiful Campus
- Happiest students according to Princeton Review
- I dont like that it seems to be far away (1 hour) from major cities. Internships would take time to get to.
- Not much to do outside of campus
- Great Financial aid. No loans
- Engineering department isn't highly ranked
- No double majors, minors only
- No Frats , but eating clubs</p>
<p>COlumbia:
- New York: Internships, Night-life, Opportunities
- I would be in the Davis Honors Program. Few benefits
- Connections. Internship placements
- Engineering isn't top ranked
- i dont like that they restrict me to the school I got into SEAS.
- No double majors, minors only</p>
<p>I was hoping financial aid would help me decide. Same EFC for all of them. My mom thinks 25k loan debt isn't too much to worry about. </p>
<p>These are my assumptions. What advice would you give me?</p>
<p>I am also considering RICE and Carnegie Mellon.</p>
<p>
[quote]
COlumbia:
- New York: Internships, Night-life, Opportunities
- I would be in the Davis Honors Program. Few benefits
- Connections. Internship placements
- Engineering isn't top ranked
- i dont like that they restrict me to the school I got into SEAS.
- No double majors, minors only
[/quote]
</p>
<p>you can double major. especially if its something like electrical eng. and comp.sci....</p>
<p>Wait, you can double-major at CU, although I'm not sure whether you get to choose your other major in CC instead of SEAS. But I want to double-major in English and Econ and that's possible. Also, CU has the best Po Sci deparment out of the three schools. I'm apparently biased, but would say either MIT or Columiba. What do you want to do after college? This might help you decide. Oh lastly, if you're not that sure about engineering, it might be wiser to opt for Pton or CU instead, since they'll offer a greater variety.</p>
<p>you can double major in your school. you cant double major between schools (unless you do a 3+2 or 4+1 program)</p>
<p>Keep in mind however that Princeton and MIT have severe grade deflation (well the latter mostly because it's hard as he**) while Columbia will give you the significant GPA advantage you'll need to get into top Medical/Law schools w/ a slight tradeoff in "prestige".</p>
<p>But with that said... I don't think anyone is going to split hairs about Princeton vs. Columbia based on name- it'll come down to your GPA which in most cases Columbia will win out due to its increasinly favorable pass/fail and add/drop policies ;)</p>