<p>Differences between Caltech and MIT?</p>
<p>one is right in the heart of los angeles and the other is in the heart of boston</p>
<p>Caltech does better in pure science while MIT skews towards applied science. Thus MIT is stronger in engineering, caltech stronger in physical sciences. Caltech still has a plurality of its students doing engineering though.
Caltech's also harder, smaller. According to caltech mailing, you learn nearly twice as much at caltech in 4 years than you do at other schools because of the trimester system.</p>
<p>Caltech is not in the heart of los angelas. It's in Pasadena. Unless Pasadena IS in the heart of los angelas.</p>
<p>For an engineering school MIT has a really strong bio program</p>
<p>well MIT is "technically" in Cambridge as well...</p>
<p>Yes, that too. ^_^ But point being, Caltech has a really gorgeous campus from what I've seen of it and from what I've seen of Pasadena from the Rose Bowl Parade...MIT is in a very urban environment...I like the school, but the campus is not what you'd call stunning...</p>
<p>At CalTech, most of the students do not participate in ec's.</p>
<p>which is harder to get into?</p>
<p>straight admissions rates...MIT simply because it is more well known</p>
<p>MIT's slightly harder to get into, but Caltech's very number-driven (it has the highest SAT average). MIT looks into the intanigbles more than Caltech does.</p>
<p>Admissions stuff: MIT tends to look for more "diversity", by which I mean being the captain of your school's swim team or a minority can help your application, even if it's a bit "weak" in academic areas (of course, "weak" is a very relative term). Or such is my impression.
Caltech's more "we want the best of the best in science", so other non-science factors don't help so much.
So if your an african-american female who founded the community service club at your high school, but have not-quite-perfect stats, MIT would probably be easier. If you're a white male with 1600 (or 2400 now, i suppose), 4.0,
(I'm a rising sophomore at Caltech, and got into both schools)</p>
<p>As far as differences, the academics are essentially identical. Caltech's got a tougher core that EVERYONE has to take, regardless of major.
The major difference for me was atmosphere. I liked the people, location, and general feel I got from Tech (CIT) much better than That Other Institute of Technology (MIT). And I LOVE the hovse system.</p>
<p>The campus life is extremely different -- Caltech has four-year residential houses, all of them on campus. MIT has a huge array of different styles of dorms, independent living groups, Greek houses, etc. spread out in Cambridge as well as parts of Boston and Brookline.</p>
<p>Doesn't MIT also have nearly 2/3 of people in the Greek system, many of whom live there? MIT does not have a dining hall - the dorms have kitchens and places where you can lock your pots, pans, and utensils in there - but no dining hall and no meal plan. The commons is fairly nice, but not food that you could eat daily and stay healthy.</p>
<p>The weather would be a big consideration. Walking across the Charles in the winter is downright miserable.</p>
<p>IHTFP - need I say more? ;)</p>
<p>I think the students at Cal Tech aren't really into ECs. Also, Pasadena is not the heart of LA. Close to LA, yes, but heart? nah.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Doesn't MIT also have nearly 2/3 of people in the Greek system, many of whom live there? MIT does not have a dining hall - the dorms have kitchens and places where you can lock your pots, pans, and utensils in there - but no dining hall and no meal plan. The commons is fairly nice, but not food that you could eat daily and stay healthy.
[/quote]
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<p>Hmm... not exactly on a couple of counts.</p>
<p>First, the Greek system is big, but not that big. I believe I've heard that 30% of males are in fraternities... not sure about percentages for women, but the majority of members of the sororities are non-residential. There are twelve dorms, each with unique cultures and personalities, since students choose their dorms rather than being randomly assigned.</p>
<p>There are three dining halls that are open for dinner, as well as a wide variety of halls and restaurants open on campus for lunch. There is no meal plan per se, because students deposit money in a "TechCash" account which works like a debit card and is accepted at locations across campus (as well as a few off-campus).</p>
<p>It's true that some dorms have kitchens, and cooking food for themselves and friends is certainly an attractive option to many people, but there are still plenty of ways to buy food on campus.</p>
<p>Walking across the Charles in winter is often downright miserable, but MIT realizes this and runs a fleet of vans and shuttles around campus and across the river into Boston.</p>
<p>And IHTFP does mean more than one thing...</p>
<p>Besides the differences in their science/tech programs, MIT also has very strong social sciences while Caltech...doesn't. So MIT gets a bit of a bump from being more well-rounded, though not many undergrads pursue degrees outside of science/math/engineering.</p>